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|
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Monday, March 18, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Daily Log
I started to write a thing on two-state vs. one-state confusion
in Israel/Palestine, then decided to pull it. Here's a salvaged
fragment:
Not least because it extracts "two-staters" from the conflict
and responsibility for its recent escalation. We need to consider
a few definitions to clear up this muddle:
- The fundamental political division is between left and right.
The right promotes inequality and defends hierarchy, using all forms
of persuasion including religion and violent force to secure and
maintain its preferred order. The left believes that all people
should be treated equally. If given no better alternative, the left
may attempt revolution, but prefers democratic processes, because
in the end, most people will agree to equality, while hardly anyone
will submit to tyranny.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Daily Log
On Monday, I posted a review:
Laura Jane Grace: Hole in My Head (2024, Polyvinyl):
Originally Thomas Gabel, singer-guitarist leader in punk group Against
Me!, third solo album, a short one (11 songs, 25:28). Still sounds
male, so you can just bracket the trans angle. Songs open up a bit
towards folk, partly to expound on politics, e.g.: "out in the country
is where fascists roam."
B+(***) [sp]
Melody Esme, a former rock critic (under a different name) I respected
enough to accept a Facebook friend request, commented:
I didn't get around to replying, but then Joey Daniewicz
posted a screen grab of the review with this:
yo Tom Hull you cannot, cannot, cannot, absolutely cannot write about
trans people this way
Esme chimed in again:
If I saw this review with no name attached, I'd assume a TERF wrote it
Even more upsetting considering LJG has been vocal about how much she
wishes that name could be scrubbed from the Internet
Daniewicz added:
Per Melody's research, this isn't a one off. Tom Hull seems to have
a compulsive name to deadname the trans subjects of his reviews.
Iris Demento, commented:
Sincerely doubt Tom meant harm but I agree. I profiled a trans artist
in 2016 and didn't understand the negative gravity of deadnaming and I
regret asking the subject for it as part of journalistic background,
which I bet is where this impulse is coming from. Please rewrite this
one without the "trans angle," deadnaming, or "sounds male." It's
Laura's best in about a decade and she deserves the respect and
professionalism.
I had been stewing on this since the original comment, and finally
wrote this:
But I absolutely can, and did -- using the "archaic" meaning of those
words, the one I first encountered in learning English, and not the
one Joey seems to mean -- "write about trans people this way." And, as
you may surmise and/or guess, so I have in the past, and there's
little reason to doubt I will again in the future. Last time, as best
I recall, I got roasted for not mentioning that an artist is trans, so
with some people on this subject at least there may be no way out. I
often do start reviews off with the actual name behind an alias: I
find that a short list of background facts helps get me started, and
mapping a real name to an alias helps (I think) connect me to that
person, although it may well disclose attributes like sex or ethnicity
that aren't necessarily relevant or important). "Deadnaming" is new
vocabulary for me, although I can intuit its meaning, see its
relevance, and still conclude it's not my problem. "TERF" I had to
look up, and see no use for. Like "transphobic," it is a hateful term
that is almost always be applied to castigate other people (unlike
"racist" and "antisemite," which were originally coined by people to
describe themselves). And note that I'm not saying that "*phobic" has
no political value. It both suffices to label all-too-common attitudes
and it turns the tables by pointing out that much hatred is used to
mask fear. But when you apply to term to me, I have to ask "what's my
fear?" -- and I can't find it. What I find instead is an effort at
bullying, at coercing (even if just by guilt-tripping) me into using
your wording and framing. And since I can't possibly mold myself into
your mental framework, that's tantamount to telling me to just stop
writing. I must say, it's tempting. On the other hand, I remember a
day long ago when my boss told me I had a "bad attitude." I doubt she
had any idea how bad that attitude would get once I embraced it. By
the way, do some research of your own, on what "bracket" means. Start
with Husserl. Before your time, most likely, but not before mine.
Some of us earned the right to be archaic.
"TERF" stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. There is a long
discussion of the term on
Wikipedia,
which of course links to
Transphobia.
Note: The following postscript was written on 2024-03-16, but
obviously belongs here.
I read several more comments the next day, then stopped for several
days. When I returned to collect the more thoughtful ones here, I found
the thread had 43 comments, which is probably more than my last ten
Music Week notices had elicited. In chronological order (skipping a
few with no interest). First, directly under my comment:
Joey Daniewicz: I didn't apply any of these terms to
you. You've earned way less than you think, and this stands to be an
area of deep personal embarrassment for your work.
Iris Demento: Tom if you admit that you're not familiar
with the term "deadnaming" before today, please listen: doing it would
not fly with any editor in 2024 whose publication isn't a Republican
nest. Doing it in any workplace in 2024 would get you written up and
sent to HR if not cause for termination. The level of disrespect and
bigotry (and pain it causes) to knowingly call a trans person by their
deadname at this time is considered to be on the level of calling
someone a racial or homophobic slur. If those are things you also
would not do (or defend by saying you've "earned the right to be
archaic") you should not do this either. This is completely at odds
with virtually all other evidence of your values that I have
seen.
Heather Batson: I think the shocking thing here is there
have been some big shifts in how we discuss trans topics and how a
transition related name change is now treated as a special case. For
most trans artists in 2024, a name change is not a simple artistic
alias, though! It certainly makes sense to anchor her in her role with
Against Me, but when a trans person changes her name in all areas of
life, as Grace did, their birth name should not be thought of as their
'real name' but a wrong name forced on them for years. It is
understood now that in this situation the 'real name' is the chosen
legal name. This can be confusing when it comes to artists who may
have a stage name separate from a legal name, but in the case of
Grace, it is pretty easy to find that she is pained by her deadname
and that Laura Jane Grace is clearly her real name. 'Sounds male' was
like a gut punch level of rude. Like Iris, I am sure this is not
intended to offend, so please know we are engaging because we care. I
certainly don't want you to stop writing or feel you need my mindset
on trans issues but I do want you to know that there is an updated
style guide for best practices. I'm pushing 50 myself so I'm no
youngster and I have to constantly relearn how to discuss certain
things--but that is just part of how rapid culture shifts go!
- Melody Esme: I don't care if you're personally transphobic
or not. I think your review is deeply transphobic, and that your
doubling down and disregarding terms relating to my community's shared
experiences shows a lack of care in how you write about certain
subjects of your reviews. Why bother reviewing Laura Jane Grace, or
Backxwash, or Ezra Furman, or Laura Les, or SOPHIE, or any of the
other trans artists who've put their souls into their art if you don't
care to understand the fundamentals of what they're singing about? Who
does it help to bring up an old name somebody purposefully shed
because it causes them pain? "Laura Jane Grace" isn't a fucking non de
plume, it's her name, and she's made it clear that the repeated
printing of her old name hurts her. Your SOPHIE review deadnamed her
and I don't even know how you did that, since her deadname has hardly
even been reported -- I didn't even know it was publicly known until I
read that review, to be honest. You don't include Kim Petras' deadname
in your blurbs on her work, I'm guessing because it's hard to find,
and the reviews don't suffer from that missing context at all. Your
phobia is in your reluctance to change in a way that doesn't affect
you at all but would make people in a marginalized community feel more
comfortable and understood. In recent years, Christgau has made
strides in improving the ways he writes about transgender artists --
even switching off on all of Ezra's (at the time) pronouns in his
review of Twelve Nudes, which I thought was really cute. Rather than
quitting writing, you could follow in his example and just stop
writing about this one group of people in a way we unanimously find
insulting and bigoted. Also, please never, ever, ever say that a trans
woman sounds male. It kinda sucks a lot.
- Eric Johnson: I'm sure you have earned the right to be
archaic, but that's not really the issue.
Archaic or modern, I'm sure you don't want to be hateful or
hurtful. That's really the issue. Folks here are giving you credit for
your good intentions and asking you to get your public words in line
with those intentions. Please listen to them.
Eric Johnson: Tom Hull I hope it doesn't seem like I'm
piling on. Again, this is on the Spirit of hoping you can understand
why this is such a concern.
I completely get being defensive here. But imagine going through a
tremendous amount of physical, psychological, and medical work in
order to make the way people see you on the outside match up with the
way you have _known_ you are on the inside for a long time. Imagine
doing that in a country where a major political party has turned you
into a public target.
Then imagine that someone who is ostensibly evaluating your music
(or the music of another trans person) virtually ignores the musical
content and spends pretty much the entire review claiming that all the
work you put in making your inner and outer selves match was a
charade, and claiming that "the trans angle" could be "bracketed"
while really making the entire review about that angle.
That's got to be a significantly worse feeling than the feeling we
get when we get called out on account of our choices in words. So
please don't let feeling sorry for yourself about this overcome the
kind of empathy that makes you a good writer.
Laura Jane Grace is not an alias, full stop. That's her
name. That's who she is.
For the record, I'm nearly 59. I know what it's like to feel like
there's no right way to say something. But please listen to people who
are trying to help you here.
Other comments (with threads):
Mark Kemp: Ugh! The weird thing is how much space the writer
devotes, at this point, to LJG's transition (and, of course, the
bizarre language he uses to talk about it), and how little he spends
on characterizing the actual music. Reading this, I have no idea what
the album sounds like.
Boris Palameta: Don't want to pile on here, I respect
Tom a lot as a writer. And professional standards are important -
though ever-shifting, as several have pointed out. And rightly so, as
we listen and learn more about lived experience. As an old guy who's
only recently begun to manage openly non-binary and trans staff, when
they tell me what's important and what hurts, I believe them.
Alfred Soto: Tom, let me be as polite as possible. You
seem more peeved that ugly-sounding neologisms are allowed to persist
rather than trying to understand how/why they work. To respond like
you did without referring to the people to whom those neologisms apply
strikes me as a fundamental misunderstanding of how writing works, as
if you thought a euphonic sentence couldn't possibly be
amoral.
Phil Overeem: As a fellow older cis gender straight male
with Kansas roots and pressurized conservative Christian post-birth
incubating (I'm not sure we share that last part, Tom, but probably we
do), I'd like to chime in. I was ignorant for a long time about trans
people while fighting my way out of other modes of thinking until I
moved to Columbia, Missouri, to teach. I have taught several trans
kids, two in particular who hadn't begun transitioning when I first
met / taught them and one of whom was the child of two good friends
and fellow teachers. Watching those students struggle with family,
friends, random hostile fellow humans, and institutions as they went
through the process (including surgery) and found their true selves
and as much happiness as anyone can expect in this world taught me
extremely well. I have been fortunate to be able know them for that
expanse of their lives. I'm still struggling to "see" my current trans
students and a fellow worker with ease and habitual respect (I still
screw up pronouns on occasion when my visual sense blinds what I
know), but I'm getting there, and making sure I include material in
class that speaks to them helps everyone--including me, because one of
the best ways to really learn something is to teach it, especially
over and over. Again, I'm not where I need to be, but I'm close, and
it is essential I get there.
I know you are a copious reader, and I've always been of the mind
that, when all else fails, READ. I am including the covers of four
very disparate books that have really opened my eyes and heart: a
memoir (Lucy Sante's, which I just finished and am still processing),
a YA novel--I try to read one every year--about an intersex kid, a
NYC-set group of dazzling but often heart-rending stories about trans
life by a trans Chilean author, and Torrey Peters' very complex (for a
cis mind), funny, and torturous DETRANSITION, BABY.
One reason I was so fully behind Anohni's album last year was how
it dovetailed with the impact of my experiences with students and
those books. It's really good aesthetically, but its power as a
statement about how it must feel to be trans and try to live in this
country (and world) made it impossible for me NOT to understand that
feeling and feel it empathetically as much as that's possible for
someone like me.
Tom, we also both live in states where our legislators and many of
our fellow residents are a straight-up danger to the lives of trans
people, so I think that further obligates us to be as supportive as we
possibly can as we keep trying to understand more fully.
Phil Overeem: Maybe I'm way off base with this reply and
it's about linguistics more than anything. If so, I'm not sure it
still wouldn't be helpful, but I'm just trying to help.
Tim Niland: I agree, when I moved to blue state New
Jersey from the highly Republican/Catholic Upstate NY area where I
grew up in 2001 I had no idea. Working in a public library for fifteen
years was a big eye-opener for me, learning and becoming much more
empathetic toward LGBTQI+ issues. It's a process, we all learn and
grow, I don't think Tom meant ill will.
Phil Overeem: Tim, I cannot imagine he would be
deliberately hurtful.
Alfred Soto: Phil, using the language of DeSantis to
adduce his toughness sure doesn't help. [TH: what the fuck is he
talking about here?]
Phil Overeem: I don't get why he used it. It doesn't
sound like him. [TH: does Overeem know?]
Phil Overeem: Heather, thank you. I "read around" and in
this case it's been really important. Have you read any of
those?
Heather Batson: Phil Overeem during the pandemic I was
in a book group with - a few gender variant and trans pals, and with
them, I read detransition Baby and LOVED it. one of those friend told
me too much about None of the Above so then I didn't read it
😂, and I recently heard a long interview with Lucy Sante that
I really enjoyed so I'm on a waiting list for the ebook from the
library but did not read yet!
Scott Coleman: Although the review makes me
uncomfortable, so does reposting it here. A comment could have been
sent to Tom on his site to discuss the issue. That may have been more
effective in prompting a consideration of the very real issue and
would likely have been perceived as less confrontational.
Joey Daniewicz: My impression had been that Tom had
ignored engagement on the issue previously. Thanks for your
comment
Kenneth Coleman: But we do this kind of thing all the
time with Christgau reviews. While I think it's wrong to repost
private conversations, this was a public review for all the world to
see. And since Hull runs the Christgau site and does reviews in the
same format, many of us view his site as something of a more
jazz-friendly extension of the Consumer Guide. I suppose there's a
difference in that Hull actually posts here on occasion. But if
Christgau (or Greil Marcus) participated here, I would assume we could
still use this space to point out problematic aspects of their
reviews.
I probably wouldn't have framed or worded my critique like Joey
Daniewicz did, but I definitely support the crux of it--and his right
to use this space this way. It's also evident here that more
constructive attempts with collegial, good faith suggestions also hit
a brick wall.
Greg Morton: I would just like to remind everyone that
someday you'll be older too, and new conventions will happen faster
than you can keep up with.
Alfred Soto: I don't even know the posters who _liked_
Hull's post.
I was tempted to respond to Soto's last post: "I didn't notice
any who did." Some were less hostile, but everyone who commented
except me seemed to agree with the charges.
Another comment that occurred to me is: "Thank you for your
comments. I will take them under advisement." I do, and I will,
but at this late date, it seemed unwise to prime this particular
pump.
But my gut feeling right now is pure trauma. It's exactly the
same feeling I had after two gunmen broke into our house, hogtied
me in the basement, ransacked the place, stealing everything they
took a fancy in, then kidnapped my wife. (After several hours,
she was abandoned in our car they stole, and contacted the police,
who ultimately rescued me.) Well, it probably won't last that
long (unless I keep writing this entry). Probably more like the
time Dana Daum screamed at me for disobeying a software design
order I found completely unreasonable. (It was, by the way, a
grudge he never showed any sign of giving up.)
So this hurts. But most immediately, this makes me very angry.
And that's something I'm not used to, and not at all comfortable
with. That brings up the obvious question, which is whether I
should retreat from my anger -- an easy way to do that would be
to follow through on my threat to stop writing reviews, which
is what I've mostly (but not yet publically) done this week,
or channel that anger into more pointed writing. I'm reminded
here that China Miéville, in his book on The Communist
Manifesto, sees anger as valuable (maybe even essential)
to political writing.
One thing I can say is that I won't be going on an anti-trans
rant, nor am I likely to try to raise my unhappiness into a defense
of free speech against the vigilantes of political correctness and
cancel culture. (Does the DeSantis thing mean they think I'm calling
them woke?)
One thing I will grant is that some of the points above deserve
future consideration. But even having considered them, I still like
my review. Aside from pissing off more people off than expected, it
says what I wanted to say, precisely and economically. I'm loathe
to follow Trump and claim it's a "perfect review" -- it certainly
isn't (for one thing, the transition from "folk" to politics ought
to be more secure, and I haven't figured out how the politics
relates to the "trans angle" I perhaps too cavalierly brushed
aside -- but for my everyday purposes it sufficed. In particular,
I don't buy that "sounds male" is an insult, and it definitely
isn't inaccurate.
True that I didn't really need to mention trans at all, and
that may be the best way forward, but it seems like everywhere
I look it's made up to be such a big deal. And it's hard to say
it isn't without mentioning what it is.
Some of this will come out in next Monday's Music Week. How
much, we'll see. I'm sorely tempted to quash it, but having written
reviews before this blew up, I should probably go ahead and post
what I have.
Super late here and now, but at least I won't have to start Sunday
with this as something to do. "Reading Obits" edit done, should be
good to go after a quick re-read. "Speaking of Which" crunch time.
It won't be super-big, but I have a good start on it already.
Monday, March 11, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
March archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 6 A-list
Music: Current count 41974 [41938] rated (+36), 27 [21] unrated (+6).
