Daily Log

Went to Wichita Orthodontics yesterday. They did all the same x-rays and analysis as they did in my initial consultation there, but didn't charge me. They did propose re-treatment on 18, to go in and load up the root canal with "medicine," which supposedly would clean out any "microchannels" that the root canal missed, so they can repack the tooth, and recap it with a temporary filling, so eventually we'll go back and have to replace the crown. They want $1500 for the retreatment, then I'm looking at another $1000 for filling and crown. Alternatives are extraction or just "living with it." I stopped by grocery store on the way back. I was going to make pork with peanuts, but I got back too late to do that. I did very little the rest of the day.

I woke up after 10 (398 minutes, so 100). Read some. Came down. Creekmore is sending a plumber over around noon to install the new kitchen faucet. Looks like an easy connection, but it's very awkward getting up behind the sink and garbage disposal to tighten it down, and the shutoff valves are stuck. I could fix both with some trouble (I also have replacement valves, although mine are multi-turn and I like 90° better). So I'm a bit embarrassed at hiring this work out, but it will be nice to get something done quickly. Another roofer coming over at 4:30. Waiting on various others. I should be able to do some cooking this afternoon, and some more tomorrow. Today: pork with peanuts, bok choy, rice. Tomorrow I hope to use the roast duck ("Aceh style"), and maybe the eggplant. Birthday dinner leftovers are almost all gone -- mostly just some gado gado, and maybe a bit of pickle.

Email (27 messages):

• Laura forwarded a picture of Mamdani with a couple dozen volunteers, including Naomi next to him.

I got screwed over by Worldle. You're supposed to pick a country based on a map image. All-time statistics show 1110 games played, a 99.9% win rate, 818 strikes, 1.4 avg guesses, 145 max win streak. You get six guesses to identify the country. Each failure gives you a direction and distance (based roughly on the center points in each country). I almost always get continental states on the first guess. Islands are trickier, and many of them depend on how exactly they are organized politically. For instance, I have little trouble recognizing Kerguelen, but remembering French Southern and Antarctic Lands is harder. The maps also make it hard to recognize scale, as Vatican City (for instance) occupies the same image space as Russia. My first guess wins are 73.7%. Multiple guesses: 2 14.9%, 3 7.7%, 4 2.7%, 5 0.7%, 6 0.2%. After a guess or two, I often start looking at maps -- especially if we're dealing with Pacific or Caribbean islands (the former are widely scattered; I've never gotten the ordering of the latter). Sure, the maps are arguably cheating, but with solitaire games cheating is simply a life choice. I play Quordle also (after Laura solves the first word), and for that I use a tool, which saves me hours of racking my brain for obscure words, but the tool itself requires some skill and cunning.

Anyhow, bottom line is my first Worldle loss was tonight, and I feel like I was cheated: the unidentifed country was Transylvania, which is not a country at all (and I'm not sure if it ever was). They possibly chose it for Halloween. (According to Reddit, they've done this sort of thing on holidays before, once pulling up a map of the Roman Empire for an April 1.)

In other news today, a plumber came over to install the kitchen faucet. Cost me almost $200, but it took him a good 1.5 hours -- maybe more, as we discovered a leak after he presented me with the bill, and it didn't tighten up easily. While the faucet itself was pretty straightforward, the shutoff valves were stuck, so I had him replace them, and one of the hoses wasn't long enough, so he wound up soldering a piece of copper in below the valve.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Daily Log

I worked out an ugly hack yesterday to fix the kitchen faucet. Leak seemed to be at the swivel joint where the pull-out head is attached to the hose. The joint is crimped onto the hose, and threaded onto the hold, and both of those look fine. The problem is with the pivot itself. On reflection, that probably means it's just a worn out rubber washer, but I wasn't able to get the head off (with my hands; a wrench would have done the trick). But I've long hated that faucet, so first thing I did was to order a new one. It came yesterday, but installing it is going to be a job -- so bad I'm contemplating hiring out. Meanwhile, the pan underneath the sink fills up. So I thought if I could just keep the head from docking, the leak water would drip into the sink and not back into the tube and under the sink. I cut off a 4-inch piece of some foam insulation for 1-inch pipes, wrapped it around the good hose above the leak, and the end of the faucet tube, and secured it with a couple of zip ties. Ugly, but works fine.

I tried contacting the roofers yesterday, plus another one showed up on my doorstep (DHI Roofing). I allowed the latter to come over Friday afternoon for a "free inspection." I talked to Hometown on phone. The guy there was in Texas, but promised to get back to me with a quote "tomorrow," and said he'd be in Wichita next week. I sent email to Dolphin and Gottschalk, but haven't heard from either. They are almost certain to bid high. The others claim they'll do whatever for the insurance estimate (minus deductible), but the ACV policy has a lot of nonrecoverable depreciation, so I don't believe them, and in any case suspect them of being cheap. That leaves Tom James. I talked to him, and he wants to bring his roofer over, but can't do that until Monday. So some progress on that front, plus some delays.

I also called Wichita Endontics about my dental problem. Dr. Tsao insisted I get back with them before we move on to permanent filling and crown. I suspect it's just something I'm going to have to learn to live with, and for now at least it's not so bad I can't. But they gave me an appointment at 2:30 today, so I'm off to see them soon. I woke up shortly after 9 (85 on the meter), and read some. I went back to bed, not expecting much, but did get some more sleep, and finally got up at 11:45. I need to go out around 2, and stop by the grocery store on the way back. I boiled the pork belly yesterday, and cubed the loin and put it in a velvet marinade. I'll probably fix the latter tonight, and try an Indonesian recipe on the duck tomorrow. For the latter, at least, I'll need shallots and ginger, as I threw out the excess from the birthday dinner. I haven't written any more on that, but I did start to look at the jazz poll website, and edited the ballot invite. I set up a new planning document for working on it, so I feel like I'm finally moving a bit there. I got some email yesterday that led me to YAMM (Yet Another Mail Merge), which is a service that is based on GMail and Sheets, for $3 or $5 per month (but billed annually). Big thing I like about it is reporting on who received and opened the mail. I should look for others like that. I'm leery of getting into bed with Google, but something like that may be inevitable.

Email (27 messages):

• Several Intercept articles for Loose Tabs, including: Netanyahu is blowing up the Gaza ceasefire — and Trump is the one losing face; Trump DOJ charges House candidate Kat Abughazaleh with conspiracy for protesting ICE; Trump's Yemen strike killed 61 immigrants and no combatants.
• TomDispatch: Eric Ross: An exit off the Trumpian highway to collective suicide? Recent posts: Rebecca Gordon: Strategic incompetence in the age of Trump; Tom Engelhardt: The first American king?; Robert Lipsyte: Jules Feiffer taught us to fail up; Norman Solomon: Big problems need big solutions.

Had to killall, update, and restart firefox.

Daily Log

Got up just before 10, and read some more Pappé. I was thinking I would skip the "fictional diary" at the end, but slid easily enough into it, so I expect to finish it today. Meanwhile, I started with The Shock of the Anthropocene, but am only at page 5. Not necessarily the next book, but one of many candidates. I picked it up for my eye doctor appointment, as I didn't want to run out of book with Pappé. Mostly good news from eye doctor, including the note that my eyesight is better now without glasses than it was with glasses before surgery. Still, close vision is worse, so maybe I should try reading with glasses. Also, there seems to be something going on in the left eye — I forget the term he used, but he wanted to look at it again in six months. Could be this?

Epiretinal membrane. Epiretinal membrane is a delicate tissue-like scar or membrane that looks like crinkled cellophane lying on top of the retina. This membrane pulls up on the retina, which distorts your vision. Objects may appear blurred or crooked.

While the doctor seemed confident and upbeat, I came away rather distraught. My eyes were dilated, so I had to wear my new glasses with the clip-on sunglass filter. They don't help much (if any), and don't fit especially well. After that, I drove to a hardware store to look for some sort of rubber hose clamp I might be able to use to patch up the leaky faucet until I can get it replaced. I didn't find anything usable, but failed to find anyone to ask. I had previously tried using Flex Tape, but the leak blew right through it. I thought maybe a small rubber coupler with screw bands I could tighten would do the job, but smallest I found was 1.25-inch. At this point, I'm less concerned with plugging the leak than with keeping leaked water from draining back through the faucet and into the cabinet basin. I have some ideas, but they may not be worth pursuing at this point. New faucet should arrive today, but I doubt I can install it.

After that, I drove to Gyro Express, to pick up a sandwich (special deal, got two). While there, I accidentally dialed Jerry. I hung up, but the call registered, and he called me back. We had a talk about how much we both missed each other, ending when he teared up. I need to rethink how I deal with him. I complained about the car, which he dismissed as unimportant. Like a shrink, he asked what was really bothering me. As with shrinks, I hardly know where to begin, and am not sure I should. I drove home, and was fairly shook by everything. I did very little the rest of the day (other than eat gyros, and leftover cake).

Today I need to call Wichita Endodontics for some kind of follow up on the dental work. I also need to contact the roofers, and try to get some quotes, or start looking for new roofers. I'm pretty disgusted with the entire industry at this point. My next writing should be on the birthday dinner, building on drafts I've recently written. I still have stuff in the refrigerator I need to cook, so I may see what I can do on that front. Loose Tabs is always open. Also need to work on the Jazz Poll. But all of that can minimally be postponed until afternoon.

Email (16 messages):

• Email from Wichita Public Library: "Your item(s) are due and/or renewed." Just lists three items, which I think were originally 14-day books due November 1, but are now listed as renewed with a November 15 due date. One is a Malaysian cookbook I no longer have much need for. The others were new books that looked good: Marcel Dirsus: How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive; and Noah Giansiracusa: Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life. I haven't had time to look at either.
• Aesop Rock release, I Heard It's a Mess There Too, recently praised by Dan Weiss.

Daily Log

I didn't get Music Week posted until after 3AM. I was rambling, and pretty depressed by then. Got up a little after 9, and read more Illan Pappé. Top some extent he replies to my concerns yesterday about finding a political schism within Jewish Israel that might see their future depending on some kind of outreach to Palestinians. I've long known such people to exist, but they seem to be utterly marginal. I'm reminded of white people in the US who weren't just invested in their liberalism but who actually looked to black (and sometimes indigenous) movements in hopes of finding some kind of redemption there. I've felt that pull myself, but those groups -- like Communists and Weatherman -- have always been relegated to the extreme fringes of a sociopolitical system that systematically roots out and excludes heresy. And Israel has, if anything, become even more intolerant of political divisions than America was (though maybe not where America seems to be going).

My sketch of "best case scenario" still holds. Thinking about my binational notions now, but I'm reluctant to write them up. Very briefly, the people would be divided into two polities, each with its own legislature. Some "big state" functions would be exclusively controlled by the Zionist Knesset, including foreign policy, defense, and borders. Other areas, like commerce, would require agreement by both legislatures. Some, like public support of religion, education, arts, etc,, could be managed independently. Basic laws would guarantee civil rights, including the right to move within the unified state, The courts and state police would require some fine tuning. Both polities would vote in local elections, which would most likely split according to demographics, which may in turn be self-reinforcing. But much power would be decentralized, and left to the local units. Taxes would be collected uniformly, then distributed according to needs, which would make them somewhat redistributive. Basically, Israel gets to keep its Zionist conceits, while treading more lightly on the Palestinians, who lose their "national ambitions" but still can live normal lives. This isn't something one would want to impose on a blank slate, but Israel has already implemented the worst parts, so the practical task is to make them less onerous.

Raining again, but not enough to register. Cool, but not yet cold. We spent some time shopping for a new kitchen faucet. I ordered a Kraus Oletto, which is about an inch higher than the old one. Should come Wednesday. I'm somewhat reconciled to getting a plumber out to install it, but I'll take a look at it first, and see how the hoses match up, and whether I can reach the nut that holds the old unit in place (as I recall, that was very difficult, or maybe impossible without removing the garbage disposal, which itself is difficult). No news on the roofing front. I have to go to eye doctor today, so that's an excuse to put it off another day.

Email (18 messages): Nothing of note, but later:

• Dan Weiss: NO to Taylor Swift, Life of a Showgirl.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, October archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 7 albums, 1 A-list

Music: Current count 45048 [45041] rated (+7), 22 [16] unrated (+6).

New records reviewed this week:

• Lily Allen: West End Girl (2025, BMG): [sp]: B+(***)
• Call Super: A Rhythm Protects One (2025, Dekmantel): [sp]: B+(**)
• The Expert: Vivid Visions (2025, Rucksack): [sp]: B+(***)
• Rochelle Jordan: Through the Wall (2025, Empire): [sp]: A-
• Killah Priest & Purpose: Abraxas 2 (2025, Proverbs): [sp]: B+(**)
• Maria Somerville: Luster (2025, 4AD): [sp]: B+(*)
• Chris Williams: Odu: Vibrations II (2025, AKP): [sp]: B+(**)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

None

Old music:

None

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Jakob Dreyer: Roots and Things (Fresh Sound New Talent) [11-14]
• Joe McPhee & Strings: We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (RogueArt) * [08-11]
• Roscoe Mitchell/Michele Rabbia: In 2 (RogueArt) * [10-13]
• Raphaël Pannier Quartet: Live in Saint Louis, Senegal (Miel Music) **
• Dave Rempis/Jason Adasiewicz/Chris Corsano: Dial Up (Aerophonic) [12-26]
• Brandon Sanders: Lasting Impression (Savant) [11-07]
• Sara Serpa/Matt Mitchell: End of Something (Obliquity) [11-07]
• Spinifex: Maxximus (Trytone) [11-14]

Daily Log

Got very little done yesterday. Didn't help that the weather was inclement. We seem to finally be into fall, although serious cold and the major tree dump are still a few weeks away. Still, looking at the end of things that were preferably done during the summer. That includes work outside the house. Also includes possible trips out of town. In some ways, this feels like the rest of my life.

Got up around 10, sleep score 90. Overcast again. Read some more Pappé. He's ok in describing what should happen, but not much help at how it could happen.

I had a spare thought the other day that democracy evolved out of rhetorical contests between elites. As Europe's medieval feudalism evolved into nation states, monarchies had to broaden their political base, allying with lesser aristocrats and other elites (clerics, soldiers, traders and other businessfolk). Nominal loyalty to the king was de rigeur, but rivalry was inevitable. Democracy within the elite group was one common tactic, and part of its appeal is that it seemed to be fair and just -- not that any of the groups were above cheating for advantage. It was also implicitly expansive, potentially to everyone, although in practice it was only extended piecewise, when some inside group thought they had an outside group whose inclusion could augment their own power.