New records reviewed this week:
- Albare: Beyond Belief (2023 [2024], AM): [cd]: B+(*)
- Bob Anderson: Live! (2023 [2024], Jazz Hang): [cd]: B+(*) [03-29]
- Jonas Cambien: Jonas Cambien's Maca Conu (2023 [2024], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(***)
- Ian Carey & Wood Metal Plastic: Strange Arts (2019 [2024], Slow & Steady): [cd]: B+(**) [03-22]
- Giuseppe Doronzo/Andy Moor/Frank Rosaly: Futuro Ancestrale (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(**)
- Fire!: Testament (2022 [2024], Rune Grammofon): [sp]: B+(***)
- Glitter Wizard: Kiss the Boot (2023, Kitten Robot, EP): [sp]: B
- Laura Jane Grace: Hole in My Head (2024, Polyvinyl): [sp]: B+(***)
- Dave Harrington/Max Jaffe/Patrick Shiroishi: Speak, Moment (2021 [2024], AKP): [sp]: B+(**)
- Keyon Harrold: Foreverland (2023 [2024], Concord): [sp]: B+(**)
- Brittany Howard: What Now (2024, Island): [sp]: B+(**)
- Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive (2024, Nonesuch): [sp]: A-
- Idles: Tangk (2024, Partisan): [sp]: B+(**)
- Vijay Iyer: Compassion (2022 [2024], ECM): [sp]: B+(***)
- The Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy (2024, Island): [sp]: B+(*)
- Little Simz: Drop 7 (2024, Forever Living Originals, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
- Mike McGinnis + 9: Outing: Road Trip II (2023 [2024], Sunnyside): [sp]: B+(**)
- Emile Parisien/Roberto Negro: Les Métanuits (2023, ACT): [sp]: B+(**)
- Emile Parisien Quartet: Let Them Cook (2024, ACT): [sp]: B+(***)
- Chris Potter/Brad Mehldau/John Patitucci/Brian Blade: Eagle's Point (2023 [2024], Edition): [sp]: A-
- Joel Ross: Nublues (2023 [2024], Blue Note): [sp]: A-
- Scheen Jazzorkester & Cortex: Frameworks: Music by Thomas Johansson (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(***)
- Patrick Shiroishi: I Was Too Young to Hear Silence (2020 [2023], American Dreams): [sp]: B+(***)
- The Smile: Wall of Eyes (2024, XL): [sp]: B
- Vera Sola: Peacemarker (2024, Spectraphonic/City Slang): [sp]: B+(**)
- John Surman: Words Unspoken (2022 [2024], ECM): [sp]: A-
- Michael Thomas: The Illusion of Choice (2023 [2024], Criss Cross): [sp]: B+(***)
- Akiko Tsugura: Beyond Nostalgia (2023 [2024], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(**)
- The Umbrellas: Fairweather Friend (2024, Tough Love): [sp]: B+(*)
- Yard Act: Where's My Utopia? (2024, Island): [sp]: B+(**)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Guebru: Souvenirs (1977-85 [2024], Mississippi): [sp]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru (1963-70 [2016], Mississippi): [sp]: A-
- Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Jerusalem (1972-2012 [2023], Mississippi): [sp]: B+(***)
- Gigi W Material: Mesgana Ethiopia (2010, M.O.D. Technologies): [sp]: B+(**)
- Hawkwind: Doremi Fasol Latido (1972, United Artists): [sp]: B+(***)
Grade (or other) changes:
- The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59 [2013], Acrobat, 6CD): [cd]: [was: A-] A
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Neal Alger: Old Souls (Calligram) [03-01]
- Sam Anning: Earthen (Earshift Music) [04-05]
- Alex Beltran: Rift (Calligram) [03-01]
- Julieta Eugenio: Stay (self-released) [03-29]
- Julien Knowles: As Many, as One (Biophilia) [04-26]
- Travis Reuter: Quintet Music (self-released) [04-19]
- Claudio Scolari Project: Intermission (Principal) [03-25]
- Dan Weiss: Even Odds (Cygnus) [03-29]
- Hein Westergaard/Katt Hernandez/Raymond Strid: The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn (Gotta Let It Out) [02-25]
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Once again, started early in the week, spent most of my time here,
didn't get to everything I usually cover. Late Sunday night, figured
I should go ahead and kick this out. Monday updates possible.
Indeed, I wasted most of Monday adding things, some of which,
contrary to my usual update discipline, only appeared on Monday.
The most interesting I'll go ahead and mention here:
Alexander Ward/Jonathan Lemire: [03-11]
If Israel invades Rafah, Biden will consider conditioning military
aid to Israel. There are several articles below suggesting that
the Biden administration is starting to show some discomfort with
its Israeli masters. I've generally made light of such signals, as
they've never threatened consequences or even been unambiguously
uttered in public. I've seen several more suggesting that the long
promised invasion of Rafah -- the last corner of Gaza where some
two million people have been driven into -- could cross some kind
of "red line."
I am willing to believe that "Genocide Joe" is a
bit unfair: that while he's not willing to stand up to Netanyahu,
he's not really comfortable with the unbounded slaughter and mass
destruction Israel is inflicting. I characterize his pier project
below as "passive-aggressive." I think he's somehow trying (but
way too subtly) to make Israel's leaders realize that their dream
of killing and/or expelling everyone from Gaza isn't going to be
allowed, so at some point they're going to have to relent, and
come up with some way of living with the survivors.
I don't recall where, but I think I've seen some constructive
reaction from Biden to the "uncommitted" campaign that took 13%
of Michigan and 18% of Minnesota votes. So it's possible that the
message is getting through even if the raw numbers are still far
short of overwhelming. The Israel Lobby has so warped political
space in Washington that few politicians can as much as imagine
how out of touch and tone-deaf they've become on this issue.
Still, Biden has a lot of fence-mending to do.
I'll try not to add more, but next week will surely come around,
bringing more with it.
Initial count: 181 links, 7,582 words.
Updated count [03-11]: 207 links, 9,444 words.
Top story threads:
Not sure where to put this, so how about here?
Jacob Bogage: [03-08]
Government shutdown averted as Senate passes $459 billion funding
bill: In other words, Republicans once again waited until the
last possible moment, then decided not to pull the trigger in their
Russian roulette game over the budget. It seems be an unwritten
rule that in electing Mike Johnson as Speaker, the extreme-right
gets support for everything except shutting down the government.
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
[03-04]
Day 150: Israel is 'engineering famine' in Gaza. "Amnesty
International says Israel is 'engineering famine' in Gaza. Organization
head Agnes Callamard adds, 'all states that cut UNRWA funding, sold
weapons and supported Israel bear responsibility too.'"
[03-05]
Day 151: Israel 'campaigns' to end UNRWA in Gaza Strip: "UNRWA's
chief says dismantling the agency is 'short-sighted' and will 'sow
the seeds of hatred, resentment, and future conflict.' Israeli forces
fire at Palestinians seeking aid and food in Gaza City and detain
others in southern Gaza."
[03-06]
Day 152: Prospect of breakthrough in ceasefire talks remains thin:
"Canada will resume funding to UNRWA and pay a pledge of $25m due in
April. In Gaza, another Palestinian child dies of thirst and hunger
in the north, bringing the number of children to die from malnutrition
to 18."
[03-07]
Day 153: Over 2 dozen Palestinian captives have 'died' in Israeli
detention camps: "At least 20 Palestinians have died as a result
of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, health officials say.
Meanwhile, new reports from Israeli media say 27 Palestinian
captives who were being held in Israeli 'makeshift cages' have
died."
[03-08]
Day 154: Biden's maritime aid corridor to Gaza slammed as
'unrealistic': "Human rights experts say the Biden administration's
proposed maritime corridor is a much less effective solution to
addressing the dire needs of Gaza's besieged and starving population
than a ceasefire and pressuring Israel to open land crossings."
[03-09]
Day 155: Deadly aid drop and obstacles to a maritime corridor expose
farcical humanitarian response to Gaza famine: "At least eighteen
children have died in Gaza from malnutrition, while deaths by starvation
have risen to 23. Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that Biden's proposed
floating pier would take two months and 1000 US troops to build.
[03-10]
Day 156: Israel deploys 15,000 troops in West Bank as Ramadan starts:
"Ceasefire talks falter as Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson
says Israel is using 'deception and evasion.' Israel deploys thousands
of troops in the West Bank and Jerusalem ahead of plans to restrict
access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan."
Shane Bauer: [02-26]
The Israeli settlers attacking their Palestinian neighbors: "With
the world's focus on Gaza, settlers have used wartime chaos as cover
for violence and dispossession."
Giorgio Cafiero: [03-05]
Why Egypt can't and won't open the floodgates from Gaza.
Emma Farge: [03-07]
Israel destroying Gaza's food system in 'starvation' tactic.
Noa Galili: [03-10]
Strangled by Israel for decades, Gaza's future must begin with free
movement.
Imad Abu Hawash:
A new surge of settler outposts is terrorizing Palestinians off
their land.
Ibrahim Husseini: [03-08]
Palestinians expect Israeli crackdown on worship at al-Aqsa during
Ramadan.
Ellen Ioanes: [03-07]
What the UN report on October 7 sexual violence does -- and doesn't --
say.
Eyal Lurie-Pardes:
Journalism out, hasbara in: How Israeli news joined the Gaza war
effort.
Khalid Mohammed:
Desperate to escape Gaza carnage, Palestinians are forced to pay
exorbitant fees to enter Egypt.
Aseel Mousa: [03-08]
As Ramadan approaches, Rafah braces for an Israeli ground invasion.
Jonathan Ofir: [03-06]
'We are the masters of the house': Israeli channels air snuff videos
featuring systematic torture of Palestinians.
Yumna Patel: [03-05]
Palestinian PM's resignation nothing more than 'cosmetic shake up,'
analysts say.
Reuters: [03-09]
Israeli settlements expand by record amount, UN rights chief
says.
Jeffrey St Clair: [03-02]
Gaza Diary: Burning all illusions.
- Times of Israel: [03-08]
Five Palestinians killed in Gaza after aid airdrop malfunctions.
Nick Turse:
Who could have predicted the US war in Somalia would fail? The
Pentagon.
Israel vs. world opinion: Note that Biden's relief scheme
for Gaza, announced in his State of the Union address, has been moved
into its own sandbox, farther down, next to other Biden/SOTU pieces.
Kyle Anzalone: [03-07]
South Africa urges ICJ for emergency order as famine looms over
Gaza.
James Bamford: [03-06]
Time is running out to stop the carnage in Gaza: "Given the toll
from bombing and starvation, Gaza will soon become the world's largest
unmarked grave." Actually, time ran out sometime in the first week
after Oct. 7, when most Americans -- even many on the left who had
become critical of Israeli apartheid -- were too busy competing in
their denunciations of Hamas to notice how the Netanyahu government
was clearly intent to commit genocide. At this point, the carnage
is undeniable -- perhaps the only question is when the majority of
the killing will shift (or has shifted) from arms to environmental
factors (including starvation), because the latter are relatively
hard to count (or are even more likely to be undercounted). Of
course, stopping the killing is urgent, no matter how many days
we fail.
Greer Fay Cashman: [03-07]
President Herzog faces calls for arrest on upcoming Netherlands
visit.
Jonathan Cook: [03-07]
How the 'fight against antisemitism' became a shield for Israel's
genocide.
Richard Falk: [02-25]
In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in human
history.
Noah Feldman: [03-05]
How Oct. 7 is forcing Jews to reckon with Israel. Excerpt from
his new book, To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and
the Jewish People.
Daniel Finn: [03-07]
Slaughter in Gaza has discredited Britain's political class.
Fred Kaplan: [03-06]
Four things that will have to happen for the Israel-Hamas war to
end: I have a lot of respect for Kaplan as an analyst of such
matters, but the minimal solution he's created is impossible. His
four things?
- The Hamas leadership has to surrender or go into exile. ("Qatar
will have to crack down on Hamas, or perhaps provide its military
leaders refuge in exchange for their departure from Gaza.")
- "Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other Sunni powers in the region will
have to help rebuild Gaza and foster new, more moderate political
leaders."
- "Israel will at least have to say that it favors the
creation of a Palestinian state and to take at least a small
movement in that direction." Why anyone should believe Israel
in this isn't explained.
- "The United States will have to serve as some sort of guarantor
to all of this -- and not only for Israel."
In other words, every nation in the region has to bend to Israel's
stubborn insistence that they have to maintain control over every
inch of Gaza, even though they've made it clear they'd prefer for
everyone living there to depart or die. In any such scenario, it is
inevitable that resistance will resurface to again threaten Israel's
security, no matter how many layers of proxies are inserted, and no
matter how systematically Israel culls its "militants." Short of a
major sea change in Israeli opinion -- which is a prospect impossible
to take seriously, at least in the short term -- there is only one
real solution possible, which is for Israel to disown Gaza. Israel
can continue to maintain its borders, its Iron Walls and Iron Domes,
and can threaten massive retaliation if anyone on the Gaza side of
the border attacks them. (This can even include nuclear, if that's
the kind of people they are.) But Israel no longer gets any say in
how the people of Gaza live. From that point, Israel is out of the
picture, and Gaza has no reason to risk self-destruction by making
symbolic gestures.
That still leaves Gaza with a big problem -- just not an Israel
problem. That is because Israel has rendered Gaza uninhabitable, at
least for the two million people still stuck there. Those people
need massive aid, and even so many of them probably need to move
elsewhere, at least temporarily. Without Israel to fight, Hamas
instantly becomes useless. They will release their hostages, and
disband. Some may go into exile. The rest may join in rebuilding,
ultimately organized under a local democracy, which would have no
desire let alone capability to threaten Israel. This is actually
very simple, as long as outside powers don't try to corrupt the
process by recruiting local cronies (a big problem in the region,
with the US, its Sunni allies, Iran, its Shiite friends, Turkey,
and possibly others serial offenders).
Sure, this would leave Israel with a residual Palestinian problem
elsewhere: both with its second- and lesser-class citizens and wards,
and with its still numerous external refugees. But that problem has
not yet turned genocidal (although it's getting close, and is clearly
possible as long as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are part of Israel's ruling
coalition). But there is time to work on that, especially once Israel
is freed from the burden and horror of genocide in Gaza. There are
lots of ideas that could work as solutions, but they all ultimately
to accepting that everyone, regardless of where they live, should
enjoy equal rights and opportunities. That will be a tough pill for
many Israelis to swallow, but is the only one that will ultimately
free them from the internecine struggle Israelis and Palestinians
have been stuck with for most of a century. There's scant evidence
that most Israelis want that kind of security, so people elsewhere
will need to continue with BDS-like strategies of persuasion. But
failure to make progress will just expose Israelis to revolts like
they experienced on Oct. 7, and Palestinians to the immiseration
and gloom they've suffered so often over many decades decades.
Colbert I King: [03-08]
The United States cannot afford to be complicit in Gaza's tragedy:
True or not, isn't it a bit late to think of this?
Nicholas Kristof: [03-19]
'People are hoping that Israel nukes us so we get rid of this pain':
Texts with a Gazan acquaintance named Esa Alshannat, not Hamas, but
after Israeli soldiers left an area, found "dead, rotten and half eaten
by wild dogs." Kristof explains: "Roughly 1 percent of Gaza's people
today are Hamas fighters. To understand what the other 99 percent are
enduring, as the United States supplies weapons for this war and vetoes
cease-fire resolutions at the United Nations, think of Alshannat and
multiply him by two million."
Debbie Nathan:
Vivian Nereim: [03-10]
As Israel's ties to Arab countries fray, a stained lifeline remains:
The United Arab Emirates is still on speaking terms with Israel,
but doesn't have much to show for their solicitude.
Ilan Pappé: [02-01]
It is dark before the dawn, but Israeli settler colonialism is at
an end.
Mitchell Plitnick: [03-07]
Replacing Netanyahu with Gantz won't fix the problem.
Rebecca Lee Sanchez: [03-06]
Gaza's miracle of the manna: Aid and the American God complex.
Philip Weiss:
[03-07]
Zionism and Jewish identity: "American Zionists are not deluded
about Zionism. They know exactly what Israel is, and they are actively
supporting blatant supremacy, racism, and apartheid. But that is
changing, because Zionism is finally being challenged in the
left/liberal press."
[03-10]
Weekly Briefing: Israeli genocide is 'embarrassing' Biden, at
last.
Brett Wilkins: [03-06]
AIPAC's dark money arm unleashes $100 million: "Amid the
Netanyahu government's assault on Gaza and intensifying repression
in the West Bank, AIPAC is showing zero tolerance for even the
mildest criticism of Israel during the 2024 US elections."
America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:
I started this section to separate out stories on how the US was
expanding its operations in the Middle East, ostensibly to deter
regional adversaries from attacking Israel while Israel was busy
with its genocide in Gaza. At the time, it seemed like Israel was
actively trying to promote a broader war, partly to provide a
distraction from its own focus (much as WWII served to shield
the Holocaust), and partly to give the Americans something else
to focus on. Israel tried selling this as a
"seven-front
war" -- a line that Thomas Friedman
readily swallowed, quickly recovering from his initial shock at
Israel's overreaction in Gaza -- but with neither Iran nor the US
relishing what Israel imagined to be the main event, thus far only
the Houthis in Yemen took the bait (where US/UK reprisals aren't
much of a change from what the Saudis had been doing, with US help,
for years). So this section has gradually been taken over by more
general articles on America's imperial posture (with carve outs
for the still-raging wars in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia.
Ramzy Baroud:
[03-04]
To defend Israel's actions, the US is destroying the int'l legal
system it once constructed: I'm not sure that the US ever supported
any sort of international justice system. The post-WWII trials in Japan
and Germany were rigged to impose "victor's justice." The UN started
as a victors' club, with Germany and Japan excluded, and the Security
Council was designed so small states couldn't gang up on the powers.
And when Soviet vetoes precluded using the UN as a cold war tool, the
US invented various "coalitions of the willing" to rubber-stamp policy.
The US never recognized independent initiatives like the ICJ, although
the US supports using the ICJ where it's convenient, like against Russia
in Ukraine. The only "rules-based order" the US supports is its own,
and even there its blind support for Israel arbitrary and capricious --
subject to no rules at all, only the whims of Netanyahu.
[03-08]
On solidarity and Kushner's shame: How Gaza defeated US strategem,
again.
Mac William Bishop: [02-23]
American idiots kill the American century: "After decades of
foreign-policy bungling and strategic defeats, the US has never
seemed weaker -- and dictators around the world know it."
Christopher Caldwell: [03-09]
This prophetic academic now foresees the West's defeat: On
French historian/political essayist Emmanuel Todd, who claims to
have been the first to predict the demise of the Soviet Union (see
his The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet
Sphere, from 1976), has a new book called La Défaite de
l'Occident.
Caldwell, who has a book called The Age of Entitlement,
seems to be an unconventional conservative, so even when he has
seeming insights it's hard to trust them. Even harder to get a
read on Todd. (The NYTimes' insistence on "Mr." at every turn has
never been more annoying.) But their skepticism of Biden et al.
on Ukraine/Russia is certainly warranted. By the way, here are
some old Caldwell pieces:
Brian Concannon: [03-08]
US should let Haiti reclaim its democracy.
Gregory Elich: [03-08]
How Madeleine Albright got the war the US wanted: NATO goes on
the warpath, initially in Yugoslavia, then . . . "the opportunity
to expand Western domination over other nations."
Tom Engelhardt: [03-05]
A big-time war on terror: Living on the wrong world: "A
planetary cease fire is desperately needed."
Connor Freeman: [03-07]
Biden's unpopular wars reap mass death and nuclear brinkmanship.
Marc Martorell Junyent: [03-07]
Tempest in a teapot: British illusions and American hegemony from
Iraq to Yemen. Review of Tom Stevenson's book,
Someone
Else's Empire: British Illusions and American Hegemony.
Joshua Keating: [03-09]
The Houthis have the world's attention -- and they won't give it up:
"What do Yemen's suddenly world-famous rebels really want, and what will
make them stop?" One lesson here is that deterrence only works if it
threatens a radical break from the status quo. The Saudis, with American
support, have been bombing the Houthis for more than a decade now,
causing great hardship for the Yemeni people, but hardly moving the
needle on Houthi political power. So how much worse would it get if
they picked a fight with Israel's proxy navy? Moreover, by standing
up to Israel and its unwitting allies, they gain street cred and a
claim to the moral high ground. For similar reasons, sanctions are
more likely to threaten nations that aren't used to them. Once you're
under sanctions, which with the US tends to be a life sentence, what
difference does a few more make? It's too late for mere threats to
change the behavior of Yemen, Iran, North Korea, and/or Russia --
though maybe not to affect powers whose misbehaviors have thus far
escaped American sanctions, like Israel and Saudi Arabia. But for
the rest, to effect change, you need to do something positive, to
give them some motivation and opportunity to change. In many cases,
that shouldn't even be hard. Just try to do the right thing. Respect
the independence of others. Look for mutual benefits, like in trade.
Help them help their own people. And stop defending genocide.
Nan Levinson: [03-07]
The enticements of war (and peace).
Blaise Malley: [03-06]
Opportunity calls as Cold War warriors exit the stage: "Will
Mitch McConnell's replacement represent the old or new guard in
his party's foreign policy?"
Paul R Pillar: [03-06]
Why Netanyahu is laughing all the way to the bank: "David Petraeus
said recently that US leverage on Israel to do the right thing in Gaza
is 'overestimated' -- that's just not true."
Robert Wright: [03-08]
The real problem with the Trump-Biden choice: This piece is
far-reaching enough I could have slotted it anywhere, but it has
the most bearing here: the problem is how much Trump and Biden
have in common, especially where it comes to foreign affairs:
"America First" may seem like a different approach from Biden's,
but the latter is just a slightly more generous and less intemperate
variation, as both start from the assumption that America is and must
be the leader, and everyone else needs to follow in line. Trump thinks
he can demand the other pay tribute; Biden possibly knows better,
but his pursuit of arms deals makes me wonder. Wright cites a piece
by Adam Tooze I can't afford or find, quoting it only up to the
all-important "but" after which the Trump-Biden gap narrows. While
I'm sure Tooze has interesting things to say, Wright's efforts to
steer foreign policy thinking away from the zero-sum confrontations
of the Metternich-to-Kissinger era are the points to consider.
Fareed Zakaria: [03-08]
Amid the horror in Gaza, it's easy to miss that the Middle East has
changed.
Election notes: Sixteen states and territories voted for
president on Super Tuesday, mostly confirming what we already knew.
Biden won everywhere (except American Samoa), even over "uncommitted"
(which mostly got a push from those most seriously upset over his
support for Israeli genocide). Trump won everywhere -- except in
Vermont, narrowly to Nikki Haley, who nonetheless shuttered her
campaign (but hasn't yet endorsed Trump). Dean Phillips dropped out
of the Democratic race after getting 8% in his home state of Minnesota
and 9% in Oklahoma. He endorsed Biden. I'm not very happy with any of
the news summaries I've seen, but here are a few to skim through:
538;
AP;
Ballotpedia;
CBS News;
CNBC;
CNN;
Guardian;
NBC News;
New York Times;
Politico;
USA Today;
Washington Post.
One quote I noticed (from CNN) was from a "reluctant Democrat" in
Arizona: "It's hard to vote for someone with multiple felony charges;
and it's also very hard to vote for someone that is pro-genocide."
Michael C Bender: [03-06]
How Trump's crushing primary triumph masked quiet weaknesses:
"Even though he easily defeated Nikki Haley, the primary results
suggested that he still has long-term problems with suburban voters,
moderates, and independents."
Aaron Blake: [03-08]
The Texas GOP purge and other below-the-radar Super Tuesday
nuggets.
Nate Cohn: [03-07]
Where Nikki Haley won and what it means: Inside the Beltway (61%),
Home base and Mountain West cities (57%), Vermont (56%), University
towns (56%), Resort towns (55%): In other words, the sorts of places
that would automatically disqualify one as a Real Republican.
Antonia Hitchens: [03-06]
Watching Super Tuesday returns at Mar-a-Lago.
Ro Khanna: [03-07]
The message from Michigan couldn't be more clear: Actually,
these figures (see Nichols below) are hardly enough for a bump in
the road to Biden's reelection -- unlike, say, Eugene McCarthy's
New Hampshire showing in 1968, where Lyndon Johnson got the message
clearly enough to give up his campaign. What they do show is that
the near-unanimity of Democratic politicians in support of Israel
is not shared by the rank and file.
Adam Nagourney/Shane Goldmacher: [03-09]
The Biden-Trump rerun: A nation craving change gets more of the same:
I bypassed this first time around, but maybe we should offer some kind
of reward for the week's most inane opinion piece. Wasn't Nagourney a
finalist in one of those hack journalists playoffs? (If memory serves --
why the hell can't I just google this? -- he finished runner-up to
Karen Tumulty.)
John Nichols: [03-05]
Gaza is on the ballot all over America: "Inspired by Michigan's
unexpectedly high 'uncommitted' vote, activists across the country
are now mounting campaigns to send Biden a pro-cease-fire message."
Uncommitted slate votes thus far (from NYTimes link, above):
Minnesota: 18.9%;
Michigan: 13.2%;
North Carolina: 12.7%;
Massachusetts: 9.4%;
Colorado: 8.1%;
Tennessee: 7.9%;
Alabama: 6.0%;
Iowa: 3.9%.
Alexander Sammon:
[03-09]
Katie Porter said her Senate primary was "rigged." Let's discuss!
"Her complaint was kind of MAGA-coded. But it wasn't entirely wrong."
Adam Schiff had a huge fundraising advantage over Porter, as Porter
did over the worthier still Barbara Lee. This is one of the few pieces
I've found that looks into where that money came from (AIPAC chipped
in $5 million; a crypto-backed PAC doubled that), and how it was used,
explained in more depth in the following:
[03-05]
Democrats have turned to odd, cynical tactics to beat one another in
California's Senate race. Schiff wound up spending a lot of money
not trying to win Democrats over from Porter and Lee -- something that
might require explaining why he supported the Iraq War (which itself
partly explains why he got all that AIPAC money) -- but instead spent
millions raising Republican Steve Garvey's profile. In the end, Schiff
was so successful he lost first place to Garvey (on one but not both
of the contests: one to finish Feinstein's term, one for the six year
term that follows), but at least he got past Porter and Lee, turning
the open primary into a traditional R-D contest (almost certainly D
in California).
Michael Scherer: [03-08]
Inside No Labels decision to plow ahead with choosing presidential
candidates: "The group announced on a call with supporters
Friday plans to announce a selection process for their third-party
presidential ticket on March 14 with a nomination by April."
More No Labels:
Li Zhou: [03-06]
Jason Palmer, the guy who beat Biden in American Samoa, briefly
explained.
Trump, and other Republicans:
David Atkins: [03-06]
The incompetent malfeasance of today's Republican party: "They're
mendacious buffoons, but their lack of political acumen makes them no
less dangerous than if they knew how to shoot straight." Laugh as you
may, but in much of the country, they're still kicking your ass.
Zack Beauchamp: [03-06]
The Republican primary was a joke. It tells us something deadly
serious. "Trump's inevitable romp to victory revealed how strong
his hold on the GOP is -- and how dangerous he remains to democracy."
Ryan Bort: [03-08]
Republicans tap election denier, Trump's daughter-in-law to run
RNC: "The MAGA takeover of the Republican National Committee
is complete, and the group appears poised to subsidize Trump's
legal fights." Michael Whatley and Lara Trump.
Zak Cheney-Rice: [03-09]
The normalization of Trump's alleged crimes: "His legal strategy
is both buying him time and erasing the accusations against him."
Juan Cole: [03-06]
Trump, Like Biden, supports Israeli Campaign against Gaza: "You've got
to finish the Problem": Odd turn of phrase, isn't it? (I usually
try to standardize case in headlines, but this one was so peculiar, I
left it alone.) Most people try to solve problems, but "finish" could
have two meanings, one suggesting that it isn't problem enough yet,
so needs to be made more complete; the other interpretation, which is
more like Trump, is that "Problem" means Palestinians, and "finish"
means annihilation (or more vividly, if you know the original German,
Vernichtung). I don't quite buy the argument that "Trump's position
on Gaza is not any different from that of Joe Biden." Biden may feel
powerless to object to Israel, but he's not unaware of the human cost.
Trump simply doesn't care. As long as the checks don't bounce, he's
good to go. More on Trump's Gaza "problem":
Dan Diamond/Alex Horton: [03-07]
Navy demoted Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior:
"Trump's former physician and GOP ally is now a retired captain, not
an admiral."
Jesse Drucker: [03-09]
How Trump's Justice Dept. derailed an investigation of a major
company: "The industrial giant Caterpillar hired William Barr
and other lawyers to defuse a federal criminal investigation of
alleged tax dodges."
Michael Gold: [03-10]
Trump vilifies migrants and mocks Biden's stutter in Georgia
speech.
Jessica M Goldstein:
The right-wing war on abortion has nothing to do with babies:
"Coverage of the recent controversy over IVF has made a perilous
omission: This is a battle over body autonomy." Related:
Alex Isenstadt: [03-11]
Ralph Reed's army plans $62 million spending spree backing Trump:
"Faith & amp; Freedom plans to spend big registering and turning out
evangelicals and handing out 30 million pieces of literature at
churches."
Josh Kovensky: [03-09]
Inside a secret society of prominent right-wing Christian men prepping
for a 'national divorce'.
Paul Krugman:
Eric Levitz:
[03-05]
Republicans' voter suppression obsession may end up helping . . .
Democrats? "The GOP convinced itself it could only win with a
smaller, whiter electorate. The polls show that's just not true."
[03-06]
Republicans just passed up the chance to win a historic landslide:
"If Republicans ever figure out how to nominate a normal human, Democrats
could be in trouble." You might think that, but Romney and McCain, who
were about as close as Republicans get to normal these days, lost to
Obama, and Bush didn't fare much better, leaving office with the lowest
approval rating at least since Nixon. Republican policies are moving
disasters, many so obviously defective even they don't dare campaign
on them. The only option, other than betraying their base(s), is to
deflect and dissemble, which they do mostly by generating rage. Even
that doesn't always work, but Trump was credibly crazy in 2016, and
pulled off a miracle, and when he did, he raised the stakes about
what winning meant. As long as he has a chance of winning -- and he
does have enough polls to keep that fantasy going -- he's the horse
the base wants to bet on, because he's the only one promising to
fulfill their fantasies. Until he loses as bad as Landon in 1936,
or at least Mondale in 1984, Republicans have little reason to
recalculate.
Daniel Lippman: [03-09]
Kellyanne Conway advocating for TikTok on Capitol Hill:
Trump failed to "drain the swamp," but his aides are learning to
earn there.
Alexandra Marquez: [03-10]
Lindsey Graham: Biden has 'screwed the world up every way you can':
I can't help but wonder how many people actually fall for this sort
of vague but indiscriminate line, which has become default for most
Republicans. Graham spouts more on foreign policy, where it's most
clear that he wants to "screw the world up" in ways even Biden hasn't
tried.
Stephanie Mencimer: [03-08]
Lara Trump is all about meritocracy: "That's why she got the
top job at the RNC."
Mary Jo Murphy: [03-07]
This book about Trump voters goes for the jugular: Another
review of Tom Schaller/Paul Waldman:
White
Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. And another:
Nicole Narea: [03-06]
Mark Robinson, the North Carolina GOP nominee for governor, is off the
rails even by MAGA standards: "North Carolina has seen a politician
like Robinson before: Jesse Helms." More:
Anna North: [03-04]
Fetal personhood laws, explained: "The anti-abortion legal theory
that could jeopardize IVF around the country."
Charles P Pierce: Many recent
short posts, not all of which apply to this slot, but the first
couple do, and easier to keep them together, with more respect for
their author:
Greg Sargent:
Trump's angry rant about Biden's speech showcases MAGA's ugliest
scam.
Charles Sykes: [03-05]
Donald Trump, the luckiest politician who ever lived.
Ishaan Tharoor: [03-08]
Trump, Orban and the GOP's deep obsession with foreign demagogues:
This column includes an interview with Jacob Heilbrunn, author of
America Last:
The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.
The century is just enough time to go back to Mussolini, lionized
as the guy who got the trains to run on time.
Liz Theoharis: [03-10]
The great unwinding: "The failing battle for health and healthcare
in these all too disunited states." Republicans are responsible for
this, and need to own it: "Since March 2023, 16 million Americans have
lost healthcare coverage, including four million children, as states
redefine eligibility for Medicaid for the first time in three years."
This is one of many areas where Democrats were able to expand the
safety net to ameliorate the horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic, but
as Republicans recovered from the panic, they've killed off these
much needed expansions as soon as possible.
Peter Wehner: [03-10]
If there's one thing Trump is right about, it's Republicans:
They'll follow him anywhere:
Mr. Trump is a human blowtorch, prepared to burn down democracy. So
is his party. When there's no bottom, there's no bottom.
The next 34 weeks are among the more consequential in the life of
this nation. Mr. Trump was a clear danger in 2016; he's much more of
a danger now. The former president is more vengeful, more bitter and
more unstable than he was, which is saying something. There would be
fewer guardrails and more true believers in a second Trump term. He's
already shown he'll overturn an election, support a violent insurrection
and even allow his vice president to be hanged. There's nothing he won't
do. It's up to the rest of us to keep him from doing it.
Biden's band-aid folly: Unveiled in Biden's State of the
Union address, q.v., but for this week, let's give it its own section:
Alex Horton: [03-08]
How the US military will use a floating pier to deliver Gaza aid:
"Construction will take up to two months and require 1,000 US troops
who will remain off shore, officials say. Once complete, it will
enable delivery of 2 million meals daily."
Jonathan Cook: [03-10]
Biden's pier-for-Gaza is hollow gesture.
Kareem Fahim/Hazem Balousha: [03-08]
Biden plan to build Gaza port, deliver aid by sea draws skepticism,
ridicule. Sounds like they had a contest to come up with the most
expensive, least efficient method possible to trickle life-sustaining
aid into Gaza, without in any way inhibiting Israel's systematic
slaughter.