Jeffeson recognized that "all men are created equal" sounded good, even if he didn't believe it. Jacksonian Democrats extended the franchise to lower class whites expecting them to support slavery. Republicans added freed slaves to their ledgers. Women, and later lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, turned out to be bipartisan bets. The UK has numerous examples, spread out over an even longer stretch of time. Same dynamic applies much more fitfully to France, but even in the absolutist pre-revolutionary monarchy, you see the emergence of multiple states.

So the obvious question for Israel is when and how will some Jewish political party see an advantage in soliciting Palestinian votes? Presumably this will have to come from the left, but Ben-Gurion deliberately cut the legs out from under the left in the 1930s with the Histadrut's focus on Hebrew Labor, leaving only the Communists attempting to build working class solidarity across the Israeli/Palestinian line. Today the left is extremely marginalized, and having abandoned the left, the Zionist Labor party is similarly atrophied. This has largely been accomplished by the right militarizing the conflict. I'm tempted to say it's never been more militarized than now, but 1936-39, 1947-49, 1989-92, and 2000-04 were other peak periods, the years in between were never lacking for polarizing incidents.

Still, it's possible that a respite will lead to some reflection. I don't really know how this might work, but while people tend to rally behind a war effort, many remember it badly and look to change course afterwards. The full depths of Israeli depravity since 2023 has yet to sink in, especially among Israelis and American supporters who felt most threatened by Hamas, and who have struggled so hard to remain innocent of Israel's genocide. As the threat recedes, as they become more secure, some of their eyes will open to what they've done, and there will be some kind of backlash. What kind, how much, I have little idea, but Pappé is not wrong to see "cracks in the foundation" of the Jewish state. The stretch is in thinking that sensible people will see them and start repairs. I've noticed some other books along these lines, and they all seem to have to same basic problem: lots of good ideas for a better world, but no party to implement them. The only silver lining that I see here is that in Israel (unlike America) it is easy to stand up a new party and compete nationwide. I don't see it happening yet, but it's possible.

Plan for today is to post Music Week, and to start writing up a Substack post on birthday dinner. I've already done the Music Week cutoff (a measly +7 records, 1 A-list, +6 unrated). I'm back to playing unrated albums. I've also written up most of the recipes, and I have a couple of photos I can use. I could write that up fairly quickly, or take a couple days and write up some research on past dinners (back to 2001 should be in the notebook). I can also start collecting Loose Tabs, but I'm not in much of a hurry there. Jazz Critics Poll is probably more urgent. I should at least send something out this week. I'm also thinking I should go through my address book and plea with some friends to sign up for Substack. Also do some promo on the Israel pieces.

But I also need to deal with non-writing tasks. I need to get the roofing bids in, so work on that can be scheduled. Most immediately, I need to get a new kitchen faucet. Current one has developed a bad leak, and needs to be repaired or replaced. Given that I hate it, the latter seems like the obvious choice. I also need to line up some plumbing work. I might as well get the basement drain fixed, and maybe the lead water line replaced. Then we get into the many house cleaning and organization tasks. I have the kiosk ready, the wood pile sorted, and quite a bit of storage space that just needs to be better utilized. Then the weeding out.

Email (17 messages):

• Mazin Qumsiyeh: "Weekly compilation": no mention of my pieces.
• Substack: "Demystifying the feed: Why Substack has a feed, how to use it, and what we have learned from those who are buildiing it." Or more evidence of how ill-suited I am for self-promotion.

Daily Log

Birthday dinner is history now. I did what I could within the time allowed and the energy I could muster. We had six guests, so eight in total. Jerry didn't show again, which breaks my heart. His enthusiasm did much to keep this tradition going in its Wichita phase, pretty much the same role Liz Cyr-Jones played in getting the series going. I haven't heard from her in nearly 25 years, also breaking my heart. The first dinners, back in Boston, were mostly done to impress some friends from Contex days, but mostly her. As I recall, the first Chinese had almost 20 dishes, and was repeated the next year with more than 20, then followed by a similar number of Indian dishes. The biggest was a second Indian, made in 1998 in New Jersey, with friends from New York City attending. (An attempted leftover reprise with New Jersey friends fizzled out. By this point, space became a problem.)

I have a planning file, which I'll update to reflect the dinner. I should also document the recipes (especially those I pulled out of library books), file a Facebook post, and turn the whole thing into a Substack post. So I won't belabor those points here. I will note that I wound up with 13 dishes plus 2 cakes. I still have a lot of leftover groceries, some of which I should use over the next couple days, but most will go into the trash. I learned some things, but never figured out how to get the spicing right. That didn't seem to bother any of those present, as no one touched the jar of sambal oelek I offered.

When I started cleaning up the mess after people left, I stepped in water on the floor. Turned out that the cabinet under the sink was flooded. I took everything out, mopped up the water, and did various tests to find the leak. I eventually figured out it was coming from the hose tube, where the counterweight is attached (although it now occurs to me that the leak could be where the head connects, and the water just flows down the host, pooling up and dripping where the weight is; the leak at the head has been obvious for some time, but mostly leaks into the sink; I haven't figured out any way to tighten the head connection, but I should try again). Obvious solution is to buy a new faucet. This was a pretty high-end Kohler, with a sensor control that never worked the way I wanted, so I've been unhappy with it for a long time. This is, it was such a pain to install it that I've been reluctant to replace it. Not the sort of thing I'd normally need a plumber for, but it really is pretty horrific to get all the way up behind the sink to tighten the nuts and make all the connections.

Email (10 messages):

• Picked up 3 Substack subscribers, after I made a plea at dinner to get subscribers (Holger Meyer was the only dinner guest to sign up so far; he also posted about the dinner on Facebook).
• Got 16 birthday wishes on Facebook.
• Janice sent me three photos from the dinner. We're all looking pretty old.
• Laura sent a link to a book review of From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine, by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and Sarah Leah Whitson.

Daily Log

Birthday, remains to be seen how happy, but cooking was my idea, so if it's a bust it's my own damn fault. Woke up remembering dead people: my grandfather (father's side; the other one I never knew, as he died in 1936) died when he was 70, as he had predicted from studying the Bible; my father made it to 77, and his younger brothers to 79 and 81 (the elder one, George, didn't make it to 50, and his Jr., a year older than me, died in his 60s, and another male Hull cousin, Don, is also gone). My grandmother (also father's side; the other one died in 1947, before I was born) lived longer, but was lost to senility, and I don't think I ever saw her after 77 or so. On my mother's side, remembering Aunt Lola, who (like her parents) died before turning 70. The others of that generation are all gone, many long ago, and my cohort of cousins are mostly gone too. I did speak to Jan yesterday. She's 82, widowed, and unhappy in a room in Utah, missing her home, but at least she has children close by. Aside from Laura, I'm feeling pretty alone.

Did some cooking yesterday, but didn't get much done. I have the pork and lamb curries, but the latter came out more like a pale tan korma than the rich brown of the picture. Also have the carrot-cucumber pickle, eggplant pickle, pineapple pickle, and green beans. Also the orange-spice cake. Found some marmelade for the glaze. Finally made a batch of peanut sauce, which isn't great, but should do. I'm going to need to mix it with coconut cream for the gado gado, so I can touch it up then. Laura did manage to get the jigsaw puzzle done, so I can move it out of the way.

Got up at 10. Raining, and cold. Read some about Palestinian refugees and the "right of return." Wrote this. Recycled last night's music: highlife and something else I've already forgotten. I need to start cooking: rice first, then first of two stages for chicken and ribs, then beef redang (which takes a long time). Duck is a maybe right now. I balked at the chocolate cake last night. I could try it (supposedly easy, but sounds hard). Greens shouldn't be too hard, and can be done sooner or later. Assemble the gado gado on the side. Set the pickles out. Last bit will be to fry the rice and chicken, and finish the ribs in the oven.

Email (10 messages): nothing I even feel like opening. Several "happy birthday" messages on Facebook.

Daily Log

Only managed to get one dish done yesterday: acar kuning (cucumber and carrot pickle with tumeric). Finished it too late to taste, but looks and smells good. Big question will be the spiciness. I included two fresh chilies in the maceration, but discarded them (recipe called for them to be chopped up fine), and two dried chilies when I sauteed the flavor mix, but again discarded them (after they had infused the oil; recipe called for them to be chopped up). I'll probably follow that pattern throughout, so there will be hints of chili, but nothing extreme. This "pickle" is basically macerated vegetables, coated with a thick flavor paste. I have more cucumber and carrot, so I may try more of a brine-based pickle recipe. I also have enough eggplant to try several recipes. I figure I can go ahead and start assembling the gado gado vegetables. The green beans may be split between their own curry and the gado gado. I should also do the greens sooner rather than later, as that will reduce some of the bulk. Then on to meat curries. Also need to mix up a batch of peanut sauce. I'll start on this after breakfast. Starting to get my mise en place, and that will pick up more as needed.

I looked at grill yesterday. Problem, as I recall, was that the back burner tubes didn't light up, so something was blocking the gas flow. I disconnected the gas hose to the side burner, and couldn't get it back in, so that was the main reason I gave up. Not easy to get to the crossover gas tube, but shouldn't be too complicated: two screws will loosen the burner tube assembly, but how they fit onto the valves and crossover isn't totally clear. Still, can't be that complicated. I gave everything else a fairly good cleaning. I looked at a YouTube video on cleaning up the burner tubes, but mine don't look at all bad. So no grill in today's menu.

I sent Facebook messages inviting Jerry and Holger to dinner. Holger accepted. Feeling down after the grill, just bewildered by everything else. I tried calling Jan, but didn't get her. Then, surprisingly, Matt called me, from Arkansas. His 15-year-old daughter had a paper rejected for appearing to have been AI-generated. How did the teacher know? By using AI, of course. Matt wanted to talk about game theory, specifically how to play a situation where the rules forbid appearance of AI. Or as he put it, how do you prove a document isn't AI? Given that AI is a moving target, I doubt you can. Better question is whether you should even try? What difference does it make? I don't want to go down this rabbit hole here and now, but it wouldn't be hard for me to turn this into another argument why we need a more equitable society. Still, despite the large bullshit factor, a nice distraction from my moping.

Email (47 messages):

• Records out today: Horace Silver, Fergus McCreadie, Steve Tibbetts, Camille Bertault.

Daily Log

Despite my generally low-key, passive demeanor, and often bleak out look on the world, I usually reject others' suggestions that I am prone to depression. But yesterday I wound up feeling pretty well depressed. I was probably primed by Tuesday's triple posting. My posts usually vanish without a trace, but so much work on three at once heightens the sense of pissing into the void. No response on the roofing front either (not that I was expecting much there). Went to the dentist at 2. Cleaning was fine, but I had to pay full price, as my insurance has capped payments, and I've blown my wad this year. Most of that was on a root canal and crown on 18, and a root canal retreatment on 19 (leaving me in need of another crown). My original complaint was a low-grade pain that seemed to be worsening over a couple weeks. I probably should have had the tooth extracted, but figured it would be best to keep something there. Problem was, the same pain sensations came back, which led to suspicion of othe adjacent tooth, which had a root canal and crown back in the 1980s. Hence the retreatment. I still have the same sensations, albeit less pain, where I expect to have no feeling at all. My dentist has looked at it a couple times, and has no answers. He suggested I go back to the specialist who did the retreatment. Pending that, I don't have the permanent filling, much less the replacement crown (which my dentist is more emphatic on the need for than the specialist is). More expense, but most importantly, more hassle chasing down something that no one seems to have a handle on. I can't even really describe the sensation.

Before and after, I shopped for birthday dinner. I still don't have a firm menu, so I just bought a lot of things. I went to Nifty Nut House first, mostly to pick up macadamia nuts. They're the preferred substitutes for kemiri nuts, followed by brazils and almonds. I went to Lucky Market after that. I bought a lot of produce, including pretty much one of everything green, plus some pork (ground, leg, belly, something in between). I had to ask, but got some wafers that can be deep fried for shrimp chips. Very little there that was specifically Indonesian, but I have a huge pile of stuff. I was hungry by then, so got dinner at Cafe Maurice: shawarma platter, gyro meat and grilled vegetables over rice with tahini. It was pretty good. After that, I went to Whole Foods: got brazil nuts, some fresh coconut, some lamb (a chunk of leg and some stew meat), a few more things. I went to Dillons after that, picking up more produce, chicken wings, a very expensive piece of top round steak, cream, milk, some ice cream. I had a lot of trouble getting Spotify to work in the car, so the car felt like a horrible mistake. Gas talk is down to a quarter, so first fill up is looming. (We've had it for more than two months now.)

I didn't manage any cooking. That still leaves three days, but this morning I'm not getting an early start, and really don't know where to begin. Wrote this before breakfast, while playing Sonny Boy Williamson. Need to pick out something else now, and get moving.

Email (26 messages):

• I wrote to Mazin Qumsiyeh, and gave him links to the Gaza pieces. He wrote back, thanked me, and liked the second one. But he didn't mention it in his mailing today. [I found another mailing in spam, which had more links, but not mine.]
• Letter from Ruben Reinaldo wondering why I hadn't reviewed his album. I did, but only last week, and he didn't notice, possibly because Music Week got buried under Loose Tabs. I wrote him back.
• Intercept: Teachers scrambled after ICE released tear gas outside a Chicago elementary school; The US isn't even bothering with its usual lies to sell its regime change war in Venezuela; David Brooks is the last person we should be listening to right now.
• TomDispatch: Robert Lipsyte, Jules Feiffer taught us to fail up.

Daily Log

Mega update done. Substack post went out. Music Week and Loose Tabs appeared. Roofing progress: Gottschalk came over, will submit quote; Tom James wants his boss to come over for a look; I wrote a letter to Hometown to try to kick them into gear; I shoud send a nag to Dolphin, but they're probably out. I meant to start cooking yesterday, but the only thingn I managed was a large batch of my Spanish cabbage tapas (long planned, still have half a head). Also didn't manage to resort the pantry, but I threw out the macadamia nuts, so will have to get some new ones. Plan for today is to go shopping after dentist. I suspect I'll need one more run on Friday, but I'll try to pick up almost everything today.

Watched last 2 episodes of The Diplomat last night. They were pretty bad, with the romantic angles playing even worse than the political ones. Main point seems to be to set up a fourth season, where Ambassador Kate realizes that VP Hal and Prez Grace have become a toxic combination and seeks their destruction by holding them close. Got up at 10. Gives me a bit of time to kill before dentist at 2. I should sharpen up my shopping list, but at this point I doubt that will help much. I'll easily have more than I need.

Email (26 messages):

• Substack response: 2 likes.
• Robert Christgau: A Compelling Document of Sheer Goodness: on 'Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall' (2025).

Loose Tabs

Pick up text from here.