Miriam Berger/Sufian Taha/Heidi Levine/Loveday Morris: [03-05]
The improbable US plan for a revitalized Palestinian security force:
Because the US did such a great job of training the Afghan security
force?
Noga Tarnopolsky: [03-09]
The Biden plan to ditch Netanyahu: "The 'come to Jesus moment' is
already here, according to Israeli and US sources." I don't give this
report much credit, but it stands to reason that eventually Biden will
tire of Netanyahu jerking him around just so he can further embarrass
both countries with what is both in intent and effect genocide. I do
see ways in which Biden's initial subservience is evolving into some
kind of passive-aggressive resistance. Rather than denounce Israel
for making reasonable aid possible, Biden has challenged Israel to
spell out what they would allow, and agreed even as these schemes are
patently ridiculous. It's only a matter of time until Israel starts
attacking American aid providers. For another piece:
Zack Beauchamp: [03-08]
Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel? "Biden's
new plan to build a pier on the Gaza coast seems to say yes. The
continued military aid to Israel says otherwise."
Biden's State of the Union speech: A section for everything
else related, including official and unofficial Republican responses:
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Perry Bacon Jr: [03-07]
Biden is failing at the most important task of his presidency.
Bacon's definition: "Biden has failed at the most important task
for a Democratic president in the 2020s: eliminating or at least
drastically reducing the chances of Trump or someone who shares
his radical beliefs being his successor." That may have been the
job, but it's really hard to see how he could have done it. When
I saw the headline, I filled in my own answer, which is that Biden
simply isn't a very good communicator. But Obama was, technically
at least, pretty much all you could hope for in a communicator,
and who listened to him? Bill Clinton was also pretty good. But
both were hobbled by a hostile media that relentlessly amplified
Republican countermessaging, and by the muddle created by their
own willingness to conform to conservative framing of issues --
is it any wonder that they were more successful at persuading
donors than voters? Franklin Roosevelt was the great communicator
among all presidents, but we no longer live in a world where
nominally Republican farmers (like, say, my grandfather) would
tune in to listen to him explain how banking worked, and believe
a word he said.
Jonathan Chait: [03-05]
Good riddance, Kyrsten Sinema, plutocratic shill: "She killed her
career by blocking bipartisan ideas that threatened the rich." The
Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona finally decided not to run
for a second term. Presumably she'll reap her rewards as a lobbyist,
not that she's likely to have much influence over anyone. More:
Timothy Noah:
The stealth budget cuts imperiling the Biden antitrust agenda.
Evan Osnos: [03-04]
Joe Biden's last campaign: A long New Yorker profile on
Biden, by just about the only writer who managed to get a biography
of Biden together before the 2020 election (and just barely).
Andrew Prokop: [03-08]
The media's coverage of Biden's age needs a rethink: "There's
been too much focus on trivialities."
John E Schwarz: [03-01]
Democratic presidents have better economic performances than Republican
ones: This has been true for so long you'd think everyone would be
acknowledging it.
Astra Taylor/Eleni Schirmer: [03-05]
The Biden administration has a chance to deliver student debt relief.
It must act.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [03-06]
Can Joe Biden fight from behind in a rematch against Donald Trump?
Legal matters and other crimes:
Elie Honig: [03-08]
Biden's looming nightmare pardons: Ever since this "former
federal and state prosecutor" started writing for Intelligencer,
his pieces have sounded like stealth briefs from the Trump legal
team, even if not things they would actually want to own. This
one at least assumes things not yet in evidence: that Trump is
actually tried and convicted and sentenced to jail time -- the
power may be to pardon, but all he's asking for is commutation
of prison time, not full pardons. As that's increasingly unlikely
before November, the assumption may also be that Biden wins then,
so has some breathing room before having to consider the issue,
which would leave plenty of time for this discussion, unlike now.
Josh Kovensky: [03-05]
Feds slap 12 new counts on Bob 'Gold Bars' Menendez: Senator
(D-NJ).
Ian Millhiser: [03-10]
Do Americans still have a right to privacy? "With courts coming
for abortion and IVF, it's hard not to wonder what the Supreme Court
will go after next."
Climate, environment, and energy:
Ukraine War:
Blaise Malley: [03-08]
Diplomacy Watch: Chinese diplomat shuttling to Russia, and Ukraine.
Turkey is also making efforts to mediate the conflict.
Francesca Ebel/Robyn Dixon: [02-29]
Putin threatens nuclear response to NATO troops if they go to
Ukraine.
Francesca Ebel/Serhiy Morgunov: [03-08]
Russia's opposition and Ukraine find it impossible to unite against
Putin.
Mark Episkopos: [03-08]
What will more aid to Ukraine accomplish? "There are limits to
what Kyiv can do, even with an indefinite flow of Western assistance."
Valerie Hopkins: [03-01]
Thousands turn out for Navalny's funeral in Moscow.
Daniel Larison: [03-05]
Victoria Nuland never shook the mantle of ideological meddler:
"Blurting out F-ck the EU' typified her blunt, interventionist style
throughout three presidential administrations."
Emily Rauhala: [03-07]
Sweden finally joins NATO in expansion spurred by Putin's Ukraine
war.
Lauren Wolfe: [01-16]
Putin's history lessons: Review of Yaroslav Trofimov:
Our
Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of
Independence, which is somewhat tangential to the subhed
argument that Putin's rhetoric about the unity of Russia and Ukraine
has laid "the rhetorical groundwork for a forever war."
Amanda Yen: [03-11]
Hungary's Viktor Orban: Trump 'won't give a penny' to Ukraine if
elected. One of the stranger recent political dynamics is that
as Trump digs in more as the anti-war (and especially, anti-world-war)
candidate, Democrats are trying to rally support for Ukraine as
necessary to spite Trump here in America. Why they think that's
a winning strategy is beyond me. They could argue that unified
support for Ukraine would help them negotiate a better deal to
end the war, but first they need to be open to negotiating, which
so far doesn't seem to be the case. America has a bad history of
never negotiating reasonable exits from conflicts. Rather, in
Vietnam and Afghanistan, they negotiated deals where they just
slipped away, leaving their supposed allies to collapse, or in
Korea, where they signed a ceasefire but refused to call it an
end to the war. A reasonable deal with Russia is possible, and
it could lead to further reasonable deals in the future, in the
long run ending a conflict that the US has done as much or more
to fuel as Putin has. Trump may pull out, but he won't negotiate
a real deal, because he doesn't know how, and he doesn't care.
But even the bad deals I've mentioned were better for Americans
than the hopeless, pointless wars they escaped from. So even if
that's all Trump is promising, many people will see it as better
than Biden and the Democrats pouring endless resources into a
stalemate.
Around the world:
Other stories:
Michelle Alexander: [03-08]
Only revolutionary love can save us now: "Martin Luther King Jr's
1967 speech condemning the Vietnam War offers a powerful moral compass
as we face the challenges of our time."
Indivar Dutta-Gupta/Korian Warren: [03-04]
The war on poverty wasn't enough: "While Lyndon B Johnson's
effort made some lasting impacts, the United States still has some
of the highest rates of nonelderly poverty among wealthy nations."
As the article notes, Johnson's programs brought big improvements,
but the Vietnam War hurt him politically, and his successors lost
interest: e.g., Nixon's appointment of Donald Rumsfeld to run the
Office of Economic Opportunity. And while Republicans deserve much
of the blame, Democrats like Daniel Moynahan and Bill Clinton were
often as bad, sometimes worse.
Henry Farrell: [02-27]
Dr. Pangloss's Panopticon: A very thoughtful critique of Noah Smith's
"quite
negative review of a recent book by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson,
Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology &
Prosperity. There are complex issues at dispute here, many
much more interesting than those that dominate this (and all recent)
posts. Dr. Pangloss (from Voltaire) stands in for techno-optimism:
the idea that unfettered innovation, accelerated as it is through
modern venture capitalism, promises to deliver ever-improving worlds.
Panopticon (from Jeremy Bentham) is an early form of mass surveillance,
a capability that technology has done much to develop recently, with
AI promising a breakthrough to the bottleneck problem (the time and
people you need to surveil other people).
Luke Goldstein: [02-23]
Crunch time for government spying: "Congress has a few weeks left
until a key spying provision sunsets. Both reformers and intelligence
hawks are plotting their strategies."
Oshan Jarow: [03-08]
The world's mental health is in rough shape -- and not getting any
better: "Guess where the US ranks?"
Sarah Kaplan: [03-06]
Are we living in an 'Age of Humans'? Geologists say no.
A recent proposal for delineating a stratigraphic boundary for
the Anthropocene, based on "a plume of radioactive plutonium
that circled around the world" in 1952, was proposed recently
and, at least for now, voted down. More:
Alvaro Lopez: [03-08]
The making of Frantz Fanon: Review of Adam Shatz's new book,
The
Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon.
Also:
Rick Perlstein: [03-06]
The spectacle of policing: "'Swatting' innocent people is the latest
incarnation of the decades-long gestation of an infrastructure of
fear."
Dave Phillipps: [03-06]
Profound damage found in Maine gunman's brain, possibly from blasts:
"A laboratory found a pattern of cell damage that has been seen in
veterans exposed to weapons blasts, and said it probably played a
role in symptoms the gunman displayed before the shooting." Robert
Card was a grenade instructor in the Army Reserve for eight years.
He went on to shoot and kill 18 people and himself. Something not
yet factored into the "Costs of War" accounting. Another report:
Jeffrey St Clair: [03-08]
Roaming Charges: Too obvious to be real.
I ran across a link to this David Brooks [02-08]:
Trump came for their party but took over their souls. A normal
person would have little trouble writing a column under that headline.
Even Brooks hits some obvious points, like: "Democracy is for
suckers"; "Entertainment over governance"; and "Lying
is normal." But the one that really upsets Brooks is: "America
would be better off in a post-American world." The other maxim
that Brooks castigates Trump for is "Foreigners don't matter."
This leads to his rant against "isolationism," which inevitably
devolves into invoking the spectre of Neville Chamberlain.
Brooks celebrates the triumph of Eisenhower over Taft in 1952,
when "the GOP became an internationalist party and largely remained
that way for six decades" -- glorious years that spread capitalist
exploitation to the far corners of the globe, transforming colonies
into cronies ruled by debt penury, policed by "forever wars" and,
wherever the occasion arose, ruthless counterrevolutions and civil
wars.
Meanwhile, instead of enjoying the wealth this foreign policy
generated, America's middle class -- the solid burghers and union
workers who, as Harry Truman put it, "voted Democratic to live like
Republicans" -- got ground down into their own penury. The Cold
War was always as much about fighting democracy at home as it was
about denying socialism abroad, much as the "war on terror" was
mostly just an authoritarian tantrum directed against anyone who
failed to submit to America's globe-spanning military colossus.
Sure, it is an irony that blows Brooks' mind that it now seems
to be the Republicans -- the party that most celebrates rapacious
capitalism, is most devoutly committed to authoritarian rule, and
whose people are most callously indifferent to the cries of those
harmed by their greed -- should be the first give up on the game.
Of course, they weren't. The left, or "premature antifascists"
(as the OSS referred to us in the 1940s, before "communists and
fellow travelers" proved to be a more effective slur), knew this
all along, but that insight came from caring about what happens
to others, and solidarity in what we sensed was a common struggle.
It took Republicans much
longer to realize that globalized capitalism, under the aegis of
American military power, not only didn't work for them personally,
but that it directly led to jobs moving overseas, and all kinds
of foreigners flooding America. And since Republicans had put
so much propaganda effort into stoking racism and reaction, not
least by blaming Democrats (with their "open borders" and focus
on wars as "humanitarian") for loving foreigners more than their
own people.
I was pointed to Brooks' piece by a pair of
tweets: Simon Schama linked, adding: "Heartfelt obituary by
David Brooks for the expiring of last vestiges of the Republican
Party. No longer has supporters but 'an audience.' Lying normalised.
Total abandonment of internationalism." To which, Sam Hasselby added:
People have really memory-holed the whole Iraq catastrophe which
is in fact what normalized a new scale of lying and impunity in
American politics. It was also a lie which cost $7 trillion dollars,
killed one million innocent Iraqis, and displaced 37 million people.
Yet Iraq War boosters like Brooks still have major mainstream
media gigs, while Adam Schiff trounced Barbara Lee (the only member
of Congress to vote against the whole War on Terror) in a Democratic
primary, and Joe Biden became president -- finally giving up the
20-year disaster in Afghanistan, only to wholeheartedly embrace
new, but already even more disastrous, wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Saturday, March 09, 2024
Daily Log
Cloudland Blue Quartet published a "#13at13" list: "Here are 13 of
the 16 LPS I owned at the age of 13. No wonder I am warped . . ." As
best I can make out:
- The Animals: The Most of the Animals
- The Who: A Quick One
- Various Artists: Fill Your Head With Rock
- Various Composers: The World of Your Hundred Best Things
- Alice Cooper: Love It to Death
- The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (Live)
- Black Widow: Black Widow III
- Hawkwind: Doremi Fasol Latido
- Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes
- T Rex: Ride a White Swan
- Uriah Heep: Demons and Wizards
- Uriah Heep: Magician's Birthday
- Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies
Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Daily Log
I got this message via Facebook from Ken Brown:
Tom - since you know by far the most about the Brown family, I have a
question: someone once told me that the Brown boys went to school
until they were old enough to pick cotton, and they then picked cotton
until they were old enough to run away from home. So, my dad maybe
only went to the 5th or 6th grade? What do you know? I do have some
letters that my dad wrote to my mom - and you can barely read the
handwriting.
Tuesday, March 05, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
March archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 38 albums, 5 A-list
Music: Current count 41938 [41900] rated (+38), 21 [22] unrated (-1).
I'm having a rough time getting anything done, which is my best
explanation for wasting most of last week on a still-unfinished
Speaking of Which -- posted well after midnight last, with
a few further adds flagged today. The most important add is the
link to Pankaj Mishra's
The Shoah after Gaza (also on
YouTube).
I've neglected pretty much everything and everyone else. My
apologies to anyone expecting a response from me. As I must have
noted already, I gave myself a month to write a quick, very rough
draft of my long gestating political book, with the promise that
if I couldn't pull it off, I'd shelve the idea once and for all,
and spend my waning days reading fiction -- forty years later,
I still have a bookmark 300 pages into Gravity's Rainbow,
and enough recollection I'm not sure I'll have to retrace --
while slipping in the occasional old movie and dawdling with
jigsaw puzzles (ok, I'm already doing the latter). I certainly
wouldn't have to plow through any nonfiction that might be
construed as research -- e.g., a couple items currently on
the proverbial night stand: Franklin Foer's book on Biden, or
Judis/Teixeira on the missing Democrats.
That month was supposed to be January, but the Jazz Critics
Poll and EOY lists lapped over without me starting, so I decided
I'd give it February. I still have no more than a fragment of a
letter stashed away in a
notebook entry, so
the obvious thing to do at this point is admit failure, and be
done with it. Aside from easing my mind -- the last six months
have been unbearably gloomy for my politics, my prognostications
turning markedly dystopian -- ditching politics might be good
news for those of you more interested in my writing on music.
Two small projects that I've also neglected are: a thorough
review of the
Francis Davis Jazz
Critics Poll website, which is missing some unknown quantity
of historical material (hopefully Davis has it stashed away),
and needs some modernization; I'm also behind on maintenance,
not to mention the long-promised redesign, of the
Robert Christgau
website. It would also make sense to reorganize my own data
along those same lines, as even now it's virtually impossible
for even me to look up what I've written about any musician.
I also have neglected house projects: the most pressing of
which is the imminent collapse of a chunk of ceiling in my wife's
study room. I used to be pretty competent at carpentry and home
improvement tasks. About all I can claim to have managed in the
last month has been replacement of two light bulbs, which took
me weeks (in my defense, both involved ladders and unconventional
sockets).
Nothing special to say about this week's music. A copy of the
year 2023 list has been
frozen, but I am
still adding occasional records to my
tracking file,
jazz and
non-jazz EOY lists, and
EOY aggregate, but mostly
just my own belatedly graded items. But I'm not very focused on what
I'm listening to, and often get stuck wondering what to play next.
I can't say I've reached the point of not caring, but I'm getting
there.
My most played record of the last couple weeks is The
R&B No. 1s of the '50s, especially the final disc, which
has left me with Lloyd Price's "I'm Gonna Get Married" as the
ultimate earworm. I should probably bump the whole set up to full
A. I played the last three discs while cooking on Saturday, and
I'm satisfied with them. Then I started Sunday and Monday with
disc 6. As this post lapsed into Tuesday, I was tempted again,
but had unfinished Vijay Iyer queued up.
Found this in a Facebook comment: "I'm not sure keeping up with
Tom Hull is possible. The very thought makes my synapses cry out,
'no mas, no mas.'" But from my view, they really just keep coming
poco a poco. During the long delay from listing out this file to
posting it -- mostly spent on the Speaking of Which intro -- I only
managed to collect four more reviews for next week: two marginally
A- jazz albums (Joel Ross, John Surman), and two more marginally
below A- (Vijay Iyer, Emile Parisien).