Daily Log

My plan for a mega update, posting Music Week and Loose Tabs, as well as sending Gaza II to Substack, fell short. I got through two of three sections in the latter, so first thing today will be to get that wrapped up. It occurs to me that I should change references to "Palestine virtual state" to "Palestine refugee state," which would be more accurate and would further distinguish the entity from any territorial claims. Gaza could then be initially described as a territory, which would follow the American model of the federal government organizing territories until they were deemed ready for statehood. I could also develop this territory concept further: Gaza could be the prototype for a UN-backed state-building kit, which could be invited into areas of failed states to reorganize government — not unlike the caretakers appointed to rebuild corporations bankrupted under Chapter 11. Alas, that sounds like another point, and I don't want any more of those.

I did my first round of Indonesian shopping yesterday, going to Thai Binh and Dillons. At the former, I bought half of a roasted duck, a 1.5 lb box of soft-shelled crabs, frozen squid, Japanese eel (probably for future use), 6 cans of coconut cream, a fair range of vegetables, including eggplants, carrots, shallots, mint, lemon leaves, ginger, galangal, turmeric, green beans, lemongrass, garlic, a handful of red chilies, dried chilies, and a few small bananas to experiment with. (They had a half-dozen varieties, and I have no idea which is which, let alone which is best for frying.) I picked up a few more things at Dillons, including a cauliflower (which actually didn't look any better than the one I skipped over at Thai Binh), a small package of potatoes, onions, scallions, mini-cucumbers, peanuts, peanut butter, a coconut (I was hoping to find some grated fresh, but no such luck, so I figured I should have one for backup).

I have Gottschalk coming over to talk about roof. Other than that, and getting the posts out, my plan is to start cooking. I want to put up a jar of acar (pickles), make peanut sauce, and try out a few of the sambals. I have a jar of sambal uelek, so no need to try to make my own there. I expect that many of these dishes will wind up spicier than I prefer, but I'm going to move cautiously on that front — especially early on, as the heat only grows with age.

Laura thinks we can finish the puzzle by Friday. I really doubt that. Perhaps if I worked full time it might be possible, but I expect to be busy with other things. [I took a half-hour before breakfast to work on this, and got 6-7 pieces in, which is more efficient than average so far.] Still means I have to dedicate a large part of the dining room table to keeping it open. At some point I'll need the space, and have to move it away.

Email (30 messages):

• Piotr send in some typos in Christgau's 1980 CG essay.
• TomDispatch: Norman Solomon: How Corporate Democrats Led to the Trump Era

Facebook comment I left for Allen Lowe:

I don't get the concept of "intellectual theft." How can you own an idea? And why, once you think of something, should you spend the rest of your life searching out predecessors to cite? This doesn't sound much different from what I learned from Benjamin on Baudellaire, which has been at the root of much of the criticism I've written for 40+ years. I rarely cite it, because the same basic ideas go back even further, and because the name-dropping is usually superfluous. I've never heard of Gilman. Maybe he's read Benjamin, or maybe he got there through some other path, or maybe it just occurred to him. The value of citing Gilman isn't because you owe him rent, but because you want to tell your reader that there's someone else thinking along these lines who might be interesting. You know, like I just did in citing Benjamin.

Lowe had previously written:

Back in the 1990s, in arguing against that art is NOT political, I started quoting Richard Gilman that art was a "counter history." I have written about this regularly for over 30 years. Never have I heard this idea cited by anyone except Richard - and what do I see in my email today - "Black Music as Counter History." Say what you want, and I am sure many of you will flail away at reassuring me that these are random things, ideas that many people come up with regularly; bullshit. Find me a citation of someone other than me or Richard Gilman (to whom I ALWAYS give credit) who has raised this as a theme previously and specifically. I don't care what you think, this is intellectual theft, and it is NOT the first time it has happened to me.

Lowe responded:

This was a specific idea of Richard's, and I am sure he read Walter Benjamin, and he was certainly influenced, but I can think of no other arts writer in the last 35 years who has used this phrase and this kind of reference to make this kind of point. Please name me one. And I'm not saying I own the idea but if as I suspect they took it from me they need to cite me and credit me with having been their source. I am extremely conscientious doing that when I write about the Arts. And this has happened to me more than once, now at least three times, where some of the pioneering arts writing that I have done since the 1990s, which people know was unlike anything that came before it, was borrowed from liberally and was in at least one case, the basis of a very popular book. It would get to you too.

Also:

And I want to add that I have seen no one, here or on any forum, argue constantly against social determinism and art, against the idea that art is social justice, or just a reflection of the times. Except for the poet Alice Gribbin, who has written about how destructive social linkage is to the arts, and she did it in an original way (and note that I credit her for it). And these guys, from what they say, don't even really understand it any way. Funny thing is that I seem to recall that Benjamin's ideas about this were NOT anti social connections and art, especially in his critical work about Brecht. But I would have to go back to it. But the key is the TERMINOLOGY, the use of the phrase "counter-history," which reeks of "borrowing."

Paul Kumar also wrote:

Allen, while I don't think you will care much for what Ronald Radano, the author whom you are crticizing without naming, means when he uses the term "counterhistory," I think it would be good for you to read at least some of what he has written before concluding that he is stealing work of Richard Gilman's and yours without attribution. From the little bit of his book that I have read, I think the concept of "counterhistory" as he deploys it has limited kinship and outright contradictions with Gilman's and your concept as you have explained it previously. Moreover, Radano traces his use of the concept explicitly to Foucault's use of the term in a very different context than yours in a 1976 lecture at the Collège de France. To the extent there is any similarity between what Radano means and what you mean, it most likely runs back through Foucault to Benjamin in his case and through Gilman to Benjamin in yours.

This led to a discussion of Foucault, where Tony Ferrizzi recommended an essay, "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History" (in lieu of the "huge history books (though they are magic)." I've only read bits of early Foucault -- most likely Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, and/or The Order of Things (in my memory it was "Birth of the Asylum," which may be a subtitle to the former, or a corruption of the second; I definitely had a copy of the third, but don't recall making any real headway through it; I liked the word "structuralism," but never explored its theorists deep enough to claim any understanding of what they meant). Interestingly, when I googled for "counterhistory," I got a Wiktionary definition that was much less pointed than I assumed Gilman had meant ("an alternative interpretation of history"). I also found a piece titled What is Counterhistory?, which cited Foucault (on Nietzsche, no less), but also a book by David Biale, Gershom Scholem: Kaballah and Counter-History, which gets us pretty close to Benjamin. I thought about responding, but I'm overwhelmed with other crap.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, October archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 40 albums, 8 A-list.

Music: Current count 45041 [45001] rated (+40), 12 [29] unrated (-17).

New records reviewed this week:

• Affinity Trio [Eric Jacobson/Pamela York/Clay Schaub]: New Outlook (2024-25 [2025], Origin): [cd]: B+(***)
• Ammar 808: Club Tounsi (2025, Glitterbeat): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bar Italia: Some Like It Hot (2025, Matador): [sp]: A-
• Bobby Conn: Bobby's Place (2025, Tapete): [sp]: B+(*)
• Hollie Cook: Shy Girl (2025, Mr Bongo): [sp]: B+(**)
• Madi Diaz: Fatal Optimist (2025, Anti-): [sp]: A-
• El Michaels Affair: 24 Hr Sports (2025, Big Crown): [sp]: B-
• Esthesis Quartet: Sound & Fury (2025, Sunnyside): [bc]: B+(**)
• Carter Faith: Cherry Valley (2025, MCA Nashville): [sp]: B+(**)
• Robert Finley: Hallelujah! Don't Let the Devil Fool You (2025, Easy Eye): [sp]: A-
• Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up (2023 [2025], Out of Your Head): [cd]: A-
• Todd Herbert: Captain Hubs (2024 [2025], TH Productions): [cd]: B+(***)
• Maja Jaku: Blessed & Bewitched (2025, Origin): [cd]: B+(***)
• Zara Larsson: Midnight Sun (2025, Summer House/Epic): [sp]: B+(*)
• Jens Lekman: Songs for Other People's Weddings (2025, Secretly Canadian): [sp]: B+(***)
• Lizzy & the Triggermen: Live at Joe's Pub (2024 [2025], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
• Russ Lossing Trio: Moon Inhabitants (2020 [2025], Sunnyside): [bc]: B+(*)
• Kelsey Mines: Everything Sacred, Nothing Serious (2024 [2025], OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
• Andy Nevala: El Rumbón (The Party) (2023-24 [2025], Zoho): [cd]: B+(***)
• Princess Nokia: Girls (2025, Artist House): [sp]: B+(***)
• Nicholas Payton: Triune (2025, Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(**)
• Reneé Rapp: Bite Me (2025, Interscope): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Salt/Thirst (2025, Unmusic): [cd]: B+(*) [10-24]
• Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Kaiho - Live in Helsinki (2025, Unmusic): [os]: B+(*) [10-24]
• Rubén Reinaldo: Fusión Olívica (2024 [2025], Free Code Jazz): [lp]: A-
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Yainer Horta/Joey Calveiro: A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole (2025, Calveiro Entertainment): [sp]: B+(***)
• Rich Siegel: It's Always Been You (2025, self-released): [cd]: B
• Tom Skinner: Kaleidoscopic Visions (2025, International Anthem): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sudan Archives: The BPM (2025, Stones Throw): [sp]: A-
• Suede: Antidepressants (2025, BMG): [sp]: B+(*)
• Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl (2025, Republic): [sp]: A-
• Patrisha Thomson: Your Love (2025, PT Designs Productions): [cd]: B
• Henry Threadgill: Listen Ship (2025, Pi): [cd]: B+(***)
• Mark Turner: Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (2025, Giant Step Arts): [cd]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Kenny Barron: Sunset to Dawn (1973 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): [cd]: B+(**)
• Roy Brooks: The Free Slave (1970 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): [cd]: A-
• Ivan Farmakovskiy: Epic Power (2010, SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)
• Carlos Garnett: Cosmos Nucleus (1976 [2025], Muse/Time Traveler): [cd]: B+(*)
• John Lennon & Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band: Power to the People: Live at the One to One Concert (1972 [2025], Universal, 2CD): [sp]: B+(**)
• Pharoah Sanders: Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (1975, Transcendence Sounds, 2CD): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Roy Brooks: Beat (1964, Workshop Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Martin Bejerano: The Purple Project (Figgland) [11-21]
• Theo Bleckmann: Love and Anger (Sunnyside) [10-31]
• Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up (Out of Your Head) [09-12] [damaged]
• Thomas Morgan: Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) [11-07]
• Tom Ollenberg: Where in the World (Fresh Sound New Talent) [11-21]

Daily Log

Watched two more episodes of The Diplomat last night. The extreme implausability of not one but two career diplomats being considered as non-elective vice presidents, as well as the notion that they could continue to function as separate but still married but not really, is really getting out of hand. Most annoying part was Hal's glib defense of the F-35, which both president (Allison Janney) and diplomat (Keri Russell) witnessed and somehow thought profound. Other countries buy F-35s not because they want them, but because they think doing so will win them points with whoever's in charge of America. They are useless and insanely expensive, but their purchase is considered a legal form of tribute (or bribery). As I recall, when Biden threatened to hold back on delivering 2,000 lb bombs, Israel promptly agreed to buy a couple dozen F-35s, which would take years to deliver, so Biden released the bombs now.

Finished writing my Gaza II piece yesterday. I had sent Gaza I to five people, but only heard back from Laura, so I just sent this one to her. I woke up thinking of more stuff I could add, but it's already way too long. And while it leaves many questions unanswered, I thought it ended strong. Those questions, by the way, mostly have to do with the coddling of Israel and Trump that has to occur in order to get them to actually do the bare minimum for peace. I'm willing to throw the Palestinian refugee issue under the bus, not just to appease Israel but because I really think the people involved will be much better off if they turn their backs on Palestine and build new lives elsewhere. So I see extending the Gaza deal to disperse the other refugees, and to allow more emigration from the West Bank — those are the things Israel most cares about — I still think a lot of pressure will be needed on Israel to keep them from killing the rest of their people (and "their" is appropriate, because they [Israelis] are responsible for the rest of the Palestinians still under their rule). That means no amnesty for war crimes (even though the charges are effectively unenforceable, they should still face public scrutiny every day), and a rededicated BDS effort to impose some (however small) cost on their continuing apartheid regime. Hopefully, readers won't have to think too hard to read those points between the lines.

I've started reading Illan Pappé's Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence. Intro was common stuff, but the book itself has already started getting interesting. I'm not a close observer of Israeli politics, so that's what I'm looking for insight into. I do suspect that the self-harm Israel has committed will sooner or later exact a price on their political self-conception. I have no idea how that will play out, but Pappé's assertion of "cracks in the foundation" is very likely right. I need to stop myself here, before I argue that the rottenness of Zionism could only be exposed by example, much as the rottenness of Nazism was (and the rottenness of Trumpism is also showing).

Woke up at 11, but sleeping was uneasy for at least an hour before I got up. Read some. Came down. Heard a buzz in the basement, where a UPS is starting to die. They are necessary machines, but pretty unreliable, and have turned into a substantial portion of our "E-waste." I should pick up another one, or two (as I have one in the dining room just being used as a power strip). Laura has dentist today, so will be out this afternoon. I have tons of work to do today and all week. I really want to spend this whole week on birthday dinner, but have: Substack post (today), Music Week (today), Loose Tabs (tomorrow?), Gottschalk roofing (tomorrow), dentist (Wednesday), as well as shopping and cooking, probably more roofing throughout the week. Not even sure who the guests will be.

I finally went to library on Saturday, and picked up four area cookbooks (none of the ones I had considered ordering, but enough to work with). I thought I'd do a shopping round, but held off on that. I'm thinking now that I'll go to Thai Binh after Laura gets back from dentist, just for some early reconnoitering, then go to the Harry St. store after my denstist on Wednesday, plus whatever else I need at that time. I'm thinking I'll start with sambals, pastes, and sauces perhaps as early as tonight. I should check on the pickle (achar) recipe too. I also need to do some housecleaning and organization. I should also see if I can figure out what's wrong with the grill. I can get by without the saté skewers, but they would be terrific, and I'm seeing some other grilled dishes -- chicken that has been cooked in coconut milk, whole fish -- that could be amazing.

Email (17 messages):

• Semipop Life: mostly EPs I've mostly heard, but some ideas.
• Seth Rosner wrote to ask when I'm sending jazz poll ballots out.

Daily Log

Spent most of yesterday working on the Gaza II piece. Basically, I rewrote the introduction from scratch, pushing everything else down. But I failed to complete, let alone post, so that will be a big push today. I had hoped to get Gaza II out yesterday, and Loose Tabs up today, with a brief recap of Music Week on Monday that would clear my calendar, so I could start cooking birthday dinner. I also have dentist next week, plus all that roofing business, so I'm feeling overwhelmed. Jazz Critics Poll after that.