New records reviewed this week:
- Black Art Jazz Collective: Truth to Power (2024, HighNote): [sp]: B
- The Choir Invisible [Charlotte Greve/Vinnie Sperazza/Chris Tordini]: Town of Two Faces (2022 [2024], Intakt): [sp]: B+(***)
- Djeli Moussa Condé: Africa Mama (2023, Accords Croises): [sp]: B+(***)
- Gui Duvignau/Jacob Sacks/Nathan Ellman-Bell: Live in Red Hook (2022 [2024], Sunnyside): [sp]: B+(**)
- Alon Farber Hagiga With Dave Douglas: The Magician: Live in Jerusalem (2023 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B+(***)
- R.A.P. Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura: The First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap (2024, Ruby Yacht): [sp]: B+(***)
- David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness (2023 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B
- The Fully Celebrated Orchestra: Sob Story (2023 [2024], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
- Vanisha Gould and Chris McCarthy: Life's a Gig (2022 [2024], Fresh Sound New Talent): [sp]: B+(**)
- Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar (2024, Veena Sounds): [sp]: A
- Katy Kirby: Blue Raspberry (2024, Anti-): [sp]: B+(**)
- Lapgan: History (2023, Veena Sounds): [sp]: B+(*)
- Lapgan: Duniya Kya Hai (2021, Veena Sounds): [sp]: B+(**)
- Lapgan: Badmaash (2019, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Les Amazones d'Afrique: Musow Danse (2024, Real World): [sp]: B+(***)
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Transfiguration (2022 [2024], Intakt): [sp]: A-
- Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock: Maromas (2022 [2023], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
- Corb Lund: El Viejo (2024, New West): [sp]: B+(***)
- Brady Lux: Ain't Gone So Far (2024, 6483357 DK): [sp]: B+(***)
- Mali Obomsawin/Magdalena Abrego: Greatest Hits (2024, Out Of Your Head): [bc]: B+(**)
- QOW Trio: The Hold Up (2024, Ubuntu Music): [sp]: A-
- Zach Rich: Solidarity (2021 [2024], OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
- Dex Romweber: Good Thing Goin' (2023, Propeller Sound): [sp]: B+(*)
- Ignaz Schick/Oliver Steidle: Ilog3 (2021 [2023], Zarek): [bc]:" B+(***)
- Fie Schouten/Vincent Courtois/Guus Janssen: Vostok: Remote Islands (2023, Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
- Håkon Skogstad: 8 Concepts of Tango (2023 [2024], Øra Fonogram): B+(*) [03-15]
- Simon Spiess Quiet Tree: Euphorbia (2022 [2024], Intakt): [sp]: B+(**)
- Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (2024, Loma Vista): [sp]: B
- Albert Vila Trio: Reality Is Nuance (2022 [2023], Fresh Sound New Talent): [sp]: B+(**)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru: Solo/Duo/Trio/Quartet (2004 [2024], JMood): [cd]: A-
- Jack Wood: The Gal That Got Away: The Best of Jack Wood, Featuring Guest Niehaud Fitzgibbon ([2024], Jazz Hang): [cd] [03-29]
Old music:
- Gigi: Gigi (2001, Palm Pictures): [sp]: B+(***)
- Gigi: Illuminated Audio (2003, Palm Pictures): [sp]: B+(*)
- Gigi: Gold & Wax (2006, Palm Pictures): [sp]: A-
- Barney McAll: Precious Energy (2022, Extra Celestial Arts): [sp]: B
- Pajama Party: Up All Night (1989, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(**)
- QOW Trio: QOW Trio (2020, Ubuntu Music): [sp]: B+(***)
- Stacey Q: Greatest Hits (1982-95 [1995], Thump): [sp]: B+(***)
- SSQ: Playback (1983, Enigma): [sp]: B+(**)
- SSQ: Jet Town Je T'Aime (2020, Synthicide): [sp]: B+(*)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Guillermo Gregorio: Two Trios (ESP-Disk) [2023-12-01]
- Mercer Hassy Orchestra: Duke's Place (Mercer Hassy) [04-15)
- Ellie Lee: Escape (self-released) [05-24]
- Matthew Shipp Trio: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk) [04-05]
- Ronny Smith: Struttin' (Pacific Coast Jazz) [04-19]
Sunday, March 03, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
I started this early, on Wednesday, maybe even Tuesday, as I
couldn't bring myself to work on anything else. There's a rhythm
here: I have twenty-some tabs open to my usual sources, and just
cycle through them, picking out stories, noting them, sometimes
adding a comment, some potentially long. By Friday night, I had
so much, I thought of posting early: leaving the date set for
Sunday, when I could do a bit of update.
I didn't get the early post done. Sunday, my wife invited some
friends over to watch a movie. I volunteered to make dinner, and
that (plus the movie) killed the rest of the day. Nothing fancy:
I keep all the fixings for pad thai on hand, so I can knock off
a pretty decent one-dish meal in little more than an hour. And I
had been thinking about making hot and sour soup since noticing
a long-neglected package of dried lily buds, so I made that too.
First actual cooking I had done in at least a month, so that felt
nice and productive.
This, of course, feels totally scattered. I'm unsure of the
groupings, and it's hard for me to keep track of the redundancies
and contradictions. And once again, I didn't manage to finish my
rounds. Perhaps I'll add a bit more after initially posting it
late Sunday night. But at the moment, I'm exhausted.
My wife mentioned an article to me that I should
have tracked down earlier, but can only mention here: Pankaj Mishra:
[03-07]
The Shoah after Gaza. Mishra grew up in a "family of upper-caste
Hindu nationalists in India," deeply sympathetic to Israel, so his
piece offers a slightly distant parallel to what many of us who
started sympathetic only to become dismayed and ultimately appalled
by what Israel has turned into. Beyond that, the piece is valuable
as a history of how the Nazi Judeocide -- to borrow Arno Mayer's
more plainly factual term in lieu of Holocaust or Shoah -- has been
forged into a cudgel for beating down anyone who so much as questions
let alone challenges the supremacy of Israeli power.
There is also a
YouTube video of Mishra's piece.
On Facebook, I ran across this quote attributed to Carolina
Landsmann in Haaretz:
We (Israelis) continue to approach the world from the position of
victim, ignoring the 30,000 dead in Gaza, including 12,000 children,
assuming that the world is still captive to its historic guilt toward
Israel without understanding that this is over. The era of the
Holocaust has ended. The Palestinians are now the wretched of the
earth.
It's impossible to go back to the pre-Oct 7 world. To the blame
economy between the Jews and the world, which gave the former moral
immunity. Enough; it's over. Every era draws to a close. The time has
come to grow up.
There was a time, and not that long ago, when I still thought
that the experience of victimhood would still temper the exercise
of Israeli power: sure, Israel was systematically oppressive, and
Israeli society was riddled with the ethnocentrism we Americans
understand as racism, but surely they still had enough of a grip
on their humanity to stop short of genocide. That's all changed
now, and it's coming as quite a shock -- no doubt to many Israelis
as they look at their neighbors, but even more so to Americans
(not just Jews but also many liberals who have long counted on
Jews as allies).
It's hard to know what to do these days, beyond the call for
an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, and the constant need
to remind anyone who's still echoing the Israeli hasbara that
it's genocide, and by not opposing it, they're complicit. It may
be unfair to go so far as to make placards about "Genocide Joe" --
he's just in thrall, having fully adapted to the peculiar gravity
of the Israel lobby when he arrived in Washington fifty years ago --
as there is still a difference (maybe not practical, but certainly
in spirit) between him and the people in Israel (and some Republicans
in Congress) who really are committed to genocide. But in times like
this, nice sentiments don't count for much.
Another important piece I noticed but skipped over on Sunday:
Aaron Gell: [03-03]
Has Zionism lost the argument? "American Jews' long-standing
consensus about Israel has fractured. There may be no going back."
There is a lot to unpack here. It's worth your time to read the
interview with Ruth Wisse, with her absolutist defense of Israel,
then the digression where the author considers the charge that Jews
who doubt Israel are becoming non-Jews, ending in a reference to
the Mishnah, specifically "by far the hardest to answer: If I
am only for myself, who am I? Many Zionists long justified
their project as providing a haven from anti-semitism, but their
exclusive focus on their own issues, turning into indifference
or worse towards everyone else, has finally turned Israel into
the world's leading generator of anti-semitism.
Wisse insists that "the creation of the state changes the entire
picture, because now to be anti-Zionist is a genocidal concept. If
you're an anti-Zionist, you're against the existence of Israel . . .
the realized homeland of nine million people." But later on, Gell
notes: "I've spoken to dozens of anti-Zionists over the past few
months, and not a single one thought Israel should cease to exist."
They have various ideas of how this could be done, in part because
they've seen it work here:
American Jews are justifiably proud to live in a successful multiethnic
democracy, imperfect though it is. As citizens of a nation in which Jews
are a distinct minority, we owe our well-being, our prosperity, and, yes,
perhaps our existence to the tolerance, openness, and egalitarianism
of our system of government and our neighbors. No wonder we shudder at
Israel's chauvinism, its exclusionary nationalism, its oppression. It's
all too obvious how we'd fare if the United States followed Israel's
lead in reserving power for an ethnic or religious majority. Seen in
this light, what's surprising isn't that some American Jews are
anti-Zionists; it's that many more aren't.
I've been reading Shlomo Avineri's 1981 book (paperback updated
with a new preface and epilogue 2017), The Making of Modern
Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State, which
offers a highly sympathetic survey of most of the reasons people
have come up with to justify and promote Zionism. I'm still in
the last profile chapter, on David Ben Gurion, before the initial
epilogue, "Zionism as a Permanent Revolution." Immediately previous
were chapters on Jabotinsky (who built a cult of power based on
fascist models and used it to flip the script on race, promoting
Jews as the superior one) and Rabbi Kook (who reformulated Zionism
as God's will).
Ben Gurion's major contribution was the doctrine of "Hebrew
labor," where Jews would fill all economic niches in the economy,
leaving native Palestinians excluded and powerless. This was a
significant change from the usual practice of settler colonialism,
which everywhere else depended on impoverished locals for labor.
Ben Gurion's union bound Jews into a coherent, self-contained,
mutual help society, including its own militia, well before it
was possible to call itself a state. But in doing so, he excluded
the Palestinians, and plotted their expulsion -- his endorsement
of the 1937 Peel Commission plan, his campaign for the UN partition
plan, and finally his "War of Independence," remembered by
Palestinians as the Nakba.
Ben Gurion was an enormously talented political figure, and his
establishment of Israel through the 1950 armistices, the citizenship
act, and the law of return, was a remarkable achievement against
very stiff odds. He might have gotten away with it, but he couldn't
leave well enough alone. He always wanted more, and he cultivated
that trait in his followers. And while he feared the 1967 war, his
followers launched it anyway, and in the end -- even as his fears
had proven well founded -- he delighted in it. Like Mao, he so loved
his revolution he kept revitalizing it, oblivious to the tragedy it
caused. I expect the book, with its "permanent revolution" epilogues,
will end on that note.
There is a lot of wishful thinking in the early parts of Avineri's
book -- most obviously, Herzl's fairy-tale liberalism, but also the
socialism of Syrkin and Borochov, which could have been developed
further in later years, but it's appropriate to end as it does, with
the real Israeli state. Great as he was, Ben Gurion made mistakes,
and in the end the most fateful was allowing Jabotinsky and Kook,
or more precisely their followers, into the inner sanctumm, from
which they eventually prevailed in shaping Israel into the genocidal
juggernaut it has become. The path from Jabotinsky to Netanyahu is
remarkably short, passing straight through the former's secretary,
the same as the latter's father. The other intermediaries were Ben
Gurion's rivals of 1948, Begin and Shamir, who became favored tools
in driving the Palestinians into exile, and future prime ministers.
Less obvious was Ben Gurion's decision to invite the Kookists
into government, but what politician doesn't want to be reassured
that God is on his side? Rabbi Kook was succeeded by his son, Zvi
Yehuda Kook, whose Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) was the
driving force behind the West Bank settlements, leading directly to
Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The first casualty in Ben Gurion's schemes
was the socialism that unified the Yishuv in the first place. That
was what gave Israel its foundational sense of justice, a reputation
that is now nothing but ruins.
Initial count: 174 links, 8,842 words.
Updated count [03-05]: 193 links, 10,883 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
[02-26]
Day 143: Gaza famine is 'man-made,' says UNRWA Chief: "UNRWA says
that the famine in northern Gaza can be avoided if more food convoys
are allowed in, but Israel continues to hold up over 2000 aid trucks.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu reaffirms plans to invade Rafah, where 1.5
million Gazans have sought shelter."
[02-27]
Day 144: Israel and Hamas contradict Biden claim that Gaza ceasefire
is close: "A proposed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is
reported to include a temporary 40-day truce, the release of 40 Israeli
captives in return for 400 Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of
humanitarian aid and mobile shelters into Gaza."
[02-28]
Day 145: Hamas warns Israel and US of 'political machinations' amid
ceasefire talks: "UN humanitarian officials say that thousands of
Palestinians in Gaza are 'just a step away from famine' by May. Russia
calls on UNSC members to refrain from endorsing Washington's resolution
on Gaza, denouncing it as 'a license to kill' for Israel."
[02-29]
Day 146: Israeli forces massacre civilians waiting for humanitarian
aid: "Israeli tanks and warplanes reportedly targeted civilians
waiting for aid, killing at least 77 and wounding hundreds. Meanwhile,
international aid groups say airdrops of aid are so "negligible" that
they "perpetuate the overall blockade strategy."
[03-01]
Day 147: No ceasefire in sight despite international condemnation
of Israel's 'flour massacre': "US blocks a UN Security Council
resolution condemning Israel for its massacre against Palestinians
attempting to receive humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying that the
incident "still needs to be investigated."
[03-02]
Day 148: UN reports at least 14 cases of Israel firing on Palestinians
waiting for aid in Gaza: "UN calls for an investigation following
Thursday's "flour massacre" where Israel killed at least 115 Palestinians
waiting for aid and injured more than 760. The need for aid is becoming
even more dire as starvation worsens in northern Gaza."
[03-03]
Day 149: Palestinian children die of malnutrition as Israel blocks
aid into Gaza: "US airdrops of food and aid in Gaza have been
described as "performative BS" that "fools no one." Meanwhile, Hamas's
delegation has arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks as Ramadan is due
to start next Sunday."
James Bamford: [02-26]
Israel's far right finally gets the war it has always wanted:
"Billed as a response to the October 7 Hamas attack, the conflict in
Gaza has increasingly become a war to eliminate all Palestinians --
a longtime goal of Israel's homegrown fascists."
Mariam Barghouti: [02-27]
In Jenin, brazen Israeli raids fuel fiercer Palestinian resistance:
"Incessant Israeli incursions into Jenin refugee camp since October
7 have killed nearly 100 Palestinians, including many civilians. But
as repression surges, the children of the Second Intifada are taking
up arms." Which is, of course, a self-perpetuating process, where
Palestinians are torn between the urgent need to defend themselves
and their inability to muster the arms to do so. So the main effect
is, as Israeli leaders seem to wish, to intensify the Israeli drive
to genocide.
Nina Berman: [02-29]
Violating intimacies: "Israeli soldiers have photographed themselves
posing with the lingerie of Palestinian women they have displaced or
killed in Gaza. They join a long line of conquest images, from Abu
Ghraib images to the spectacles of Jim Crow-era lynchings." But we've
been seeing pictures like this, or more commonly just gratuitous
vandalism, for decades now -- from what used to be advertised as
"the most moral army in the world."
Sarah Dadouch: [02-29]
As besieged Gaza grows desperate, donors drop aid from the sky.
Elias Feroz: [02-26]
Thirty years after Baruch Goldstein's massacre, his followers are now
carrying out a genocide: "His legacy of bloodshed continues in
Gaza and the West Bank as his followers are now in power."
Shatha Hanaysha: [02-28]
Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians, including Tubas Brigade leader in
northern West Bank.
Ellen Ioanes:
Gideon Levy: [03-03]
Gaza's night of death and hunger.
Niha Masih/Annabelle Timsit: [03-03]
US plans more airdrops into Gaza amid hope for Ramadan cease-fire:
This has got to be the least cost-effective means of delivering aid
humanly possible. That the US cannot trust Israel to safely deliver
aid via trucks speaks volumes about how little faith America has in
its so-called closest ally.
Chris Floyd tweeted (?): "OK, why don't you
set up a depot on the beach, supply it via the US Navy, and deliver
the aid throughout Gaza with military trucks under escort? That
would be pulling out all the stops. Otherwise, you're just putting
on a PR show with pitiful dribs and drabs." I don't take this as a
serious proposal. It's more of a thought experiment. If the US did
this, would Israel be deterred from attacking relief distribution?
And, to defend its deterrent threat, would US troops be allowed to
return Israeli fire?
The same question applies to airdrops, which thus far Israel has
not attempted to shoot down. But the airdrops are so inefficient
they'll do little to blunt Israel's starvation weapon. Ships and
trucks could make a real as well as a symbolic difference. Still,
if Biden had the guts to send the Navy in, why wouldn't he do the
right thing and start by insisting on an Israeli ceasefire? The
only way relief is going to work is if it won't be attacked by
Israel. Until the bombing stops, nothing good, or even decent,
can happen.