Watched 2 episodes of season 3 of The Diplomat last night. Feels ever more like a liberal war fantasy, not unlike The West Wing or (presumably, as I never watched a whole episode) Madame Secretary. Entertaining, perhaps even gripping, if you overlook much. Laura is into it, so I'll watch on. I will say, though, that all these hyperintelligent, fanatically hard-working operatives seem like a major disconnect from what we've been able to discern from the Trump and Biden administrations (and for that matter their only marginally more competent predecessors). The actual operatives there seem likely to make Veep overly rationalized, because it's hard for even satirists to grasp how vacuous their subjects really are. I only occasionally hate-watched The West Wing, noting it imagined a better Clinton White House, one where all the people were better actors, being fed better-scripted lines, as if a slight tune up in appearances was the only thing keeping Clinton's admin from rousing success.

Slept ok, getting up once, then again after 10. Started reading Ilan Pappé's new book, which covers similar ground to my essays, but is better written and more cogently argued. My value added is mostly in the crazy ideas department, but I suspect he has those later on, as well. His focus is on potential change within Israel. My focus is more on how the world should deal with these murderers, given that there is very little we can do until they want to change. Ideally, in the end both approaches will meet, and help one another.

Some email (13 messages):

• Daily stats for Substack post: 109 views, 3 likes, 0 subscriptions. Email opens 75%, direct-to-app 12%, direct 8%. Pleased to see views are up, but outpacing subscriptions. Later: 3 more likes.
• Project Syndicate: Carl Bildt, "Putin is out of options."
• Heard back from Jeff Salamon. He wants me to drop the international shipping terms from the form, so I'll do that (and blame Trump; why not?).
• Vox articles, including Zack Beauchamp on "Can America recover from Trump?" and Ian Millhiser's "It sure looks like the Voting Rights Act is doomed."
• Got my Indonesian groceries: kecap manis, dried pandan leaves, dried kaffir lime leaves.
• Allen Lowe on "Jazz singers who don't annoy me": Jimmy Rushing, Jabbo Smith, Marion Harris, Anita O'Day.

Daily Log

Watched episode 4 of Silent Witness last night, followed by Abbott Elementary goes to a Phillies game. Spent most of the day going over my NOEL post on Gaza War Peace Plan. Got two likes fairly quickly. Big hope for today is to revise the part two piece and get it out tonight. That's going to be a tougher job, as the piece is rather sprawling and messy. Woke up today thinking of a new introduction, which seems necessary for continuity from the first piece. Then I found my thoughts expanding into what is minimally a third piece.

Woke up early, before the machine shut down (which seems to be more likely when I'm on my back). But I stayed in bed, and went back to sleep. Got up about 11, with 460 minutes. AHI was 2.1, higher than usual, but still under their 5 marker. Finished the Barkan book. Last couple chapters were very scattered, directing a lot of ire at Democrats from almost random angles. It might be interesting to come up with a exercise sheet where you list all of these complaints, estimate how many people were affected by each, and apportion blame in two columns: not just how badly the Democrats blew the issue, but how clever the Republicans were in exploiting it, and an estimate of how long they might be able to get away with it. I marked a couple quotes I might expand on in Loose Tabs. Lots of candidates for next book, but Ilan Pappé is probably LIFO.

Roof business: Tom James came over. I gave him a tour, talked a lot, got his assurance that he's interested in doing anything we want, any way we want it. I asked him to break the job up into several segments, that he could estimate separately. I hadn't heard from Gottschalk, so I sent them a form, and found they hadn't gotten my email. Something rotten with Cox, evidently. I resent it, and Wanda assured me that Jim would look at it and get back to me early next week. I should probably do the same thing with Dolphin, as I haven't heard from Chris Martin either. Downtown left a phone call last week, so they're still interested. I'll send them some email over the weekend. That should be enough ducks lined up for now. I'll press everyone else to give me proposals like I've requested from Tom James. We should be able to make a decision on the first stage (high roof) next week.

Laura wants to go to the No Kings demonstration. I don't. It's noon already, and I still haven't had breakfast. In addition to all the writing, I had the idea of going to the library (to see if I can find any of the Indonesian cookbooks I didn't buy), and to an Asian grocer (to make a first pass on ingredients). Light email (8 messages).

• Christian Paz on "The next big debate Democrats can't dodge": "What should the party do about ICE?"
• Farmers Insurance asks "based on your recent claim experience, how likely are you to recommend Farmers Insurance to family, friends, or colleagues?" Choices are 1 to 10.
• Amazon order of Indonesian ingredients delayed ("now arriving tomorrow").
• Checklist of bands you've seen. Hardin Smith had 8. I had 4: B-52s, Ramones, Blondie, Clash. (All in NYC, 1976-80.)

Some spare parts cut from editing the second Gaza piece:

I recently wrote about the Gaza War Peace Plan, specifically the 20-points that Trump announced on September 29, which has since been partially agreed to by representatives of Israel and Hamas, with further details to be worked out at a meeting in Egypt. They key elements that have been agreed to are:

1. Israel will cease military operations in Gaza, and will withdraw from a defined part of the Strip, and will withdraw farther in steps later on. Hamas will also ceasefire, not that they had any significant firepower in the first place.
2. There will be an exchange of prisoners/hostages.
3. Aid will be allowed to enter Gaza, to be distributed among the survivors there.

These steps have happened, although Israel has since shot some Palestinians, and held back some aid trucks. Hamas has had some difficulty delivering corpses for Israelis who died as hostages, and Israel is claiming that as evidence of noncompliance. Israel has a long history of making agreements in bad faith and sabotaging them when they thought they could get away with it, and this may well go the same way. But this is very welcome as long as the ceasefire holds. The war is not just horrific on its own terms, but fogs over operations in the West Bank and elsewhere, while reinforcing a psychology of terror that Israel's politicians have exploited for their own genocidal aims.

The plan also includes numerous planks about the future governance and redevelopment of Gaza. Hamas has argued that agreement on matters like that requires broader Palestinian participation, whereas they are only one [much diminished] group. The key questions remaining are how much self-control the residents of Gaza can exercise, and how much interference/direction they must suffer at the hands of Trump (and maybe Blair), the Arab states, and most seriously Israel.

I think we should be very adamant that Israel is entitled to no say whatsoever. They have ruled Gaza since 1967, and to say that they have failed completely is an orders-of-magnitude understatement. Peace depends on a sense of security, justice, and freedom. All Israel has brought to Gaza is fear, terror, restraints, and impoverishment. No one with eyes can fail to see this. This shouldn't even be open for discussion. The Palestinian Authority is nearly as discredited, especially as its main business is in the West Bank, and it has more problems there than they know what to do with. Transplanting it to Gaza is tantamount to giving Israel a proxy. As for America, Europe, and the Arab powers, they are all more or less tarnished. Gazans are likely to welcome their help, and reward it with peace, but they are unlikely to buy into their business schemes, nor should they. The people who live there need to be in control of their own destiny, able to deal with who they want, when and where they choose.

I have long advocated for a clean separation of Gaza from Israel, because I've long seen it as a problem that could be solved separately. That's partly because I've never bought the idea that there should be one Palestinian state for one people. The idea of partitioning Palestine into two states goes back to the 1936 Peel Commission, was revived by the UN in 1947, and has been a staple of American politicians ever since. Israel's own endorsements for the idea have been opportunistic, cynical, and fleeting. Rather than reviewing them, it should suffice to note if Israel actually wanted a two-state division, they could have implemented it completely on their own. They didn't need to find a "partner for peace," they could have finessed the refugee problem, and they could have backed down the other Arab powers (as they did Egypt in 1979). The easiest time to do it was 1967, when it was at least considered, but they could have done it well into the Oslo era, and possibly later. I'm tempted to say they could still do it now, but I can't think of a single political figure in Israel who has the guts and cunning to try to pull it off. That there are still Americans who see it as an option just testifies to the depths of our delusion.

The key thing to understand about the "two-state solution" is not just that it was designed to fail, but that it based on the assumption that Israelis could not stand to share the same polity with Palestinians. This was a profoundly racist assumption, one at the heart both of Israeli self-consciousness — formed as it has been by European anti-semitism, by Britain's divisive colonial administration (where they assumed Britain's role above and against the Arabs), by the deep trauma of the Holocaust, and by fear-mongering joined with perpetual war — and it was readily echoed by the British and Americans who have moved so naturally to sanctify the "two-state solution." You can confirm this with the mere mention of the obvious alternative, which is one state where all people have equal rights.

I can argue that the Israeli mindset is wrong, but I have no doubt that it exists and is immovable. (And sure, I know there are exceptions.) So whenever I try to think of ways to settle this conflict, I have to start from the assumption that Israelis are exactly as they are, and not as I'd like them to be. This not only means that they are intractably racist, chauvinist, and paranoid, but that they have nearly complete power of self-determination. That means they cannot be forced to do anything they aren't willing to do. That doesn't mean that they cannot be nudged, as Netanyahu was by Trump to accept a ceasefire/hostage return he most likely didn't want. But there are limits to what they'll concede, and sooner or later anyone who wants to achieve peace has to work around them.

I think we have to accept two simple facts here:

1. Israel has won its struggle to exist as however it chooses to define itself as a "Jewish State," and no one else can threaten them or try to dictate terms as to how they run their state. They are sovereign, no matter how much we might disapprove of their "peculiar institutions."

2. Israel will never accept return of the Palestinian refugees from 1948 and later, no matter how legitimate we think their case for return may be. Ethnographically-stratified settler-colonial states rise or fall based on demographics. Israel is precariously on the edge, held up by sheer force, so they feel that any loss is likely to be their existential ruin. If anything, they want more transfer, not less.

On the other hand, Palestinians have no military power — the last tatters were spent by Hamas in their Oct. 7, 2023 revolt, and while it shocked many people at the time, its only lasting effect was in the choices Israel made to respond. All that leaves them with is their humanity, which many people have been trained to discount, but which most of us cannot ignore, but doesn't much impress the might-makes-right crowd.

Whenever I've attempted to craft a solution, I've tried to work within these limitations. The result is that nobody's happy with the sort of things I propose. That's partly because all sides specialize in self-serving rhetoric, often more to impress their followers than to make progress with others. Or possibly just to set up excuses for failures they never wanted to happen in the first place. I've read a lot of history, and have developed models in my head of how various parties think and operate. I know that neither side is monolithic, but often gravitate between multiple positions.

Explaining these insights (or hunches) is probably a hopeless task, but one thing to bear in mind is that both Israelis and Palestinians tend to think that time is on their side, so they worry about conceding too readily. Thus far that's worked much better for Israel, which has steadily gained power, increasing their ambitions and arrogance, while Palestinians have struggled to catch up with deals that are no longer on the table (if indeed they ever were). Both sides' aims have changed over the years, which has rarely been recognized by the other, much less used to build more satisfactory proposals.

---

• We recognize as a matter of principle as well as fact that no sovereign nation can be forced to do anything against its own will, and that any threats to do so by force are wrong. Therefore, we recognize that Israel cannot be forced or punished, regardless of its crimes against humanity and/or the environment. We acknowledge that "international law" is unenforceable, simply a set of conventions that most nations agree to live by out of an understanding of their own interests. No nation should fear for its existence.

• We also concede that sovereign nations are allowed to express their own disapproval of other nations through policies that limit themselves, like sanctions (and unlike a blockade). Sanctions do not have a very successful track record, especially when they've been used by great powers to bully lesser ones for selfish ends (as has usually been the case when the US has imposed them). Some ground rules might help: they need to be limited to clearly defined and widely opposed behavior; they need to be support people of the offending nation, and not be seen as pressing the declarer's own interests; they need to be removable once the behavior is corrected, with the resoration of normal relations. Sanctions against South African apartheid are a good example. US sanctions against Cuba, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are bad faith examples. Israel has a long list of criminal behavior both against its own people and others. While genocide in Gaza has jumped to the head of the list, there is much else to consider, as the genocide is rooted in much deeper patterns of discrimination, deceit, and violence. On the other hand, for tactical reasons one might wish to start with the most grievous offenses, and allow some opportunity to remedy them before moving onto lesser offenses.

• While there is much we might fault Israel for, the top of the list is war against Gaza. Israel attacked Gaza multiple times when it was under Egyptian control, from 1950-1967. After seizing it in 1967, it subjected Gaza to cruel military control, which provoked two major uprisings. In 2006, it walled up the perimeter and withdrew its administration, turning the whole area into an "open-air prison." Since then it has periodically conducted bombing and shelling, which it has euphemistically termed "mowing the grass," while restricting imports (e.g., of food, termed "putting Gaza on a diet"). With no recourse, this brutality drove Gaza's residents toward its most militant organizations. Ultimately, this led to a desperate revolt on Oct. 7, 2023, where militants breached Israel's defenses, attacked both civilian and military targets, killed 1200 Israelis, and took another 250 captive.

  Israel responded with threats to kill everyone in Gaza. They've carried out their threats by killing many thousands, destroying all infrastructure, most agriculture, and some 85% of housing, while spreading starvation and disease. The word "genocide" describes this, as the intent and effect has been spread throughout the entire population. Unlike most invading powers, Israel has made no effort whatsoever to pacify and stabilize any part of Gaza. The minimal conclusion we can draw from this is that Israel should have no role and no presence or effect in the postwar management of Gaza. We must insist that Israel renounce any claims it has to the land, people, and/or resources of Gaza.

  While we cannot force Israel to halt its war and limit its claims, everyone should apply whatever influence they have to convince Israel to do so voluntarily. (With the Trump plan, Israel has suspended its war, although not quite completely. The Trump plan seems to allow Israel a say in how Gaza is run into the indefinite future. This would be bad for everyone. Israel is quite capable of defending its own borders, although its need to do so should go down considerably once it stops stirring up the nest of resentments in Gaza. The same is probably true for the West Bank, but the encroachment of settlements there has made it much harder to define a clear break there, and Israel appears to be more committed to staying there, so that's a separable issue.)

• Palestine has been recognized by 157 of 193 member states of the United Nations. It has been a "non-member observer state" of the UN General Assembly since 2012. The US has blocked its full membership. This started in 1988, with 81 nations. At that point, the recognized government was the PLO, headed by Yasser Arafat in exile in Tunisia, having offered his "olive branch" for peace and recognition of Israel. The Oslo Accords allowed Arafat to return to Israeli-occupied Palestine and establish the Palestinian Authority. Under the Oslo Accords, the PA was authorized to negotiate on behalf of all Palestinians for a two-state division of Israeli-controlled territory, some of which was internationally recognized, while other parts were illegally occupied since the 1967 war. It's worth noting here that it was Israel which selected who it would negotiate with. Somehow, the Palestinians never get to elect their own representatives.

  The negotiations were frustrated by a series of Israeli governments, with the US always backing the Israeli line in the blame game. When they fell apart in 2000, an "intifada" erupted, which was brutally suppressed by Israel, reducing the PA to a relatively trivial role as an agent of Israeli control. The PA was further delegitimized in 2006-07, when elections that favored Hamas were ignored, Sharon dismantled settlements in Gaza allowing the complete isolation of the Strip, and Hamas seized power there.

  The present PA, with Mahmoud Abbas as its no-longer-elected president, pushed for recognition, including UN membership, in 2011-12, and picked up additional support, presumably to bolster its credentials in efforts to negotiate a "two-state solution" that Israel gave some lip service to bu constantly undermined. Another push for recognition kicked off in 2024, to register concern over the ongoing genocide. After October 2023, the Hamas government in Gaza disappeared. Parties outside Gaza have represented Hamas in negotiations in Qatar and elsewhere, and managed to release the "hostages" held in Gaza, but there is at present no legitimate represenation of the Palestinian people. Hence, one has to ask, what good does this recognition do?

  I want to make one proposal under this point. (We can circle back to the other groups later.) The normal situation is that each sovereign nation possesses defined borders, and supports the rights of all of the people within its territory. There are occasional anomalies. Sometimes there is a border dispute, as between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s. These should be negotiated between the parties, possibly referring the dispute to the World Court. Israel and Syria had a border dispute before the 1967 war consolidated small issues into a much larger one, which still needs to be resolved. (A side issue here, the Bekaa Farms on the border with Lebanon, has been the site of numerous incidents.) As border disputes can easily turn to war, it behooves all of us to come up with mutually agreeable peaceful solutions as soon as possible.

  However, it is a second group of anomalies that concerns us here. Sometimes nations define themselves to exclude or deny rights to some of the people who live there. This is contrary to belief in most of the world, but there is very little that world public opinion can do against a determined state. (War is out of the question, as it only compounds and spreads the injury. Economic sanctions are possible, but have a poor track record. More about them later.) Israel is an example: its "Arab citizens" are second class, and the residents of its occupied territories aren't even that. People in Gaza have fared even worse: subject to periodic bouts of collective punishment, which has risen to genocidal levels since October 2023. International law states that Israel is also responsible for refugees from its past wars, going back to 1948. There are now millions of Palestinians denied the peace, security, and fundamental rights of citizenship.

  We can't fix this, but we can start by recognizing the problem. One way to do this would be for the UN to recognize a new category of sovereign nations: a virtual state of displaced people. The UN, through one of its courts, should be empowered to recognize substantial groups of refugees for such status. There may be other groups where this might make sense, but let's start with Palestinians, and specifically everyone in (or fleeing from) Gaza. (Palestinian refugees elsewhere could also be organized, but for now I'd keep them separate, as they have different needs. Palestinians inside the occupied territories could be a third group. Extending this to people who are merely discriminated against, such as Palestinian citizens of Israel, is a future option, but much less pressing.)

Daily Log

Watched the final Karen Pirie episode last night. Lots of plot twists that ultimately added up to a pretty satisfactory story. I though of "oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," figuring it to be Shakespeare but on looking it up it seems to have come from Walter Scott. Got up once, but went straight back to bed, and woke around 10, thinking of roofing. Gottschalk never got back to me from my Monday call/email. Tom James is coming over this afternoon. Dolphin never got back with an estimate either, and Midwest never called back. Laura belatedly told me that Hometown left a message, but I haven't called them back. In general, I figure it would be best to get the work done before it gets too cold, but everyone seems to be moving very slow, especially myself.

I did write a bunch more on the second Gaza post yesterday. It could still be a lot of work to make it all make sense, and at this point I'm just looking for the first opportunity to tee up a field goal and be done with it. I do think there are lots of good ideas there, but it's hard to see anyone taking them seriously. The big problem is that I'm working off a model of how I think the world should work, and everyone else has a different model, not of how it actually does work (a task hampered by the sad fact that it rarely does work) as their own limited vantage points.

Ukraine is probably a clearer example: both sides there are struggling for leverage to impose their will on the other, which neither can do, instead of trying to find the compromise that best serves the real people affected by the war. The admonition "do the right thing" would go far toward solving that. Israel is harder to see because, while it's couched in the same power politics, it's really just one side grappling with its own demons, oblivious to the damage it inflicts on others. I might find somewhere to use that, but I have a lot of similar points I'm unable to get to. My hope is to get the first post out tonight, the second tomorrow, and Loose Tabs on Sunday, then Music Week on Monday, leaving the rest of next week for cooking (I've started a planning file).

Email (40 messages, some leftover from last night):

• Amazon package shipped: I ordered some of othe more obscure Indonesian ingredients: dried kaffir lime leaves, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), dried pandan daun leaves.

Daily Log

Watched Slow Horses and Elsbeth last night. Spent most of the day working on part 2 of my Gaza war/peace post. I hit the bullet points, but feels very rough, and definitely needs intro and outro. Was effectively blind when I woke up, unable even to make out the 3-inch digital numbers on the clock. But I did take Barkan's book with me to the bathroom, and after a few minutes I started reading. I wound up finishing the "Israel" chapter, leaving "Culture" for next. Like Beauchamp, a young Jewish-American journalist with little affection for Israel. (Beauchamp came from Holocaust-survivor families, which seems not to have weighed in Israel's favor.)

Nothing on the roof front yesterday, aside from one company dropping by to offer a "free inspection." I'm bothered by the lack of follow up from previously contacted companies, but there's other stuff I'd rather work on. I hope to clean up the second Gaza post today, and send out the first one.

Email (24 messages):

• IPSOS New Vehicle Customer Study poll request. I never filled out the previous Toyota requests, but I'm upset enough I should look them up and vent a little.
• Substack: new subscriber (Rob Hoff).
• Mazin Qumsiyeh: "Gaza ignored a global uprising and change is happening."
• Project Syndicate: I signed up for their newsletter to read an article, but turns out I can't read more articles without paying more money. This one offers articles of some minor interest: Barry Eichengreen on "Will stablecoins preserve dollar dominance?"; Ken Rogoff on "Will AI pay off the West's debts?" I suspect the answer to both is "no," but won't bother checking them out. Also articles on "Is the global economy as resilient as it seems?" and "Is economics promoting inequality?" Probably "yes" on those. Also got a poll request from them, to "help Project Syndicate improve."
• TomDispatch: Nick Turse on "The war within," sub "The Trump administration's military occupation of America."

Daily Log

Watched more of The Gold and Only Murders in the Building last night. I made a small amount of progress on the roof yesterday: I found out that Tom James, who I know through the Peace Center and hired once to put in a French drain, is working with a roofing company these days. I talked to him, and he's coming over Friday. I talked to another friend, who recommended Gottschalk Brothers Roofing, so I called them, sent them the claim report, and am waiting for a call back. I did some checking on Hometown Roofing, and one reference didn't pan out. Nothing more from previous contacts. It rained some, but I didn't check the attic. I'm at something of a loss here, but figure it wouldn't hurt to let it slide until Friday.

Week after will be my birthday, leading up to dinner on Saturday. I got another southern cookbook from Amazon, but haven't ordered any Indonesian yet. I figured I should look at the books I have, and see if I could make a sufficient menu out of them. I opened a file, and jotted down a dozen-plus recipes, plus made notes on several Rijsttafel menus (and watched a video from a restaurant in the Hague). Seems like more than enough to work with. But it does occur to me that perhaps I should order some ingredients rather than -- as with the Burma dinner last year -- hoping I could find them locally. (I wound up unable to make the Tea Salad, supposedly the signature Burmese dish.) I could go out and reconnoiter, but Amazon might be easier. I'm thinking that the best way to do Indonesian would be to sort the dishes out by how long they keep, and start cooking 3-4 days in advance. Yesterday's draft, in the form of a shopping list, doesn't really work to plan with, so I may open up a proper planning document today.

Woke up just before 9. Tried going back to sleep, but failed, and got up at 10 (95 on the meter). Thinking a lot about the second Gaza post. My plan was to review and post the first one yesterday, but I managed nothing for the day (other than adding some Loose Tabs). Probably best to see if I can get the new one going, then be able to offer both of them in rapid succession. The new Ilan Pappé book arrived today. Read some more from Barkan, including bits on Occupy, the "leaderless left" and the "Palestine left." I'm not very happy with these concepts, but I have long maintained that the "failure" of the New Left was really just an extreme opposition to power, so much so that they didn't even trust themselves. That led to cultural wins but didn't secure them politically, making it easier for the right to roll them back.

Email (14 messages):

• OR book by Paul Holden on Keir Starmer: The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy.
• Xgau Sez: October, 2025: questions on '90s CD compilations, E[+-] grades (namecheck to me as "unstoppable"), albums vs. songs, Mary J Blige, Geese, chansons. I need to post, but didn't get to it today.

Daily Log

I spent most of Monday filling out my NOEL post on the Gaza war/peace plan. End of the day, I sent it off to Laura and several others to see if I get any comments back. I then knocked out a couple paragraphs of intro to Music Week, and posted it late, just before bed. We watched The Gold and Only Murders in the Building. I woke up once, but went back to sleep, then got up after 10, machine at 100. Read some more of Barkan, on how woke the 2024 Republican convention was, and on befuddled the Democrats were in going along with Biden's reëlection fantasies. Scarcely a mention of Harris so far.

Title is Fascism or Genocide, but that wasn't an actually available choice. There was no choice regarding genocide: both parties were fully complicit, and any argument about more or less was hair-splitting. As was the more basic question of supporting war, or more precisely America's global militarism, which was most flagrantly displayed in the actual war in Ukraine and the sabre-rattling vis-a-vis China. There the hairs split more on style than substance: Republicans were more into bluster, but Democrats were more into the sort of alliance-building that sucked you into otherwise minor conflicts. So genocide or not wasn't an option. The choice turned on genocide with or without fascism. And just what that fascism option meant wasn't clear for most people: Republicans denied the label, except for their charges that Democrats were the real fascists, and Democrats only picked it up as a label when John Kelly used it, as if he was some kind of an expert. They made little effort to explain how Republican fascism would hurt people and hurt the country, leaving the issue abstract and rhetorical, even though the more knowledgeable of us could detect fascism oozing from every Trump pore. But I suppose it's hard to oppose fascism when you're also committed to a world-straddling military empire and sucking up to billionaire interests.

Email (27 messages):

• HP Instant Ink is sending me cartridges. All I did was to print a 39-page PDF file, which presumably used up my current month quota (10 pages) and resulted in overcharges (plus 30 pages should be $4.50). I don't anticipate ever printing anything again, so I may not need these, but this is the first time they've shipped ink since I initially signed up. They are evil, and they're so damn annoying about it.
• Juan Cole: Terror from the Skies in the Middle East.
• Laura forwarded me a business card for Tom James ("Roofing Specialist"). I know Tom. He's done some yard work for us, and I was thinking of calling him up to see if he had any insight into the roofing industry. Looks like he does.
• When I ordered the Ilan Pappé book, Amazon promised to combine it with another order to be delivered today. Now I hear it's being shipped separately, and won't be here until tomorrow. It's relevant to the ongoing Israel posts. Perhaps my biggest open question is how Israel will respond politically to the ceasefire. I suspect that Netanyahu thinks this is a good time to finally put a bit of distance between himself and Smotrich/Ben-Gvir, and that he's hit the right note between punishing Gaza and restoring peace. But the end of a war often triggers a backlash that has been stifled as long as the war could serve as a rallying point. Pappé seems to be more optimistic about future Israeli political shifts, and I'd like to know what he has in mind.

I called Tom James. He's working with Arambula Construction, and promised to come out to talk on Friday. I emailed him the claim. I also talked to Doug Ballard. He denied knowing the "Jimmy Ballard" at Hometown Roofing, and thought it impossible that he could be a relative. He did give me a pretty strong recommendation for Gottschalk Roofing, so I contacted them. I've sent Jim Gottschalk the PDF and a cover email, so I'm waiting to hear back from him. I was thinking I'd canvas the neighborhood and see if I could settle on a couple more roofing contractors to contact. Much less need to do that now that I have two more lined up. I looked at Hometown's BBB reviews, and they are good (as advertised). Still waiting for a quote from Dolphin.

Laura posted this on Facebook:

Israel withholding food and water because hamas can't find some captive bodies under the rubble takes the cake for outrageous excuses to kill more Palestinians. Rubble Israeli bombs created. Thousands of Palestinians are buried under the rubble but who cares, not Israel the monster colonizer, the monster occupier, not the cowardly US press.

Mike Leiderman (Laura's cousin) replied:

the monster is Netanyahu. We have a similar monster here, controlling the country. It is not the vast majority of the people. Try to differentiate. We need to do that to keep sane.

I didn't have much of a problem with that, but Laura did, so we talked a bit about it. I think the big difference here is what Laura has always been anti-zionist, so sees every aspect of the movement as malign, where Mike (like most American Jews, at least among those born in the 1940s) identified early with Israel as a liberal haven, and remains reluctant to recognize it as the fascist monstrosity it has become (or the racist and militarist state it has always been). I finally wrote this comment (I was a bit rushed, as at one point I hit return, then had to edit what I had prematurely posted):

I think what Laura Tillem meant by "monster" was Zionism: the idea that European Jews should infiltrate Palestine, seize it by force, and build an ethnically (and, for some, religiously) pure state over the broken bodies of others who had long lived there. Many leftists were suspicious of nationalist ideologies from the start, and more became so as Israel fought against the tide of post-WWII decolonization, and increasingly moved to the right. But David Ben Gurion did a masterful job of presenting Israel as a democratic state, and most American liberals developed a deep attraction to it -- while America itself was embroiled in neocolonial wars. Meanwhile, its experience as masters of occupation has pushed Israel ever further to the right, which has since made Israel the darling of the American right, to the point that Netanyahu and Trump seem like mirror images. It's easy to see those two as monsters, but support for their policies is much broader both in the US and especially in Israel. Just as Biden/Harris offered no effective opposition to Trump on Israel's wholesale devastation of Gaza, the one thing few if any of Netanyahu's opponents oppose him on is his war strategy. It's always convenient to blame atrocities on a "few bad apples," as that allows one to doubt that the entire orchard is rotten, but there is much evidence that this one is, and has been for a very long time, and has only been covered up by a massive propaganda effort. But I think you'll find that even innocuous details reveal the deeper patterns.