Mahmoud Mushtaha: [02-29]
These words are penned in hunger from northern Gaza. I have little
energy to go on: "From the daily indignity of searching for food
to the extreme dangers of doing journalistic work, life in this dark
corner of the earth has become impossible."
Marcy Newman: [03-02]
How Israeli universities are an arm of settler colonialism:
Review of Maya Wind: Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli
Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom.
Dean Obeidallah: [02-27]
"Nothing has compared to what we're seeing": Hala Gorani on the toll of
covering Gaza war: Interview with the NBC News journalist and author
of But You Don't Look Arab: And Other Tales of Unbelonging.
Yumna Patel: [02-27]
New reports confirm months of Israeli torture, abuse, and sexual violence
against Palestinian prisoners.
Jeremy Scahill/Ryan Grim/Daniel Boguslaw: [02-28]
"Between the hammer and the anvil": "The story behind the New
York Times October 7 exposé." This was the story by Anat Schwartz
that charged Hamas fighters with rape during their short-lived
jailbreak. This article was a big deal in the first week of the
war, when writers who meant well were so quick to condemn Hamas
when they should have been more alert to Israel's initial moves
toward genocide. (In particular, I remember a piece by Eric Levitz
finding the charges credible because "soldiers of all armies rape" --
an insight he didn't follow up on when Israel started sending their
soldiers into Gaza.) For another piece on this:
Ishaan Tharoor: [03-01]
Gaza's spiraling, unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Philip Weiss:
Oren Ziv:
[02-26]
'People say I'm naive, antisemitic, a traitor': Israeli teen jailed
for draft refusal: "Conscientious objector Sofia Orr explains why
she never wavered in her decision despite the crackdown in Israel
against opponents of the war."
[03-01]
Israeli settlers cross into Gaza, build 'symbolic' outpost: "Dozens
of settlers and right-wing activists stormed Erez Crossing, building
two wooden structures while soldiers and police stood aside." This is
a very disturbing development, but follows Israel's now common police
practice of permitting and even encouraging encroachments and mob
violence against Palestinians. Still, one would expect that in a war
zone, the IDF would insist on imposing discipline on its own troops.
In 1948, Ben Gurion deemed this so important that he ordered the IDF
to turn on the previously independent right-wing EZL/LEHI militias,
forcing them to submit to state control. Netanyahu, on the other
hand, seems to see right-wing mobs as helping drive his relentless
drive to extremism, which is clearly the point here.
By the way:
Killing of aid seekers part of a 'decades-long pattern' of Israeli
violence: Per Human Rights Watch.
Israel vs. world (including American) opinion: This week we
lead off with a singular act of self-sacrifice, by an American, an
active duty serviceman, Aaron Bushnell, in front of the Israeli embassy
in Washington. I feel like I should add an opinion, but I don't really
have one. My inclination is to view him as just another casualty of
the more general madness, so not a hero or martyr or even a fool,
but I'm also not so callous as to look the other way -- especially
when so many people do have things to say.
Other stories:
Spencer Ackerman: [03-28]
The anti-Palestinian origins of the War on Terror: Interview
with Darryl Li, who wrote the report
Anti-Palestinian at the core: The origins and growing dangers of
US anti-terrorism law.
Ammiel Alcalay: [02-28]
War on Gaza: How the US is buying time for Israel's genocide:
"As the US ambassador to the UN recently made clear in a rare moment
of honesty, Washington is fully committed to facilitating Israel's
destruction of the Palestinians."
Kyle Anzalone: [03-01]
US vetoes UN resolution condemning Israel for flour massacre.
Muhannad Ayyash: [02-26]
Boycotting Israel could stop the genocide: At this point, this
is probably just wishful thinking: "the world must ensure Tel Aviv's
legal, economic and political isolation." The nice thing about BDS
was that it provided a forum for grass-roots organizing against the
apartheid regime in Israel: something that individuals could start
and grow, and eventually recruit more powerful organizations, while
ultimately appealing to the better consciences within Israel itself.
That it worked with South Africa was encouraging.
But it was always
going to be a much more difficult reach in Israel -- I could insert
a half-dozen reasons here -- and it never came close to gathering
the collective moral, let alone financial, force it had with South
Africa. Now, about all you can say for it is that it allowed people
of good will to express their disapproval without promoting even
more violence. I would even agree that it's still worth doing --
Israel deserves to be shamed and shunned for what it's doing, now
more than ever. And, as we witness what Israel is doing, many more
people, indeed whole nations, may join us.
But will boycotting stop
the genocide now? Maybe if the US and NATO banded together and put
some serious teeth in their threats, some Israelis might reconsider.
But sanctions usually just push countries deeper into corners, from
which they're more likely to strike back than to fold. I'm not about
to blame BDS for Israel's rampant right-wing -- their racism dates
back further than any outsider noticed -- but they would claim their
ascent as the way of fighting back against foreign moralizers. Even
if we could count on eventually forcing some kind of reconciliation,
the people in power in Israel right now are more likely to double
down on genocide. It's not like anyone in the Nazi hierarchy saw the
writing on the wall after Stalingrad and decided they should call
the Judeocide off, lest they eventually put on trial. They simply
sped up the extermination, figuring it would be their enduring
contribution to Aryan civilization.
Jo-Ann Mort: [02-28]
BDS is counter-productive. We need to crack down on Israeli settlements
instead: "A future peace depends on drawing a line between Israel
proper and the illegal settlements in Palestinian territory." This
article is so silly I only linked to it after the Ayyash piece above.
It does provide some explanation why BDS failed, but it doesn't come
close to offering an alternative. Israel has been continuously blurring
and outright erasing the Green Line ever since 1967. (It started with
he demolition of the neighborhood next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque's western
wall, just days after the 7-day war ended.) There is no way to force
Israel to do much of anything, but few things are harder to imagine
them acceding to is a return to what from 1950-67 were often decried
as "Auschwitz borders."
Phyllis Bennis:
Amena ElAshkar: [02-28]
Gaza ceasefire: Talk of an imminent deal is psychological warfare.
I haven't bothered linking to numerous articles about an imminent
ceasefire deal because, quite frankly, possible deals have never been
more than temporarily expedient propaganda, mostly meant to humor the
hostage relatives and the Americans. If Israel wanted peace, they could
ceasefire unilaterally, and having satisfied themselves that they had
inflicted sufficient damage to restore their Iron Wall deterrence,
leave the rubble to others to deal with. The hostages would cease to
be a bargaining chip, except inasmuch as not freeing them would keep
much needed international aid away. So why is Netanyahu negotiating
with Hamas? Mostly to squirrel the deal, while he continues implementing
his plan to totally depopulate/destroy Gaza.
Paul Elle: [02-26]
The Vatican and the war in Gaza: "A rhetorical dispute the Church
and the Israeli government shows the limits -- and the possibilities --
of the Pope's role in times of conflict." On the other hand, if you
look at the Pope's recent comments on "gender theory," you'll realize
that he has very little to offer humanity, and that a Church that
follows him could be very ominous. (For example, see [03-02]
Pope says gender theory is 'ugly ideology' that threatens humanity.)
Sometimes I'm tempted to take heart in that the Catholic Church is one
of the few extant organizations to predate, and therefore remain somewhat
free of, capitalism. But in it the spirit of Inquisition runs even
deeper.
Madeline Hall: [02-28]
Israeli genocide is a bad investment: For one thing, Norway has
divested its holdings of Israeli bonds.
James North:
Peter Oborne: [02-27]
These ruthless, bigoted Tories would have Enoch Powell smiling from
his grave: "The recent spate of vile anti-Muslim rhetoric from the
Tories shows they have decided that stoking hatred against minorities
is their only way to avoid electoral annihilation." Also in UK:
Charles P Pierce: [02-29]
The US has enabled Netanyahu long enough: "Two democracies,
hijacked for alibis."
Vijay Prashad: [02-14]
There is no place for the Palestinians of Gaza to go.
Barnett R Rubin: [03-02]
Redemption through genocide: "The ICJ ruled that Israel's Gaza
campaign poses a plausible and urgent threat of genocide. Future
historians of Jewish messianism may recount how in 2024 "redemption
through sin" became "redemption through genocide," with unconditional
US support."
Sarang Shidore/Dan M Ford: [02-29]
At the Hague, US more isolated than ever on Israel-Palestine.
Adam Taylor: [02-29]
Democrats grew more divided on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, poll
shows. Interesting that the Democratic split has always favored
"take neither side," from a peak of 82% down to 74% before Gaza blew
up -- the 12% drop since looks to be evenly split. Republicans, on
the other hand, never had any sympathy for Palestinians, and became
more pro-Israeli since (56% would "take Israel's side," vs. 19% for
Democrats).
Philip Weiss: [02-28]
PBS and NPR leave out key facts in their Israel stories: "Pundits
and reporters in the mainstream media have a double standard when it
comes to Israel and all but lie about apartheid, Jewish nationalism,
and the role of the Israel lobby."
America's empire of bases and proxy conflicts, increasingly
stressed by Israel's multifront war games:
Juan Cole: [03-03]
How Washington's anti-Iranian campaign failed, big time.
Dave DeCamp: [02-29]
US officials expect Israel to launch ground invasion of Lebanon:
"Administration officials tell CNN they expect a ground incursion
in late spring or early summer." The logic here is pretty ridiculous,
and if it's believed in Washington, you have to wonder about them,
too. Israel had a lot of fun bombing Lebanon in 2006, but their
ground incursion was a pure disaster. There's no possible upside
to trying it again. The argument that Netanyahu will, for political
expediency, enlarge the war in order to keep it going "after Gaza,"
overlooks their obvious desire to "finish the job" by doing the
same to Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank.
Sasha Filippova/Kristina Fried/Brian Concannon: [03-01]
From coup to chaos: 20 years after the US ousted Haiti's
president.
Jim Lobe: [03-01]
Neocon Iraq war architects want a redo in Gaza: "Post-conflict
plan would put Western mercenaries and Israel military into the
mix, with handpicked countries in charge of a governing 'Trust.'"
Pic is of Elliott Abrams, who was the one in charge of US Israel
policy under Bush, and who pushed Sharon's unilateral withdrawal
of settlements from Gaza, so that Gaza could be blockaded and
bombed more effectively. That directly led to Hamas seizing power
in Gaza, so one could argue that Abrams already had his "redo in
Gaza."
The Michigan primaries: Of minor interest to both party
frontrunners, so let's get them out of the way first. Trump won
the Republican primary with 68.1% of the votes, vs. 26.6% for
Nikki Haley, splitting the delegates 12-4 (39 more delegates will
be decided later). Biden won the Democratic primary with 81.1% of
the vote, vs. 13.2% for an uncommitted slate, which was promoted
by Arab-Americans and others as a protest vote against Biden's
support for Israel's genocide in Gaza. Marianne Williamson got 3%,
and Dean Phillips 2.7%. Everyone's trying to spin the results as
much as possible, but I doubt they mean much.
Next up is "Super Tuesday," so here's a bit of preview:
Trump, and other Republicans:
David Brooks: [02-29]
The GOP returns to its bad old self: He means the "America First"
party of the 1930s: nativist, isolationist, recoiling in dread of the
New Deal, and willing to suffer repeated defeats rather than offer
anything constructive. He contrasts that to the bullish, globalist
part of Eisenhower and Reagan (and the Bushes?), which Trump has
totally eclipsed, and is likely to remain in place even when Trump
is gone.
Russ Choma: [03-03]
A large percentage of Republican primary voters can't stomach
Trump. Nowhere near large enough to prevent him from running
away with the nomination, but the question is whether they are
numerous (and resolute) enough to sink him against Biden. "The
AP report did find, however, that just because those voters said
they didn't want to vote for Trump -- ever -- it didn't mean they
were Biden voters." Haley is not a tenable candidate because she
can't even crack a 50% approval rate within the Party.
Rachel M Cohen: [03-03]
The anti-abortion playbook for restricting birth control:
"Contraception, like IVF, poses problems for those claiming personhood
begins at conception." Filed under Republicans, because they own the
anti-abortion movement now, and are stuck with it.
Ryan Cooper: [02-29]
Mitch McConnell, Senate arsonist.
Thomas B Edsall: [[01-17]
The deification of Donald Trump poses some interesting questions:
First exhibit is a video titled "God Made Trump."
Susan B Glasser: [02-22]
The crazy collapse of the House GOP's impeachment case against Biden:
"'A Big Russian Intelligence Op' flops on Capitol Hill."
Karen Greenberg: [02-29]
Trump's justice: "Justice delayed is democracy denied." Four
sections on Trump, followed by one on Guantánamo.
Margaret Hartmann:
[02-29]
Old-man Trump yells at Biden over Melania Late Night joke.
[03-01]
Trump complains migrants use languages 'nobody speaks'.
[03-01]
Trump's most unhinged plans for his second term: Updated, a
neverending project. To recap: Give the president unchecked power
over federal agencies; Restore the president's authority to bypass
Congress; Appoint a special prosecutor to 'go after' Biden; Use
the Justice Department to get revenge on all of his enemies;
Expand presidential immunity; Purge the civil service; Install
thousands of loyalists throughout the federal government; Fill
his cabinet with people like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon;
Round up, detain, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants;
Deploy US troops for 'war' on the southern border; End birthright
citizenship; Construct 'freedom cities'; Put flying cars in
Americans' driveways.
Alexander Hinton: [02-26]
I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to understand MAGA -- what I saw
was "shocking".
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling:
Sarah Jones: [02-29]
Republicans can't be trusted to protect IVF.
Pema Levy: [03-01]
How Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" debacle previewed the abortion agenda
of today's GOP.
Chris Lewis: [02-29]
Ken Cuccinelli and the persuasive, pervasive politics of cruelty.
Jason Linkins:
A year of Republicans lying about abortion.
Sarah Longwell:
What 17 of Trump's 'best people' said about him: Quotes from his
cabinet members and other high officials in his administration.
Carlos Lozada: [02-29]
What I learned when I read 887 pages of plans for Trump's second
term. Lozada was last seen bragging about "reading books so you
don't have to," and he proves that in spades here. No doubt his
outline only scratches the surface, still I'm left wondering less
what they want to do than what kind of damaged psychology drives
one to imagine wanting to do such things.
Michael Podhorzer: [02-20]
It was never a civil war: "The threat posed by Trump and the MAGA
movement, like the Confederate States, is not 'conservative' or even
'extremist' but criminally anti-democratic."
Tom Schaller/Paul Waldman: [02-28]
How to end Republican exploitation of rural America: "The authors of
the upcoming book White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy
explain how rural voters can build a national political movement and
improve their local economies." Inadvertent humor here when the authors
explain that rural voters don't need to switch to Democrats so much as
they should find "better Republicans." By the way, this also just
appeared:
Paul Krugman: [02-26]
The mystery of white rural rage: Reviews the same book. I think a
big part of the problem is that Democrats simply don't try to organize
in impoverished rural areas, partly because they don't expect to win
in the short term, and largely because they'd rather put their efforts
toward upscale suburban districts. One reason is that readily organized
constituencies like unions are scarce in rural America. But well before
they consider organizing voters, they search for donors, and that's
where the suburbs seem like much riper targets. A good example of this
was in 2017, when Trump appointments opened up House districts in Kansas
and Georgia. Democrats puts tons of money into the latter (where they
lost), and virtually nothing into Kansas (where they also lost, but with
a terrific candidate managing to carry Wichita, but losing bad in the
adjacent rural areas). On some level, most Democrats actually understand
that they have much to offer impoverished rural areas, but they do so as
outsiders, more focused on their donors and their issues, and unwilling
to put the work in to building a representative local party.
- Nathan J Robinson: [03-04]
Are rural white people the problem?: Another review of the
Schaller-Waldman book.
Tatyana Tandanpolie: [02-28]
New book details how "incensed" Trump and Melania clashed in the
White House.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: [02-27]
If Trump wins, he'll be a vessel for the most regressive figures in US
politics.
Andra Watkins: [03-01]
Project 2025 is more than a playbook for Trumpism, it's the Christian
Nationalist manifesto: "The right intends to force every American
to live their definition of a good life through government edict."
Li Zhou: [02-29]
Trump's immigration policies are his old ones -- but worse: Some
section heads: Mass deportations; Raids; Detention camps; Suspending
refugee resettlement; Ending Temporary Protected Status programs;
Making seeking asylum harder; Ending DACA; Reviving family separation
hasn't been ruled out; Attacks on birthright citizenship.
Mitch McConnell, 82, announced he will step down as Republican
Leader in the Senate in November. This led to some, uh, appreciation?
Ryan Cooper: [02-29]
Mitch McConnell, Senate arsonist.
Jack Hunter: [02-29]
Sorry AP: Mitch McConnell is no Ronald Reagan: "The paper
deploys the usual neoconservative trope that their foreign policies
are the same. They are not." Still, I hate it when critics think
they're being so clever in claiming that old Republicans were so
sensible compared to the new ones. Reagan's "willingness to talk
to America's enemies" didn't extend much beyond Russia, and that
only after the door had been opened by Gorbachev. He left nothing
but disasters all over Latin America and the Middle East through
Iran and Afghanistan.