Mike wrote back at length:

Wow. That's an interesting take, Tom. Zionism is the "monster" and European Jews "infiltrated" Palestine? Gosh. There's a new history book. Jews have lived in Palestine as long as the Arabs. They 'infliltrated" Palestine when the UN mandated a country for a people who had seen 6-million of their number murdered and the rest - or most of them - relegated to third class citizenship or expelled with no place to take them in. Many tried to get out of Europe only to be turned back by racist immigration laws, including and especially those in the US. So, after the Holocaust, the UN mandated a country called Israel in the midst of millions of Arabs, some of whom were driven from their former homeland, true, or chose to leave, as many Jews were forced to leave Arabs lands in the area. To refresh memories here, Israel accepted the UN mandate. Arabs didn't and attacked in 1947 with five armies. They lost, so Israel got a little bigger country than the UN first offered. The Arabs attacked again in 1956, led by Nasser and Egypt - Israel beat them back, with US help, and took over Sinai and Gaza, later giving it back in the truce talks. Arabs wanted more in 1967 and Israel blew that up on its own. It got a little bigger, territorially, too, taking the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Arabs attacked again, in 1973 and nearly pulled this one off - US saving Israel from destruction. In the 50 years since, the country has grown, prospered, innovated and grown more powerful of necessity. Arabs rejected Oslo and Camp David plans that would have given them 98% of the West Bank. And does anyone remember Israel pulled out - pulled out! -- of Gaza and Hamas moved in with its terrorists. So here we are today. Israel now has the gall to become powerful and able to better defend itself. Oh, those colonizing Jews! Better they should have left, according to the narrative of the Left. Israel, over the years and not being a "perfect country," also has developed warts, partially from decades of Arab terrorism and murders. Hence, we now have the heinous Settlers and Right-wing lunatics like Smotrich and Ben Gvir, plus a growing bunch of Orthodox who suck the country of its resources, don't work much or serve in the military, and spend their time trying to undermine their own nation (granted a bunch of these goofs are anti-Israel themselves, waiting for the Messiah. Good luck, btw.). If I'm hearing is that you don't believe Israel should have been created - that's a full stop. And yes, the current regime of Bibi has taken a horrible situation and made it worse. He could have settled a year ago under Biden, but saw his own power more important to him than the Hostages and his whole people. I can't condone starving innocents, but what's been called an "unequal response" to a murderous attack is colored by the fact that Israel was attacked - brutally. None of the last 24 months would have happened without the terrorism of Hamas. If Trump can "help" see a peace plan through, more power to him (I'm not holding my breath). If Netanyahu is deposed, the situation would improve immediately IF a center government can be formed that would function. (That's a tough one, too.) But please, don't tell me Zionism is a "monster" and Israel shouldn't be on the map. If the story of Uris's "Exodus" and the "Land of Milk and Honey" are myths, the country of Israel deserves respect and a place on the world stage, despite the abuses of Netanyahu & Co. They'll go. The country will live on - and be better for it. With a two-state solution, everyone will be.

Laura replied to this:

Everyone in America has heard this same canned hasbara at least a million times. No one has to come to facebook to hear it, it is all that any mainstream media or politician has ever offered. Zionism is a trap: From a poem I wrote 15 years ago: "Zionism is a trap/ set by those who should be taking the rap/ Europe and the US refused Jews a haven/ and used them then in a craven manner/ against the Arab liberation banner"

Music Week

Expanded blog post, October archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 24 albums, 1 A-list

Music: Current count 45001 [44977] rated (+24), 29 [29] unrated (+0).

New records reviewed this week:

• Agnas Bros.: Sista Försöket (2025, Moserobie): [cd]: B+(***)
• Eric Alexander: Like Sugar (2024 [2025], Cellar Live): [sp]: B+(***)
• Bright Eyes: Kids Table (2025, Dead Oceans, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Maya Delilah: The Long Way Round (2025, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Earscratcher: Otoliths (2024 [2025], Aerophonic): [cd]: A-
• Margaret Glaspy: The Golden Heart Protector (2025, ATO, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
• Phil Haynes & Free Country: Liberty Now! (1996-2025 [2025], Corner Store Jazz, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
• Hunx and His Punx: Walk Out on This World (2025, Get Better): [sp]: B-
• Charles Lloyd: Figure in Blue (2025, Blue Note) **
• Jim McNeely: Primal Colors (2025, Challenge): [sp]: B+(*)
• John Michel/Anthony James: Egotrip (2025, Loudmouth): [sp]: B+(**)
• Rhett Miller: A Lifetime of Riding by Night (2025, ATO): [sp]: B+(**)
• Neal Miner: Invisibility (2025, Cellar Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• The Prize: In the Red (2025, Anti Fade): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jason Rigby: Mayhem (2024 [2025], Endectomorph Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 1) (2025, self-released): [cd]: A-
• Grant Stewart: Next Spring (2025, Cellar Music): [sp]: B+(**)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Ray Chrarles: Best of Country & Western (1962-85 [2024], Tangerine): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Agnas Bros.: Lycka Till Med Musiken (2017 [2018], Agnas Musikproduktioner): [bc]: B+(**)
• Agnas Bros.: Frya (2022, Haphazard Music): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ray Charles: The Complete Swing Time and Down Beat Recordings (1949-1952) (1949-52 [2004], Night Train, 2CD): [sp]: B+(*)
• Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: Eye on You (1980 [1981], About Time): [bc]: B+(***)
• Jim McNeely Quintet: Rain's Dance (1976 [1978], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)

Grade (or other) changes:

• Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman (2025, Loma Vista): [sp]: [was: B+(***)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Agnas Bros.: Sista Försöket (Moserobie) [09-26]
• David Greenberger & the Hi-Ho Barbers: Ginger Ale (Pel Pel) [11-17]
• John O'Gallagher/Ben Monder/Andrew Cyrille/Billy Hart: Ancestral (Whirlwind) [10-24]

Daily Log

Watched Maigret and Abbott Elementary last night. I copied the 20 "Trump Peace Plan" points, and added comments to 5-6 of them. Nothing very interesting so far. I finished Beauchamp, and started Ross Barkan's 2024 campaign book, Fascism or Genocide: How a Decade of Disorder Broke American Politics. First chapter was about the Bowman primary, which makes some points about how Israel intervenes with American politics. I struggled to get into it last night, then woke up around 7 AM, read some more, tried to go back to sleep, uneasily, dreaming bad, waking up with the machine spontaneously turned off. By then it was almost 11. I read some more, and came down. Thinking mostly about the roofing decision, which is doing a fair job of driving me crazy.

Light email (9 messages). This seems to be Columbus Day, so no mail, and a lot of Trumpian jingoism. I should probably note that in Loose Tabs. I did add a fair amount yesterday, while circling around the Israel issue. Music Week is due today. If I run it, it's going to be pretty slim. I just ran the numbers, and looks like 24 new albums, 1 A-list, but the rated total just inched over 45,000. Replaying Margo Price now, and I'm likely to bump it up to A-. From Christgau's Consumer Guide, I still have the Bill Scorzari promo unplayed (release date 10/17), so I might try to get to it, but the Joseph Kamaru is also not yet unavailable. Rhett Miller appeared on Friday, and definitely doesn't live up to billing.

In a desperate attempt to deal with the refrigerator leak, I ordered a "real" Samsung filter ($38, more than double what I pay for bootleg filters). I had this When Southern Women Cook book in my shopping cart, so I ordered that as well. The thought crossed my mind this morning that I might rather cook from it than from Indonesian for my birthday. We're less than two weeks out now, and I'm feeling overwhelmed. I should do Indonesian at some point, but maybe sneak up on it, a couple dishes at a time? I'll revisit this when the cookbook arrives (Tuesday?).

Daily Log

Watched the latest Silent Witness last night, the first part of a two-part case, so we have to wait for the second part to occur. First two-part case this season took a while to get into, but this one was exceptionally good. We attended the Global Learning Center's annual UN banquet last night. Keynote speaker was Rebecca A. Shoot, "an international law specialist and democracy and governance practitioner." I've been very down on international law lately, and didn't expect much here -- their usual speakers are mostly platitudes, but she emphasized the short and fragile history of international law, the patchwork of efforts, and how they are slowly evolving, especially into new areas like ecology. She didn't make this point, but the frustrations one feels now due to the flagrant rejection of international law by Israel and the US could well rebound into renewed interest, much as Germany and Japan in the 1929-45 period. We left early, which may have been a mistake, as she was asking for ideas about what we wanted to see develop, and I have several. But I'm never much good at such events, so I don't feel so slighted.

Someone from Armor Top called, wanting to assess the roof damage. I told them I would look into it, and call them back if I wanted any help. I got a second call from a different person later with the same pitch. That reduced my interest even more.

Minimal email (7 messages).

Daily Log

Watched episode 2 (season 2) of Karen Pirie last night. Should be one more. Did some Loose Tabs in the evening, but nada after TV. Got up around 9:30, 85 on the machine. Half way through Beauchamp's final chapter on how to save democracy. We're ending with a whimper. Some bits there on John Rawls' theory of justice. I should probably try to understand that, but he makes it sound more complicated than it should be, and Rawls more difficult than he should be. Justice for me is the deep sense that the world is ordered in ways that are generally fair and supportive, and the faith that any breaches of justice will be fixed fairly quickly. Justice goes hand in hand with freedom, which is the option to act in any way that does not offend justice. Philosophers may (or may not?) be able to formalize this more, but if that's not what they're talking about, they are wrong. I will say, though, that it's much easier to identify injustice and unfreedom than it is to describe justice and freedom positively. The problem with the negative definitions is that they are many, and unlikely to ever feel complete.

Laura wants to go to the GLC dinner tonight. Speaker is Rebecca A. Shoot [ESQ., J.D., MSC], so I expect more of the usual platitudes on "human rights, democratic processes, and the rule of law on five continents." Sounds a lot like every other speaker they've had. The weak link here is "rule of law," because no matter how much law we think should apply to world affairs, there is no power behind it, and hence whatever order there is is purely voluntary.

Email (7 messages):

• Mazin Qumsiyeh: I get something from him nearly every day, but this one is timely. He emphasizes that "a temporary ceasefire and release of some Palestinians in a prisoner exchane is not a 'peace agreement' and is far from what is needed."
• Newegg is offering a 10-inch Samsung Galaxy tablet for $329.99. I wonder if it would be useful. I want to input a lot of inventory data (e.g., for a spreadsheet), but it would be best to be able to go to where the stuff is and catalog it, rather than dragging it all to the computer where I can type it up. I could conceivably do this with the Chromebook, but even it is awkward. Speech control might help, but it's hard to see how that would work: won't speech commands require a lot of contextual understanding?

I was thinking about writing a NOEL post on what a real peace agreement for Israel/Palestine should look like. With the new ceasefire/prisoner agreement partially agreed to, I'm now thinking about splitting this into two pieces: first on the current deal, then a second piece on my proposals.

Started work on the first piece, tentatively Gaza War Peace Plan. This will mostly consist of point-by-point comments on the proposed plan. The previously written preamble/notes have been pushed back to a second piece, thus far untitled, which will lay out my latest thinking on what a viable peace plan could look like — and by this, I mean not just something that would work in an ideal world, but one that Israel (and America) might be persuaded into accepting.

Daily Log

Started watching season 2 of Karen Pirie last night. We don't especially remember season 1, but seem to have watched it. Got up around 9, just 300 minutes on the machine. Read more from Beauchamp, mostly on Canada's embrace of immigration and diversity as a "vaccination" against "the reactionary spirit." He thinks that "defense of democracy" is a viable political strategy against the Trump juggernaut. I have my doubts, but many of the centrist pundits who wax on that issue do little to make democracy seem attractive -- or perhaps I should say "worth the trouble."

I called a couple of roofers yesterday. One from Hometown Roof cold-called me. I have him coming over at noon, and I stressed how it would be a good turn if he put a tarp up over the worst damage. I also have someone from Dolphin Roofing coming over at 2:30, but he was pretty cold on putting the tarp up, allowing that he would do it if we had a signed contract, or as a separate line item now with a minimum $587 charge. I also got a phone call from Emerson. The guy I spoke to was based in Lenexa and seemed to be in Omaha at the moment, but he said he could get someone from his Wichita crew in touch with me. I also called Midwest Roofing, and expect a call back from a Brandon Lee. So much of today will be chewed up with roofing business.

I'm falling behind on music listening. Played Tatum/Webster and Zoot Sims last night. Replaying Sims as I write this. Friday, so lots of email (30 so far). Got a CD in regular mail from Sweden, so it does seem possible to break through the Trump blockade. Nothing notable in email, other than:

• HP Instant Ink warned me that "you're getting lcose to your total available plan pages." I tried printing out a 39-page PDF of the insurance claim. I have a plan that allows for 10 pages per month, which I chronically underuse. "If you print more than your total available pages, your printer will automatically purchase 10 additional pages at a time for just $1.50. Plus, any unused additional pages will roll over to the next month." So some amount of extra charge will probably show up on my monthly bill.

Hometown Roofing came over. I spent a couple hours talking with their agent. Two more people came over to tarp the roof, so that's been done. Agent focused on hustling insurance, which I think has largely been done so far. But it sounds like they'll do a good job. I'm assured that they will work within the replacement costs estimates, but quotes on small items still seem real high.

Dolphin Roofing is also coming over. More on them later.

Dolphin's owner, Chris Martin, came out later. He is very confident, good at explaining both business and technical issues, readily concedes that insurance companies are criminal enterprises, and puts a lot of emphasis on the necessity of pricing 20% above what they allow. So he seems competent, honest, and expensive. He had quoted me $579 as a minimum charge for putting up a tarp. He took a distant look at the one Hometown installed, and found several faults in it: mostly in that they didn't secure it with 1x2 lumber. I sent him the insurance claim file. He should come back with an estimate for the work, but put far less emphasis on hustling the insurance company.

Daily Log

Watched TV (Slow Horses, Sister Boniface, the Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers monologues/Closer Look) last night. Worked a bit on the puzzle, getting a half-dozen pieces in. (This is by far the most difficult puzzle we've done in ages. I've been paying it very little attention, so it's mostly been Laura working on it the last 2-3 weeks. Some 80% of the puzzle is background, green clover leaves, rarely distinct enough to locate on the image, so we've mostly focused on unusual shape features.) I returned to computer about 2 AM, but was too tired to do anything more than run through a round of Mahjongg. I did ok, but gave up without finishing, and went to bed close to 3. Woke up once, then went back to sleep until after 10 (409 minutes, most I've had in weeks).

Read some Beauchamp on Modi, but mostly thinking about Israel piece angles, and (more ominously) the roof. Still don't have the tarp up, but I went out last night and bought one, plus cap nails and some sealer. I talked to Doug yesterday about having him put it up, and he's game, so I'm ready with a "plan b" if the roofer continues to fail me. Once I get going today, I'll make some moves on that front. I did go out and get my drivers license renewed yesterday. Passed the visual without glasses, although the left eye alone was still pretty bad. I looked again with glasses, and it was little better, so that will be something to talk to eye doctor about. Left height the same (I'm probably down an inch, or was the only time I've had it checked in recent years), but dropped weight from 270 to 200. I've neglected weighing myself recently, but that's been pretty stable for several months -- a bit more on bad days, but more often a bit less.

I still need to do the Consumer Guide notice today. Playing Tatum/Webster at the moment. Perfect record, especially when I want to calm down.

Email (31 messages):

• Intercept articles, including: "The sinister reason Trump is itching to invoke the Insurrection Act"; "Trump's plan to deprive Palestinians any say in their future"; "Jon Chait thinks Kamala Harris went too far left"; "Fetterman is sole Democrat to vote against blocking Caribbean drug boat attacks."
• Dan Weiss interview with Kassa Overall.
• TomDispatch: "Ten reasons why Trump should never be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize," by Clarence Lusane.

Finally got down to roofing business. I wrote Interstate a letter, demanding they get the tarp up by tomorrow noon or I will find someone else. I send them the insurance pdf, which they had been wanting. I also wrote to Lamar Swain at Emerson -- I had his business card, as he previously came to the house. [He called later, and was interested. He has a local guy named Tom Molloy to connect me with.] I want to contact a couple more companies. Some possibles:

• Midwest Roofing Services: Called them. Brandon Lee to call back.
• Rhoden Roofing.
• Eaton Roofing
• Wichita Home Works: "ask for Shaun Delmar."
• A-R Roofing
• Hawks Roofing & Exteriors
• Lee's Roofing
• Wichita Roofing Pros
• Keeter Roofing and Remodeling
• Dingers Roofing & Construction: several of their signs in the neighborhood.
• 1st Priority Roofing
• Dolphin Roofing: I called, Chris Martin owner. Set up appointment [10-10 2:30PM].
• Hometown Roof: Scott Velestino oldtown; cold-called me. I set up appointment [10-10 12:00]

Daily Log

Got up at 8:30 again, 85 on the meter. Read Beauchamp on Israel. Nothing new there, but more focus on Netanyahu's efforts to control the media and to override the independence of the Supreme Court. All the while thinking about the "next post" I promised on Israel. I started writing something here, expecting just to hit a few high points, but immediately got swamped in details. I moved that copy to the substack file, and will work on it more later. I collected a bit more for Loose Tabs, and that too proved frustrating. I listened to some Homeboy Sandman, and that didn't help either. I picked up a phone call from another roof company. Interstate still hasn't come out to affix the tarp, and no news from them so far today. I want to contact a couple more roofing companies. We got a damage assessment and a (much smaller but still substantial) check for some of the replacement costs, so I'm curious how various experts might prioritize spending. Possibly a big and complex job, I'm afraid.

Dentist yesterday was a wipe out. I'm still bothered by the two root canal teeth, for no reason obvious to the dentist. He wondered whether the gums were the source of my problem, so he advised to stop using mouthwash, and give it two weeks to heal. I have a cleaning appointment in two weeks, so we will revisit it then. Meanwhile, I still have the same temporary filling in a fairly old crown. The one thing I do want to get done today is renewing my driving license. For that, I set up a 2:45 appointment. Should just be a matter of picture, vision test (for which I don't think I need glasses this time), and pay them some money. I always dread encounters with the state, but this one shouldn't be too bad. We did get the car tag and title yesterday, so I need to install it. Also clean up some more tree waste. Then back to the roofers and/or writing.

Email (34 messages by 2PM):

• Robert Christgau: Consumer Guide: October 2025. Records I've already rated (or in one case have but haven't yet rated; his grades first): Sabrina Carpenter: Man's Best Friend (Island) [A-/A-]; CMAT: Euro-Country (AWAL) [A-/A-]; Hamell on Trial: Harp (For Harry) (Saustex) [**/A-]; Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista) [***/A]; Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 1) (self-released) [A/U]; Water From Your Eyes: It's a Beautiful Place [***/A-]; Billy Woods: Golliwog (Backwoodz Studioz] [A-/A-]. Records I haven't heard (my grades added later): Bright Eyes: Kids Table (Dead Oceans) [B+/*]; Bobby Conn: Bobby's Place (Tapete) [*]; Margaret Glaspy: The Golden Heart Protector (ATO) [A-/***]; Joseph Kamaru: Heavy Combination 1996-2007 (Disciples) [A-]; Jens Lekman: Songs for Other People's Weddings (Secretly Canadian) [***]; Rhett Miller: A Lifetime of Riding by Night (ATO) [A]. Note that the Kamaru, Miller, and Scorzari albums aren't out yet.
• Sen. Roger Marshall: "The real problem is the Affordable Care Act isn't affordable." So "the real problem is the cost of healthcare," and he's against "throwing money at" the problem, rightly seeing that as just inflating costs. But his "we should be tackling the real problems facing everyday American families, like our chronic disease epidemic, failing health outcomes, or skyrocketing healthcare and prescription drug costs" isn't followed by any specifics.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, October archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 50 albums, 4 A-list

Music: Current count 44977 [44927] rated (+50), 29 [20] unrated (+9).

New records reviewed this week:

• $ilkMoney: Who Waters the Wilting Giving Tree Once the Leaves Dry Up and Fruits No Longer Bear? (2025, Lex/DB$B): [sp]: B+(***)
• Marja Ahti: Touch This Fragrant Surface of Earth (2025, Fönstret): [sp]: B+(*)
• Pheeroan akLaff/Scott Robinson/Julian Thayer: aRT: Live at Kampo Bahal Gallery (2025, Sciensonic, EP): [bc]: B+(*)
• Gary Bartz & NTU: The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control (2022-23 [2025], OYO): [sp]: B+(*)
• Chrome Hill: En Route (2024 [2025], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mike Clark: Itai Doshin (2024 [2025], Wide Hive): [cd]: B+(***)
• Tom Cohen: Embraceable Brazil (2025, Versa): [cd]: B+(**)
• Jorge Espinal: Bombos Y Cencerros (2023 [2025], Buh): [sp]: B+(**)
• Debby Friday: The Starrr of the Queen of Life (2025, Sub Pop): [sp]: B+(***)
• Miho Hazama: Live Life This Day: Celebrating Thad Jones (2025, Edition): [sp]: B+(*)
• Conrad Herwig: Reflections - Facing South (2020 [2025], Savant): [sp]: B+(***)
• Hot 8 Brass Band: Big Tuba (2003, Tru Thoughts): [sp]: B+(**)
• JID: God Does Like Ugly (2025, Dreamville/Interscope): [sp]: B+(***)
• Rick Keller: Heroes (2024-25 [2025], Vegas): [cd]: B-
• Zack Lober: So We Could Live (2025, Zennez): [cd]: B+(***)
• Donny McCaslin: Lullaby for the Lost (2024 [2025], Edition): [sp]: B
• Mexstep & Principe Q: Tráfico (2025, Puro Unity, EP): [bc]: B+(***)
• Joe Morris/Brad Barrett/Beth Ann Jones: Abstract Forest (2025, Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(***)
• Elizabeth Nichols: Tough Love (2025, Pulse, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bill Orcutt/Steve Shelley/Ethan Miller: Orcutt Shelley Miller (2024 [2025], Silver Current): [bc]: B+(***)
• Juan Pastor's Chinchano: Memorias (2024 [2025], Calligram): [cd]: B+(***)
• Patrick Shiroishi: Forgetting Is Violent (2025, American Dream): [bc]: B+{*}
• Kalie Shorr: My Type (2025, Pound It Out Loud, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
• Wadada Leo Smith/Sylvie Courvoisier: Angel Falls (2024 [2025], Intakt): [cd]: B+(***)
• Sprints: All That Is Over (2025, City Slang/Sub Pop): [sp]: B+(***)
• Laura Taylor: Think I'm in Love (2025, Vegas): [cd]: B+(*)
• The Third Mind: Right Now! (2025, Yep Roc): [sp]: B+(***)
• Pat Thomas: ود ود (Wadud/Most Loving) (2023 [2025], Nyahh): [bc]: B+(***)
• UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1: Double or Nothing (2025, Vegas): [cd]: B
• Kamasi Washington: Lazarus [Adult Swim Original Series Soundtrack] (2025, Milan): [sp]: B
• Wednesday: Bleeds (2025, Dead Oceans): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Armen Donelian: Stargazer (1980 [2025], Sunnyside): [cd]: B+(**)
• Hot Chip: Joy in Repetition (2005-22 [2025], Domino): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mark O'Leary Group: I See Further Than You (2001 [2025], TIBProd.): [bc]: B+(**)
• Eli "Paperboy" Reed: Sings "Walkin' and Talkin'" and Other Smash Hits [20th Anniversary Edition] (2005 [2025], Yep Roc): [sp]: B+(**)
• Atef Swaitat: Palestinian Bedouin Psychedelic Dabka Archive (1970s [2025], Majazz Project/Palestinian Sound Archive): [sp]: B+(***)
• John Taylor: Tramanto (2002 [2025], ECM): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Abdullah: Life's Force (1979, About Time): [sp]: B+(***)
• Pheeroan ak Laff: House of Spirit: "Mirth" (1979 [1980], Passin' Thru): [yt]: B+(***)
• Willem Breuker Kollektief: William Breuker Collective (1983 [1984], About Time): [bc]: B+(***)
• François Carrier Trio With Uri Caine: All' Aba (2001 [2002], Justin Time): [bc]: A-
• Mike Clark: Plays Herbie Hancock (2022 [2023], Sunnyside): [spo]: B+(**)
• Jerome Cooper: The Unpredictability of Predictability (1979, About Time): [bc]: A-
• Jerome Cooper Quintet: Outer and Interactions (1987 [1988], About Time): [bc]: B+(***)
• Fred Hopkins/Diedre Murray Quartet: Prophecy (1990 [1998], About Time): [bc]: B+(***)
• Sam Jones Plus 10: The Chant (1961, Riverside): [sp]: B+(***)
• Joe Morris: Racket Club (1993 [1998], About Time): [bc]: B+(***)
• Mark O'Leary/Cuong Vu/Tom Rainey: Waiting (2004 [2006], Leo): [sp]: B+(***)
• Mark O'Leary/Ståle Storløkken/Stein Inge Braekhus: St. Fin Barre's (2002 [2008], Leo): [sp]: B+(*)
• Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan Van Der Schyff: Zemlya (2004 [2008], Leo): [sp]: A-
• Mark O'Leary/Kenny Wollesen/Jamie Saft: The Synth Show (2005 [2008], Leo): [sp]: B+(*)
• The Henry Threadgill Sextet: When Was That? (1981 [1982], About Time): [bc]: B+(*)
• The Henry Threadgill Sextet: Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket (1983, About Time): [bc]: B+(**)

Grade (or other) changes:

• Mark O'Leary Quartet: White Album (1998 [2025], TIBProd.): [bc]: B+(*)
• Mark O'Leary Group: A Simple Question (1999 [2025], TIBProd.): [bc]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Affinity Trio [Eric Jacobson/Pamela York/Clay Schaub]: New Outlook (Origin) [10-17]
• Kenny Barron: Sunset to Dawn (1973, Time Traveler) [10-17]
• Patricia Brennan: Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) [10-24]
• Roy Brooks: The Free Slave (1970, Time Traveler) [10-17]
• Adam Forkelid: Dreams (Prophone) [10-24]
• Carlos Garnett: Cosmos Nucleus (1976, Time Traveler) [10-17]
• Maja Jaku: Blessed & Bewitched (Origin) [10-17]
• Lizzy & the Triggermen: Live at Joe's Pub (self-released) [08-14]
• Kelsey Mines: Everything Sacred, Nothing Serious (OA2) [10-17]
• Roberto Montero: Todos Os Tempos (Vaicomtudo Music) [10-17]
• Ted Piltzecker: Peace Vibes (OA2) [10-17]
• Rich Siegel: It's Always Been You (self-released) [09-12]
• Enoch Smith Jr.: The Book of Enoch Vol. 1 (Misfitme Music) [11-07]
• Pat Thomas: Hikmah (TAO Forms) [11-07]
• Patricia Thomson: Your Love (PT Designs Productions) [10-01]
• Henry Threadgill: Listen Ship (Pi) [09-26]
• Wayne Wilkinson: Holly Tunes (self-released) [11-07]

Daily Log

I got up at 6:48 AM. My eyes were too blurry to make out the digits, so I originally read them at 8:48, but thought it was too dark for that. I went to the bathroom, then back to bed, but couldn't go back to sleep. I gave up around 8. I read Beauchamp on Hungary, which didn't exactly cheer me up. I thought a bit about how to open Music Week. I thought about writing a post on the "Trump peace plan." I should do some Loose Tabs collection to get those points down. I also need to find out about the shutdown. That happened unawares to me, and curiously doesn't bother me at all. The Trump government is so rotten, my main regret is that they're not shutting enough of it down. But mostly I thought about the roof, the insurance company, and the contractors, all of whom failed to do the one thing I wanted done yesterday: to put a temporary patch up on the high roof before it rains and starts rotting out the decking and leaking into the attic and eventually the bedroom. They all promised me they would do this, and they all left without doing. The contractor promised to come back, and he didn't. And yes, it rained overnight.

Had I realized what was going on, I would have patched it myself. As it was, the best I could manage last night was to bring a tarp in from the shed and spread it out in the attic, where it should catch most of what drips through the holes. It's hell to get back to that part of the attic, so I started thinking about how to measure it and add some decking -- mostly how to support decking given the largely buried joists and oddly oriented rafter ties. It's an ugly job. And I'm pretty near hopeless here.

Dentist appointment today, at 3PM, to get "permanent" filling for the crown they tore up in doing the root canal "retreatment," which doesn't seem to have worked very well. I suppose I'll just work on computer today, at least until then.

Email (13 messages, but it's early):

• Substack: 2 new subscribers (1 famous: Kevin Sun).

Daily Log

Got up at 9, sleep score 95, which I figured was as good as I could do, at least for today. Waiting for insurance adjusted and roofer, 1-3 PM, who hold my fate in their hands, and will no doubt clash over how best to spend my money. I went out and inspected the carport patio yesterday. The aluminum gutter tops showed evidence of hail hits, but nothing else did. I cut a couple branches back, but nothing major. I also went into the attic to see if I could find any evidence of roof damage. I found some, and took one picture of two spots, but I'm not really sure what I was seeing. I took a couple more general pictures.

When we first moved in, the attic was nothing but joists and blown-in rock wool (which in addition to being nasty covered up most of the knob-and-tube wiring, contra code; the wiring has since been disconnected, if not removed, replaced by romex that is mostly stapled to roof rafters). One of my first projects here was to drag some plywood up to the attic and build a deck around the stairs. Mike and Matt "helped," but they mostly fought with me, and we didn't get very far. My father had taken his attic space, floored it, and could use it for maximal storage. Early on he dropped the ceiling in the garage to get some head room up there. He initially used that part as a wood shop. Later on he turned it into a bedroom, which was my room from roughly 14 until I left for St. Louis. (After which it became Kathy's room. The advantage was maximal distance and isolation from the rest of the family.) So I was thinking along those lines, but I was never as competent or as desperate for space as my father was (plus we had all that disgusting rock wool to bury or dispose of), so that project floundered. But here I am again wondering whether I can hire someone to extend the decking: if not to the far edges, then at least down the center to the ends, where it would be nice to be able to dust off the vents.