Ed Kilgore: [02-29]
Mitch McConnell's power trip finally comes to an end.
Ian Millhiser: [02-29]
How Mitch McConnell broke Congress.
John Nichols: [02-29]
Good riddance to Mitch McConnell, an enemy of democracy: Sorry to
have to break this to you, but he isn't going anywhere. He'll serve
out the rest of his six-year term. He's not giving up his leadership
post out of a sudden attack of conscience. He's doing it so some other
Republican can take over, and possibly do even worse things than he
would have done. By holding out until November, he's giving Trump the
prerogative of hand-picking his successor -- assuming Trump wins, of
course.
David A Graham:
Mitch McConnell surrenders to Trump: That's more like it, but at
least he's given himself some time. If Trump wins in November, there'll
be no fighting him. And if Trump loses, why should he want to be the
one stuck cleaning up the mess?
Andrew Prokop: [02-28]
How Mitch McConnell lost by winning.
Jane Mayer: [2020-04-12]
How Mitch McConnell became Trump's enabler-in-chief: Sometimes
an old piece is the best reminder. Had McConnell a bit more foresight
and backbone, he could have swung enough Republican votes to convict
Trump over Jan. 6, and followed that with a resolution declaring
Trump ineligible to run again, according to the 14th Amendment --
such a resolution was discussed at the time, and would undoubtedly
be upheld. Sure, it would have been unpopular among Republicans at
the time, but popular will has almost never entered into McConnell's
political calculus.
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Zack Beauchamp: [02-27]
Biden has been bad for Palestinians. Trump would be worse.
"On Israel, the two are not the same." Probably true, but this really
isn't much comfort. Biden is effectively an Israeli puppet, with no
independent will, or even willingness to caution Netanyahu in public,
and as such has had no effect on moderating Israel's vendetta -- and
may reasonably be charged with not just supporting but accelerating
it. For instance, Biden did not have to send aircraft carriers into
the region, threatening Iran and provoking Yemen and Lebanon. Nor did
he have to accelerate arms deliveries when a ceasefire was obviously
called for. As for Trump, sure, he doesn't even know the meaning of
"caution." He is largely responsible for Netanyahu believing that he
can get away with anything.
Dave DeCamp: [03-03]
Poll: Majority of Democrats want a presidential candidate who opposes
military aid to Israel: With Marianne Williamson unsuspending
her campaign, there actually is one, but will anyone find out?
Isaac Chotiner: [02-28]
Does the Biden administration want a long-lasting ceasefire in Gaza?
Interview with John Kirby, Biden's National Security Council spokesman,
explaining that Biden only wants whatever Netanyahu tells him to want.
It's like a form of hypnosis, where Hamas is the shiny object that so
captures America's gaze that it will support Israel doing anything to
it wants as long as it's saying it's meant to eliminate Hamas. Sure,
Biden understands that Palestinians are suffering, and he implores
Netanyahu to make them suffer less, but he can't question his orders.
The key to this is that he buys the line that Hamas is a cancer that
can be excised from the Palestinian body politic, allowing Israel to
regain its security. I hesitate to call that the Israeli line: sure,
they developed it with their targeted assassinations (they go back
at least as far as Abu Jihad in 1988), but Israelis never claimed
one strike would suffice -- they tended to use metaphors like "mowing
the grass"). It was only the Americans, with their romantic conceits
about their own goodness and the innate innocence of ignorant savages,
that turned this systematic slaughter into magical thinking. Israelis
don't think like that. They understand that Hamas (or some other form
of militant backlash) is the inevitable result of their harsh occupation.
And, their consciences hardened by constant struggle (including their
carefully cultivated memory of the Holocaust), they're willing to live
with that brutality.
If they can't distinguish Hamas from the mass of
people they've emerged from, they see no reason to discipline their
killing. They figure if they destroy enough, the problem will subside.
Even if it inevitably erupts again, that's later, and they'll remain
eternally vigilant. There are no solutions, because they don't want
to accept the only possible one, which is peaceful coexistence. But
silly Americans, they need to be told stories, and it's amazing what
they'll swallow.
Mitchell Plitnick: [03-01]
Biden memos show Palestine advocacy is working: "Two recent
presidential orders show the Biden administration is feeling the
heat from months of protests against his support for Israel's
genocide in Gaza."
Alexander Ward: [03-01]
'We look 100 percent weak': US airdrops in Gaza expose limit to Biden's
Israel policy.
Fareed Zakaria: [03-01]
Biden needs to tell Israel some difficult truths. Only he can do it.
Erica L Green: [03-03]
Kamala Harris calls for an 'immediate cease-fire' in Gaza:
Promising title, but fine print reveals it's only the "six-week
cease-fire proposal currently on the table," and that she's
calling on Hamas, not Israel, the ones who are actually doing
all of the firing, and who have already broken off talks on
that particular proposal. A cease fire, especially where the
war is so one-sided, doesn't need to be negotiated: just do it
(perhaps daring the other side to violate it, but the longer
it lasts, the better). Sure, prisoner exchanges have to be
negotiated, but not cease-fire, which is just common sense.
Frank Bruni: [03-03]
How Democrats can win anywhere and everywhere.
Michelle Goldberg: [03-01]
The Democrat showing Biden how it's done: Gretchen Whitmer,
governor of Michigan. This follows on recent columns by Goldberg:
Ezra Klein: [02-16]
Democrats have a better option than Biden: Starts by heaping
considerable praise on Biden and his accomplishments of the last
three-plus years, then lowers the boom and insists that he should
step aside, not so much because one reasonably doubts that he can
do the job for more years, but that he's no longer competent as a
candidate. (Never mind that Trump is far from competent, in any
sense of the term. He's a Republican, and one of our many double
standards, we don't expect competency from Republicans, or for
that matter caring, or even much coherence.) He goes into how
conventions work, and offers a bunch of plausible candidates.
It's a long and thorough piece, and makes the case as credibly
as I've seen (albeit much less critically of Biden than I might
do myself).
Klein's columns are styled as "The Ezra Klein Show," which are
usually just interviews, but this one is monologue, with multiple
references to other conversations. He's had a few other interviews
recently with political operatives, a couple adding to his insight
into Democratic prospects, plus a couple more I'll include here.
(Also see the pieces I listed under Ukraine.)
Paul Musgrave: [03-03]
An inside look at how Biden's team rebuilt foreign policy after
Trump: Review of Alexander Ward: The Internationalists: The
Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump.
Bill Scher: [02-29]
"Nightmare in America": How Biden's ad team should attack Trump:
"In 1984, Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign ran a series of ads
that evoked how different life felt in America compared to under
his opponent's administration four years prior. Today, Joe Biden
should do the same." Sure, there's something to be said here, if
you can figure out how to say it. But Trump's going to be pushing
the opposite spin, in many cases on the same set of facts, all the
while pointing out the extraordinary efforts his/your enemies took
to hobnob his administration and persecute him since he was pushed
out of office. He's just as likely to embrace the Left's notion of
him as their worst nightmare. Note that page includes a link to a
2020 article, which also cites Reagan: Nancy LeTourneau:
Are you better off than you were four years ago?
John E Schwarz: [03-01]
Democratic presidents have better economic performances than Republican
ones.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Ukraine War:
Connor Echols: [03-01]
Diplomacy Watch: Russia could be invited to Ukraine-led peace talks.
I don't really buy that "Ukraine's shift is a sign of just how dire
the situation is becoming for its armed forces," but I do believe
that Russia can more/less hold its position indefinitely, that it can
continue to exact high (and eventually crippling) costs from Ukraine
indefinitely, and that it can survive the sanctions regime (which the
US is unlikely to loosen even in an armistice. All of this suggests
to me that Zelensky needs to approach some realistic terms for ending
the war, then sell them as hard to his "allies" as to Putin, and to
the rest of the world.
Anatol Lieven/George Beebe: [02-28]
Europeans' last ditch clutch at Ukrainian victory: "France's
Macron raised the idea of Western troops entering the fray, others
want to send longer range missiles."
Olena Melnyhk/Sera Koulabdara: [02-29]
Ukraine's vaunted 'bread basket' soil is now toxic: "Two years
of war has left roughly one-third of its territory polluted, with
dire potential consequences for the world's food supply."
Will Porter: [02-28]
Russia claims first Abrams tank kill in Ukraine.
Ted Snider: [03-01]
How the West provoked an unprovoked war in Ukraine. The ironies
in the title at least merit quotes around "unprovoked." The important
part of the story is the relatively underreported period from March,
2021 when Biden added $125 million of "defensive lethal weapons" on
top of $150 million previously allocated under Trump, up to the eve
of the March 2022 invasion, when "Putin called Ukraine 'a knife to
the throat of Russia' and worried that 'Ukraine will serve as an
advanced bridgehead' for a pre-emptive US strike against Russia."
It is unlikely the US would ever launch such a strike, but Ukraine
had by then given up on the Minsk accords and was preparing to take
back Donbas. Had they succeeded, Crimea would be next, and that
(plus excessive confidence in his own military) was enough for
Putin to launch his own pre-emptive attack.
Marcus Stanley: [02-28]
Biden officials want Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine war:
"Not only will this prolong the conflict, but rock confidence in the
Western-led world economic system."
Ishaan Tharoor: [02-28]
Foreign troops in Ukraine? They're already there.
Ezra Klein:
[2022-03-01]
Can the West stop Russia by strangling its economy? Transcript
of an interview with Adam Tooze, doesn't really answer the title
question but does provide a pretty deep survey of Russia's economy
at the start of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. One minor note: I think
Tooze said "Kremlinologists" where you read "the criminologists of
the modern day have five, six, seven, eight different groups now
that they see operating around Putin."
PS: Unrelated to Russia, but for another Klein interview with Tooze,
see: [2022-10-07]
How the Fed is "shaking the entire system".
Around the world:
Other stories:
Lori Aratani: [03-01]
Boeing in talks to reacquire key 737 Max supplier Spirit AeroSystems:
Boeing spun the company off in 2005, including the Wichita factory my
father and brother worked at for decades.
Marina Bolotnikova/Kenny Torrella: [02-26]
9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you
realize: "Factory farms are now so big that we need a new
word for them."
Related here:
Rosa Brooks: [02-20]
One hundred years of dictatorship worship: A review of a new book
by Jacob Heilbrunn: America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance
With Foreign Dictators [note: cover has it "America First" in
large white type, then overprints "Last" in blockier red].
Daniel Denvir: [02-28]
The libertarians who dream of a world without democracy: Interview
with Quinn Slobodian, who wrote the 2018 book Globalists: The End
of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, and most recently,
Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World
Without Democracy.
Adam Gopnik: [02-19]
Did the year 2020 change us forever? "The COVID-19 pandemic
affected us in millions of ways. But it evades the meanings we
want it to bear." A review, which I haven't finished (and may
never) of the emerging, evolving literature on 2020.
Sean Illing: [03-03]
Are we in the middle of an extinction panic? "How doomsday
proclamations about AI echo existential anxieties of the past."
Interview with Tyler Austin Harper, who wrote about this in the
New York Times:
The 100-year extinction panic is back, right on schedule.
I could write a lot more on this, especially if I referred back
to the extinction controversies paleontologists have been debating
all along, but suffice it to say:
- Short of the Sun exploding, there is zero chance of humans
going extinct in the foreseeable future. People are too numerous,
widespread, and flexible for anything to get all of us. (Side
note: the effective altruist focus on preventing extinction
events is misguided.)
- Human population is, however, precariously balanced on a mix
of technological, economic, political, and cultural factors which
are increasingly fragile, and as such subject to sabotage and other
disruptions (not least because they are often poorly understood).
Any major breakdown could be catastrophic on a level that affects
millions (though probably not billions) of people.
- Catastrophes produce psychological shocks that can compound
the damage. By far the greatest risk here is war, not just for its
immediate destruction but because it makes recovery more difficult.
- People are not very good at evaluating these risks, erring often
both in exaggeration and denial.
The Times piece led to some others of interest here:
Chris Lehman: [03-01]
Border hysteria is a bipartisan delusion: "Yesterday, both President
Biden and Donald Trump visited Texas to promise harsher immigration
policies."
Andrea Mazzarino: [02-27]
War's cost is unfathomable. I mentioned this in an update
last week, but it's worth mentioning again. She starts by
referring to "The October 7th America has forgotten," which was
2001, when the US first bombed Afghanistan, following the Al-Qaeda
attacks of that September 11. In 2010, Mazzarino founded the
Cost of War Project, which, as economists are wont to do,
started adding up whatever they could of the quantifiable costs
of America's Global War on Terror and its spawn. Still, their
figures (at least
$8 trillion and counting, and with debt compounding) miss
much of the real human (and environmental) costs, especially
those that are primarily psychic.
For instance, would we have the gun problem that we have had
we not been continuously at war for over two decades? Would our
politics have turned so desperately war-like? Certainly, there
would have been much less pressure to immigrate, given that war
is the leading producer of refugees. Without constant jostling
for military leverage, might we not have made more progress in
dealing with problems like climate change? The list only grows
from there.
One constant theme of every
Speaking of Which is the need to put aside the pursuit of
power over and against others and find mutual grounds that will
allow us to work together cooperatively to deal with pressing
problems. There are lots of reasons why this is true, starting
with the basic fact that we could not exist in such numbers if
not for a level of technology that is complex beyond most of
our understandings and fragile, especially vulnerable to the
people who feel most unjustly treated. Our very lives depend
on experts who can be trusted, and their ability to work free
of sabotage. You can derive all the politics you need from
this insight.
Michelle Orange: [03-01]
How the Village Voice met its moment: A review of Tricia Romano's
The Freaks Came Out to Write, a new "oral history" (i.e.,
history presented in interview quotes). I rushed out and bought a
copy, and should probably write my own review, even if only because
she left me out. More:
Rick Perlstein: [02-28]
Kissinger revisited: "The former secretary of state is responsible
for virtually every American geopolitical disaster of the past
half-century."
Deanne Stillman: [02-21]
Mothers, sons, and guns: Author wrote a book about Lee Harvey Oswald
and his mother, recounted here, in light of high school shooter Ethan
Crumbley and his mother, Jennifer Crumbley, who was convicted for her
role leading up to the shootings.
David Zipper: [03-01]
Driving at ridiculous speeds should be physically impossible:
As someone who grew up with a great love of auto racing, I'd argue
that driving at ridiculous speeds has always been physically
impossible, even as limits have expanded with better technology.
Of course, "ridiculous" can mean many different things, but I'd
say that's a reason not to try to legislate it. I've long thought
that the 55 mph speed limit was the biggest political blunder the
Democrats made, at least in my lifetime. (Aside from Vietnam.)
Not only did it impose on personal freedom -- in a way that, say,
European levels of gasoline taxes wouldn't have done -- but it
induced some kind of brain rot in American auto engineering, from
which Detroit may never have recovered. (I can't really say. After
several bad experiences, I stopped buying their wares.)
Ironically, this political push for mandating "speed limiters"
(even more euphemistically, "Intelligent Speed Assistance") on new
cars is coming from tech businesses, who see surveillance of driving
as a growth area for revenue. This fits in with much broader plans
to increase surveillance -- mostly government, but it doesn't end
there -- over every aspect of our lives. Supposedly, this will save
lives, although the relationship between speeding and auto carnage
has never been straightforward, and much more plausible arguments
(e.g., on guns) go nowhere. My great fear here is that Democrats
will rally to this as a public health and safety measure, inviting
a backlash we can ill afford (as with the 55 mph speed limit, which
helped elect Reagan).
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Daily Log
I woke up today early for me, a bit after nine, and read the
chapter on Theodor Herzl in Shlomo Avineri's The Making of
Modern Zionism. I tried going back to sleep, but never really
made it, spending over an hour thinking, mostly about memoirs and
the "obits" piece, which turned into an idea that I figure I should
write down, a possible chapter for my "Utopian Essays & Practical
Proposals" file (UEPP).
The idea is to build a "national registry": database, servers,
and tools, all built and paid for by the government, using open
source software. This would tie into several other UEPP topics,
including: subsidized open source development; universal free
computing infrastructure, with secure identification and strict
protocols on privacy and tracking; and various applications that
can be build thereupon. The Registry is an example of the latter.
Needless to say, in order for any of this to work, government has
to become much more trustworthy than it is now, or might ever be as
long as businesses and/or political organizations are allowed to
shape and exploit technology for their own gain. That is a daunting
challenge in its own right, so will largely be glossed over here.
But I will say that the ability to implement proposals like this
one, and have them accepted and used by large numbers of people,
not only depends on much greater trustworthiness, it would also
be a benefit of much better government.
The registry is a single, common repository for information
about all people under its domain (let's say nation, so citizens
and resident aliens, but could reference others). Each person,
living or dead, would have a permanent record, initially drawn
from public information. Other entities, like corporations, are
also to be represented. Each record would list relationships and
dates, minimally providing geneology and census data, so this
would suffice as a public resource that could replace private
ones like Ancestry.com.