I went out shopping yesterday. The car electronics remain very annoying: I have to manually dismiss two messages at start up: one is the legal disclaimer, the other a complaint about not being able to connect to Laura's phone. I sometimes get complaints about Laura's phone being low on power, even though it's not in the car. I have to fiddle with my phone to get Spotify working (well, I also have to set the audio source on the car to S9, but I have no ability to use it to change the music: that I have to do with the phone). I was able to get Google Auto to work once, but I wasn't able to do anything with it, and switching the audio source breaks the connection. Some of this is learning curve, but most of it is pure hate. I'm not sure that a different car would be any different, but it bothers me having been railroaded into this car. I'm going to have to seek out some expert advice. That seems to rule the dealer out.

Anyhow, shopping: I went to Home Depot to get a new soft toilet seat. I found a Glacier Bay one for $20, like I've been buying, but couldn't find online. Amazon had a bunch of $40-60 options, mixed in with risers that I definitely don't want, so for once the brick and mortar store seemed like the better idea. I also wanted to look at small ladders: a V that could straighten out to 12 feet, or one of those pop-up extension things. Amazon had both, weighing 30 lbs or less, for $100 or less. Home Depot didn't have anything like them. I can think of several uses, including with getting onto the high roof from the back roof, which might have been sufficient incentive to pick one up, but I definitely don't need/want the $350 monsters they had in stock. And it's not like the roofing people are lacking in ladders, or that I want to do their job.

I also wanted to pick up a couple light T-shirts with pockets. I shopped on Amazon, and couldn't tell what was what. (I had bought one shirt from them previously, and hardly ever wore it.) Kohl's had some "supersoft" T-shirts I liked, but last time I was there, they had nothing with pockets. So I thought I'd try Target. They had very little selection, but I bought one $15 shirt. Then I went to Kohl's, and struck out again, and then to WalMart, again finding nothing. I may have to try Amazon again. Seems like I'm buying a lot of crap there lately. I bought a flipper the other day, then compared it unfavorably to the one with the damaged handle I was throwing out. I checked the brand name and found I could have orderded an exact replacement instead, so I did. I figure it's not worth the trouble of returning the one I just got: I often find myself using 2 or 3, and the new one would work for that. Still annoying that I looked through 6-8 screens of spatulas/turners looking for one they had but I couldn't find.

I pretty much wasted the rest of the day. I picked up barbecue, and probably blew out my diet (but I hadn't eaten lunch). I replaced the toilet seat (but have no room in the dumpster). I did nothing to wrap up my "Cooking Chinese" blog post, so still have to do that today (along with Music Week, which may as well slide). I wound up spending some time on Amazon researching Indonesian cookbooks. I figure if that's my 75th birthday dinner, I'm entitled to a new cookbook or two, but so far pickings are slim. And then the first book I added to the shopping cart was an America's Test Kitchen book called When Southern Women Cook -- which suddenly is more of what I find myself craving.

Beauchamp ended his chapter with an argument that what's driving the "reactionary spirit" behind Trump is a "culture-first story," and not an economic gripe. I don't doubt that he is right, but Democrats lost out with white working class voters not because they didn't sufficiently cater to their prejudices and vanities but because they abandoned the economic arguments that should have favored them -- Biden perhaps less so than Clinton or Harris, if only because, being an old white dude and a bit of a clod, he seemed less obviously running away from the white working class.

I expected to do more Loose Tabs yesterday, but didn't get into it, either. I did notice a couple pieces on the "Trump peace plan" for Israel, which makes me think that maybe my next NOEL post should be my peace plan. I won't try to explain it here, but I did write some shortly after 10/7/2023, when the genocide had started but had not yet reached its point of no return. Since then, there's been little point, but if we're going to talk about what Trump's pushing, I might as well offer my two bits.

Just caught a small bit of rain. That bodes ill for today.

Email (20 messages).

Insurance adjuster(s) and contractor came on time, and did a pretty thorough job of looking at everything. Two major disappointments: insurance doesn't cover replacement value, but and worse still the insured value is being depreciated, approximately by 50%; also, the damage caused by windblown trees isn't covered. That's by far the most serious (and urgent to repair) damage. I don't have the report yet, but it's disappointing to have so little covered given that we haven't filed a claim since 2008. So it's probably worth rethinking our coverage, but that's little help now.

What's got me more chagrined right now is that while the insurance adjusters promised to cover the damage with a tarp before leaving, they didn't. Evidently our contractor told them he would take care of that, but he didn't do it either. I've left messages, and only got a text promise to call back, but no call by 7:45 PM, and it's dark now. That was the one thing I was really concerned about making sure of, and they totally blew it.

Daily Log

Laura got confused last night about when to "fall back" the clocks. I got confused when I sat down at the computer and saw 2:06 AM. I was exhausted, and decided to treat that as my 3 AM cue to go to bed. When I did, the bedroom clock read 1:15 AM, in anticipation of a change that hadn't happened. In the morning, she admitted her error. I had woken up at 8-something, tried to sleep some more, got up 10-something, read some, and came down to write this at 11:17 AM. Sleep score was at 100, but I'm pretty tired.

I sent out the Substack post yesterday. I got 3 fairly quick likes, but no further reaction today (so far). I needed to update the website to pick up the new recipe links and the archival copy of the post. It occurred to me that since I was doing an early update, I could write some more on the topic, and file it as a blog post. I did write some, then remembered I needed to do the update, so I left what I wrote as a partial post. I wrote more later, and updated again before I went to bed. I expect to write some more today before I call it done. Other than that, I'll probably work on Loose Tabs.

Package came from Amazon, with a 9-inch tart pan, and an OXO Good Grips stainless steel turner. While the latter looked good, I still balked at throwing out my old GoodCook turner (the silicone handle grip had started falling apart). I tried searching for the brand, and found the one I wanted -- on Amazon, "only 3 left." I went ahead and ordered one. I figure I'll keep the OXO, but just like the shape of the GoodCook better. It's been my "first choice" implement, but I do on occasion need more.

Email (8 messages).

• Reaction to "Cooking Chinese" post: 4 likes, 80 views, 0 new subscriptions.

Cooking Chinese

Pick up text from here. I added to this several times, finally publishing on Oct. 6.

Daily Log

Finally did manage to do some work on the Chinese cooking letter. Did a fair amount of editing along the way, which helps. Added one paragraph at the end. I think I need one (or two) more, but finally have an idea how to proceed.

I did take time yesterday to work on the bathroom sink. Small amount of water in the pan. When I started to work on it, I noticed that the nut that holds the lever ball in was loose, so I wondered if I could fix the problem simply by tightening it. I did so, and it helped, but there still appeared to be some leak. So I took the whole assembly out, and replaced it with a new one I had bought. The replacement had a push-down/pop-up stopper, so no external assembly. It was one piece, so you slipped it straight in from the top. The top had a silicone washer, so didn't need any plumber's putty. Then from the bottom, you slid another silicone washer up to the bottom of the sink, another plastic washer, and an aluminum nut, which had six faces, almost one inch high, so it was easy to get a wrench on to tighten it. Once the washers were tight, there was no place where it could leak. I then slid it into the plastic assembly below, with another rubber washer, and tightened the plastic nuts. Still dry today. I have some racks that fit in the vanity and slide out, so next step will be to install them. I replaced the old liner with some leftover vinyl flooring, and I've found a bit of trim to finish that off as well.

I was, however, embarrassed to find that the toilet seat replacement I had bought was the wrong one (round, where we need elongated). I shopped for a replacement on Amazon, but couldn't make up my mind, so I'll probably go out to Home Depot so I can see what I'm buying. Same problem with the short, lightweight ladders I've been looking at. I did, however, order a 9-inch tart pan, and an Oxo stainless steel flipper. Tarts seem like a nice dessert option if I can get the hang of the dough, and the smaller size is a good option. The handle on my old (much loved) flipper is deliminating, so it's probably headed for the trash. I had bought it at Dillons, but I haven't seen anything like it recently.

Got up after 10. Read some about "competitive authoritarianism" -- how autocracies, especially in the post-reconstruction south, learned to disguise themselves with democratic garb.

Email (11 messages): most welcome was notice that my "auto-refill" order at Walgreens is being filled.

Daily Log

Failed to wrap up my Substack post yesterday. Will try again today. Also made no progress on the Jazz Critics Poll website. Nor did I fix the bathroom sink, so tasks are piling up today. I did boil my chunk of pork, so I can make twice-cooked pork today. I still have fried rice and peanut noodles, so they will accompany. The pork recipe calls for bell pepper (and, I think, bamboo shoots), so that should suffice in lieu of a vegetable side. I just have to slice the meat, mix up a sauce, and do a quick stir fry. Only other things I got done yesterday were: take dog to vet; shop for groceries; pack the dumpster with tree detritus. Also agreed to use Interstate Roofing to repair the roof. Their manager will be available when the insurance adjuster comes on Monday.

Slept ok. Went to bed at 2:30, exhausted, and got up just after 10. Read the rest of the first chapter of Beauchamp. While I was thinking that today's "reactionary spirit" had nothing to react to, he largely answered that question: it wasn't in response to a revolution (like 1917, or 1789, or 1848), or to a more cultural upheaval like 1968, but to a long ferment of "progress," as those ideals became increasingly realized in western societies and around the world. Fair enough, but the current wave of fascism is not just reaction: it is agression, far in excess of any imagined provocation from a left which either only exists as a marginal fringe (still concerned to right prejudices against groups like LGBT+, whose importance largely exists on the right's targeting of them) or as a large but only casually principled democracy. Only to the far right do those groups appear to be any kind of continuity.

If the rich were smarter, they'd appreciate how well off they are, and embrace the neoliberal compromise, which allows them to keep and build on their riches, while allowing the working classes comforts and respect, and tolerating (and thus minimizing) individual quirks. But they're greedy bastards, relentlessly seeking power, which they can only prove by forcing their supposed enemies to bow and scrape. And since they cannot distinguish between liberal impulses that pay respect to equality and more radical agendas to promote justice, they seem hellbent on making enemies (and potential allies) of the majority, not just by insulting them but by breaking their otherwise comfortable world. Today's right is in radical overreach mode, which so many people were in denial about until Trump took office.

Email (40 messages, as Friday is release day):

• All About Jazz: 10 jazz albums turn 50 (released in 1975).
• Substack September stats: 67 subscribers (+6), 159 post reads (-64). "Grow your readership with referrals."
• Christian Iszchak, counted, unheard: Kalie Shorr.

Daily Log

Spent all day yesterday working on my Chinese meal post. Got to the end of the dinner, and the plate photo, but couldn't come up with a way to wind up. Several ideas floating through my mind, but none are especially good. I'll need to settle on one today. Only other schedule item is to take the dog to the vet late afternoon. Although it occurs to me that I have a chunk of pork I picked up in last week's shopping that I should boil -- first step toward making twice-cooked pork, which doesn't obligate me to take the second step right away. But we still have fried rice and noodles left, so that should suffice as a dinner for two.

Exhausted again last night. Got up at 7, then again at 10:30. Started reading Zack Beauchamp's The Reactionary Spirit. Turns out I already had a cover scan, so all I had to do was to add it to the "Recent Reading" list. I've been thinking about "waves" of fascism, where the 1930s were the last, and we seem to be going through an analogous period, so is this a second wave? Or was there another one worth noting? It depends a lot on how much weight (and what sort of slant) you put on Reagan and Thatcher, but if that's a second wave, Pinochet is the star attraction. The usefulness of this conception may depend on looking back a decade-plus to the revolutionary upheavals the reaction weighed against. There it's easier to set up analogies between 1917-22 and the late 1960s than it is to find provocation for the current reaction. The latter seems to be more rooted in dissatisfaction with Reagan-Thatcher (and their reconciliation through Clinton-Obama and Blair) than with any sort of political upheaval. (Cultural is perhaps a different story.)

Email (24 messages).

• Many Intercept articles seem destined for Loose Tabs.
• The Nation has a similar list of articles, a bit less interesting.

Daily Log

I was so exhausted last night I went to bed at 1:30. I got up around 8:30, but the machine only registered 259 minutes, 80 score. I vaguely recall waking up earlier and finding the mask off. I read into Graham's final chapter on defense and foreign policy, with Project 2025's twin challenges of countering China and purging the war departments of any inclination to wokeness. Conspicuously missing is any mention of Israel, which since the 1990s has been the bedrock (or cutting edge?) of Vulcan (neocon) foreign policy. Trump's worldview differs from Cheney's in some cosmetic details, but the deep faith in muscle endures, even if the ends have shifted to something more squalid and corrupt. I should finish the book today, so we'll see whether that omission holds up. Graham is one of my jazz poll voters, so I'm likely to write to him afterwards.

Big relief to get the car registered and the tag ordered. We went out to dinner last night (Thai Tradition), and some specialty grocery shopping (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's). We had a lot of trouble fighting with the electronics. Laura's phone outranks mine, so when we both get into the car, it connects to her audio book instead of my Spotify. I find it virtually impossible to pick out new music with Spotify on the phone. At one point, I got Chuck Berry's Definitive Collection selected, which is always welcome. But last night, it ran out mid-drive, and I couldn't select anything else with voice commands while driving. Eventually I did manage to restart it. Still very unhappy that we don't have CDs. Generally unhappy with the car, but we're probably stuck with it for now. I feel like we got railroaded into this purchase, but that in itself warns against trying to do anything rash on the rebound.

Started writing a NOEL post last night, on cooking Chinese. Only got two paragraphs in, but that may be all the start I need. Will expand a bit on how and why I cook, then get into the meal details (which I've mostly written up in notes already). Street is closed today for repaving. They've been working this morning, but seems quiet now (11AM), so maybe they're done. They did a couple of adjacent blocks yesterday, and opened them up pretty quickly. We have no needs to go out today, but have the dog appointment tomorrow, insurance on Monday, dentist on Tuesday. I should renew driver's license next week. Aside from writing, one key project today will be to finally fix the bathroom sink drain. I have a new drain spout piece that should be foolproof. Once that is done, I can install the racks and some trim and call it done.

Email (24 messages):

• Dirk Serries is moving and trying to unload discounted product before the move, but "unfortunately we're still not able to ship any physical orders to the USA, due to the unclear situation with the pending import taxes and required documents." I got a letter the other day from Rodrigo Amado also apologizing for not being able to send his new CD.

Sep 2025

Nov 2025