Obviously, not all facts are known, so that needs to be noted,
and information added needs to be identified and validated to
whatever degree possible. There needs to be a system for adding
comment on all items in the record, and a process for deciding
what to keep, to question, and/or to prune from the records. In
addition to the structured entries, it should be possible to add
notes, including photos or other media, with their metadata.
The registry should be keyed to an identification system that
can be used for all practical purposes. That's a separate project,
and way beyond my competency to design, but would be useful for
lots of things. There is much resistance to developing any sort
of national identity system, although what we have now is worse,
a bunch of incompatible systems (some federal, some state, many
more imposed by the private sector), unreliable, hard to use,
susceptible to excessive tracking, impossible to coordinate (a
feature, if you believe the systems cannot be trusted).
The purpose of the identity system here is to keep track of
who submits data, and who is permitted to see and manage it.
One should generally be able to see and manage one's own data,
and/or delegate this to a guardian. There should be rules for
classes of data, where some is public, some is restricted, and
some is private (with a strict process for law enforcement and
admissibility in court). There should be a policy for disclosing
additional information some time after death.
One example of data that needs to be collected but should not
be exposed (at least by default) is contact information. One could
use this for secure messages without disclosing the recipient's
address. The process could be double-blind, so contact info can
only be disclosed in the message content. The process could also
evaluate the message for risks, notify the receiver whether the
sender has a history of bad faith, and/or require additional points
of identification or reference. This would be a big improvement
over current systems, which shake you down to provide bits of
information (like phone numbers) they've scraped from various
places.
Some data should be available for statistical aggregation, in
a form that validates the data without compromising the identity
of its sources. This might be an owner option, with the researchers
required to submit public proposals specifying their data request.
The database could conceivably grow to enormous dimensions. It
would be tempting to hang all sorts of ancillary information on it --
basically anything that can be organized primarily by person (e.g.,
medical histories, criminal records, taxes). That needs to be worked
out. What I'm more immediately interested in is the question that
occurs every time I read an obituary: who was this person? I find
standard obituary form very stultifying in this regard, especially
as they are mostly revenue schemes perpetrated by newspapers. This
might be a neat job for well-regulated AI: dig through the data,
and condense it into a sensible one-to-three paragraphs.
Obviously, you don't want to train AI on the whole database,
but the one thing it's most likely to be good for is sucking up,
sorting, and summarizing a lot of data fast. I don't know how
many people are interested in finding this out, but I'm guessing
a lot of people would find this interesting. And I like the idea
of blurring the boundary between the grandees the New York Times
writes about and those literally buried in the back pages of
their local (and fast disappearing) rags.
I didn't stop with this proposal. I also came up with a second idea,
not unrelated, and not one that had never occurred to me before, but
worth mentioning here: demand-only advertising. Back when I was working
in advertising, I got rather deep into the art and science of it all,
but later reverted to my initial instinct that it's one of the most
completely evil things in the world today. At one point, I started a
lexicon/keywords book, where I would write a page of two on a hundred
or so terms.
One of the first I wrote was on advertising. I can't find that
particular rant, but it started by denying that advertising is ever
free speech. It is expensive speech, but calculated to pay dividends
by manipulating people -- to shell out their money is merely the
most mundane of the ulterior purposes it serves. Still, I find
there are times when I'm desperate enough for information I'll go
seeking out ads, skeptical as I am.
So let's imagine a system where advertisers are prohibited from
pushing their messages, especially in media that you can't shut off
or easily ignore (radio is the worst in that respect) or at least
control the pace (with print you can usually skip ahead). But let
the advertisers package their pitches, and put them on a server you
can access when you finally want to.
We have a rough approximation of such a system today, in Amazon.
It could be better organized, with better query tools, and options
to buy elsewhere, as well as more warnings not to buy at all.
Actually, this is one of several areas where Amazon has made real
progress for us, only to run it as a predatory monopoly scam.
Their "Marketplace" isn't a wheel we need to reinvent. The best
solution would be to nationalize it, then make it more ethical.
Same for their warehousing/shipping business. They've proven the
efficiency advantages of scale. Breaking it up won't produce any
more efficiency; if anything, the opposite. But why can every
retailer enjoy the same level playing field? Or for that matter,
every manufacturer (cutting the middle men out)?
Monday, February 26, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
February archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 11 A-list
Music: Current count 41900 [41864] rated (+36), 22 [20] unrated (+2).
Running late this week, but managed to get most things done that
had to be done. Still, I'm a frazzled, nervous wreck as I try to wrap
up this introduction, so don't expect much.
I didn't get done with
Speaking of Which by bedtime Sunday, so (once again) posted
what I had, with the promise of a Monday update. But I've made
very little progress on that today, so I don't know where that
leaves us. I still expect to post this by bedtime Monday evening,
even if it's in a similar state of disarray. There is some chance
of further updates on Tuesday, but right now I'm growing sick of
all of it.
I did wrap up the
February Streamnotes
file (except for the last Music Week, which I may still manage to
add, and the indexing, which I certainly won't get done in time).
At least the empty March Streamnotes file is opened.
I also managed to save off my
frozen year 2023 list.
Subsequent additions to the
active one will be flagged in
a distinctive color.
It looks like I added 91 such post-freeze records to the
year 2022 file.
I added a few more lists to the
EOY aggregate, most notably
the long
Aquarium Drunkard list, which pointed me to a few items and suggested
many more. I had trouble focusing on things last week, so rated count
was down, but A-list exploded from 2 last week to 9 this week (plus
two upgrades from revisits -- I've been meaning to return to Bryan and
Crowell; also, but not yet, Brandy Clark and Tyler Childers. That helped the
Non-Jazz A-list catch up with the
Jazz, now 84-83.
New records reviewed this week:
- Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville: Music by and for Sam Jones (2023 [2024], Hot Cup, EP): [cd]: B+(***)
- Advancing on a Wild Pitch: Disasters, Vol. 2 (2023 [2024], Hot Cup): [bc]: A-
- Tanner Adell: Buckle Bunny (2023, Columbia, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
- Eric Alexander: A New Beginning: Alto Saxophone With Strings (2021 [2023], HighNote): [sp]: B+(**)
- Aunty Rayzor: Viral Wreckage (2023, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: B+(***)
- Annie Chen: Guardians (2022-23 [2024], JZ Music): [cd]: B
- Daggerboard: Escapement (2022 [2024], Wide Hive): [cd]: B+(**) [03-08]
- DJ Finale: Mille Morceau (2023, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [sp]: A-
- Drain: Living Proof (2023, Epitaph): [sp]: B+(*)
- Emmeluth's Amoeba: Nonsense (2021 [2024], Moserobie): [cd]: A-
- Christian Fabian Trio: Hip to the Skip (2022-23 [2024], Spicerack): [cd]: B+(*)
- Friends & Neighbors: Circles (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(***)
- Romulo Fróes and Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (2023, YB Music): [sp]: B+(**)
- Glass Beach: Plastic Death (2024, Run for Cover): [sp]: B-
- Gordon Grdina/Christian Lillinger: Duo Work (2023 [2024], Attaboygirl): [cd]: B+(***)
- Gordon Grdina's the Marrow: With Fathieh Honari (2023 [2024], Attaboygirl): [cd]: B+(***)
- Enrique Heredia Trio: Plays Herbie Nichols (2019-22 [2024], Fresh Sound): [sp]: B+(***)
- Kabeaushé: The Coming of Gaze (2023, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: B+(*)
- Kabeaushé: Hold On to Deer Life, There's a Blcak Boy Behind You! (2023, Monkeytown): [sp]: B
- Noah Kahan: Stick Season (2022, Mercury/Republic): [sp]: B+(***)
- Kaze: Unwritten (2023 [2024], Circum/Libra): [cd]: B+(***)
- Anni Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (2023 [2024], We Jazz): [sp]: B+(***)
- Doug MacDonald: Sextet Session (2023 [2024], DMAC Music): [cd]: B+(**) [03-01]
- Eliza McLamb: Going Through It (2024, Royal Mountain): [sp]: B+(***)
- Chase Rice: I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell (2023, Broken Bow): [sp]: A-
- RVG: Brain Worms (2023, Ivy League/Fire): [sp]: B+(**)
- Sunny Five [Tim Berne/David Torn/Ches Smith/Devin Hoff/Marc Ducret]: Candid (2022 [2024], Intakt): [sp]: B+(***)
- Kali Uchis: Orquídeas (2024, Geffen): [sp]: A-
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Herb Geller: Fire in the West (1957 [2023], Jazz Workshop): [sp]: A-
- Ghetto Brothers: Power-Fuerza (1972 [2024], Vampisoul): [sp]: B+(*)
- If You Want to Make a Lover: Palm Wine, Akan Blues & Early Guitar Highlife, Pt. 1 (1920s-50s [2023], Death Is Not the End): [sp]: B+(*)
- If You Want to Make a Lover: Palm Wine, Akan Blues & Early Guitar Highlife, Pt. 2 (1920s-50s [2023], Death Is Not the End): [bc]: B+(**)
- Melba Liston: Melba Liston and Her 'Bones (1958 [2023], Jazz Workshop): [yt]: A-
- Los Mohanes: La Tumbia (2017 [2023], Moli Del Tro): [sp]: B+(*)
- Don Menza & Sam Noto: Steppin': Quartet Live (1980 [2023], Fresh Sound): [sp]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Abyssinia Infinite Featuring Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw: Zion Roots (2003, Network): [yt]: A-
- Afrorack: The Afrorack (2022, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: A-
Grade (or other) changes:
- Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (2023, Warner): [sp]: [was: B+(***)] A-
- Rodney Crowell: The Chicago Sessions (2023, New West): [sp]: [was: B+(**)] A-
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Albare: Beyond Belief (AM) [02-12]
- Ian Carey & Wood Metal Plastic: Strange Arts (Slow & Steady) [03-22]
- Stephan Crump: Slow Water (Papillon Sounds) [05-03]
- Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows: Heartland Radio (SoundSpore) [03-16]
- David Leon: Bird's Eye (Pyroclastic) [03-08]
- Queen Esther: Things Are Looking Up (EL) [04-09]
- Ron Rieder: Latin Jazz Sessions (self-released) [03-04]
- Jeremy Rose & the Earshift Orchestra: Discordia (Earshift Music) [03-01]
- Jacob Shulman: High Firmament/Ferment Below (Endectomorph Music, 2CD) [03-01]
- Julia Vari Feat. Negroni's Trio: Somos (Alternative Representa) [02-16]
- Fay Victor/Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms, 2CD) [04-05]
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Once again, I failed to finish my rounds by end-of-Sunday, so
I'm posting what I have, with the expectation that I'll add more
on Monday (look for red right-border stripes). One thing I didn't
get to but seems likely to be worthwhile adding is
No More Mister Nice Blog. That's where I first ran into the
Katie Glueck article, and I see relevant posts on many of this
week's politics articles.
Charles P Pierce also has worthwhile takes on most of this.
This appeared after my cutoff, but is a good overview of
everything else that follows: Andrea Mazzarino: [02-27]
War's cost is unfathomable, where she starts by referring to
"The October 7th America has forgotten," which was 2001, when the
US first bombed Afghanistan, following the Al-Qaeda attacks of
that September 11. In 2010, Mazzarino founded the
Cost of War Project, which, as economists are wont to do,
started adding up whatever they could of the quantifiable costs
of America's Global War on Terror and its spawn. Still, their
figures (at least
$8 trillion and counting, and with debt compounding) miss
much of the real human (and environmental) costs, especially
those that are primarily psychic.
For instance, would we have the gun problem that we have had
we not been continuously at war for over two decades? Would our
politics have turned so desperately war-like? Certainly, there
would have been much less pressure to immigrate, given that war
is the leading producer of refugees. Without constant jostling
for military leverage, might we not have made more progress in
dealing with problems like climate change? The list only grows
from there.
One constant theme of every
Speaking of Which is the need to put aside the pursuit of
power over and against others and find mutual grounds that will
allow us to work together cooperatively to deal with pressing
problems. There are lots of reasons why this is true, starting
with the basic fact that we could not exist in such numbers if
not for a level of technology that is complex beyond most of
our understandings and fragile, especially vulnerable to the
people who feel most unjustly treated. Our very lives depend
on experts who can be trusted, and their ability to work free
of sabotage. You can derive all the politics you need from
this insight.
Initial count: 154 links, 7,499 words. Updated count: 178 links, 8,813 words.
Top story threads:
Israel: The genocide continues.
Reported casualty figures, as of 2/23, show 1,147 Israelis killed
on October 7, plus 576 Israelis killed since. Palestinian deaths --
certainly undercounted -- are 29,514 in Gaza + 380 elsewhere in Israel.
Since Oct. 7, Israelis are killing more than 51 Palestinians in Gaza
for every soldier lost. No breakdown between soldiers lost in invading
Gaza vs. elsewhere, but the latter numbers are probably very small.
The kill ratio increases to 65-to-1 using the 38,000 estimate "when
accounting for those presumed dead."
Mondoweiss:
Yuval Abraham: [02-23]
Settlers and army blocking West Bank roads to Palestinians:
"Makeshift barriers erected since October 7 have sealed off dozens
of Palestinian communities."
Samer Badawi: [02-19]
Laying the groundwork for Gaza's permanent exodus: "With Egypt
reportedly preparing for an influx of refugees and UNRWA on the
brink of collapse, Israel's second Nakba fantasies could soon
become reality."
Zack Beauchamp: [02-20]
How Israel's war went wrong: "The conflict in Gaza has become "an
era-defining catastrophe." It's increasingly clear what -- and who --
is to blame."
Josh Breiner/Bar Peleg: [02-22]
Israeli Nova partygoer was misidentified as Hamas terrorist on
October 7 and killed by Israeli forces. More examples like
this are likely to come out. When Israel reduced its Oct. 7 death
count from 1,400 to under 1,200, one wonders how much of that was
bad counting, and how much reclassifying?
Isaac Chotiner: [02-24]
"Trying to project the death toll from Israel's military campaign
over the next six months." On a
report from Johns Hopkins University Center for Humanitarian
Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
I suspect their "worst case scenario" isn't nearly as bad as it
could get. But even with a ceasefire today, they're projecting
over 15,000 "excess deaths" in the next six months.
Osama Gaweesh: [02-24]
Buffer zone in Sinai: Is Sisi preparing to displace the Palestinians?
Yousef Khelfa: [02-20]
My medical colleagues in Gaza are exhausted, and terrified of what is
to come: "When I left Gaza two weeks ago, my colleagues at the
European Hospital in Khan Younis were already overwhelmed. Now, they
are terrified Israel will invade the hospital and kill patients like
they did at nearby Nasser Hospital."
Ibtisam Mahdi: [02-17]
The obliteration of Gaza's multi-civilizational treasures:
"Israel's war has brought ruin to thousands of years of rich heritage
in Gaza, with Palestinian experts decrying the destruction as a cultural
genocide."
Nicole Narea: [02-23]
Netanyahu's postwar "plan" for Gaza is no plan at all: "Netanyahu's
plan is wildly disconnected from US priorities -- and reality."
Jonathan Ofir:
Oren Ziv: [02-20]
Rugs, cosmetics, motorbikes: Israeli soldiers loot Gaza homes en
masse: "Soldiers describe how stealing Palestinian property has
become totally routine in the Gaza war, with minimal pushback from
commanders."
Israel vs. world opinion:
Ben Armbruster: [02-22]
US intel has 'low confidence' in Israel's UNRWA claims.
Michael Arria: [02-22]
The Shift: US vetoes UN ceasefire resolution again: "Joe Biden
has stepped up public criticisms of Israel to save his faltering
electoral prospects in Michigan, but there remains an incredible
disconnect between these words and his administration's ongoing
support for Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza."
Moustafa Bayoumi: [02-17]
As Biden ignores death in Gaza, the 'Dark Brandon' meme is unfunny
and too real.
Miguel A Cruz-Díaz: [02-23]
On the shame of living through times of genocide. The article,
about "suicidal ideation," is not exactly what I imagined from the
title, but I'm not wired to take other people's tragedies personally.
(I was tempted to say "for empathy," but I can imagine even if I only
rarely feel.) But the title is evocative. I don't advise you feeling
shame for what other people -- and not just the perpetrators, but
also those making excuses, or just shrugging their shoulders -- are
doing, but they definitely should feel ashamed (and if not, should
learn).
Emily Davies/Peter Hermann/Dan Lamothe: [02-27]
Airman who set self on fire grew up on religious compound, had
anarchist past: Aaron Bushnell, whose protest echoed that of
Buddhist monk
Thich Quang Duc during the Vietnam War.
Yves Engler: [02-21]
The reasons for Canada's 'unwavering' support for Israel:
"Canada's remarkable fidelity to an apartheid state committing
genocide is driven by imperial geopolitics, settler solidarity,
Christian Zionism and the Israel lobby in Canada, and the
weaponization of antisemitism."
Richard Falk: [02-25]
In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in
human history.
Jonathan Freedland: [02-23]
Hamas and Netanyahu are a curse on their peoples. Yet amid the horror,
there is a sliver of hope: The "sliver" seems to be [02-23]
Gaza ceasefire talks underway in Paris, but this ignores the
core fact of this "war," which is that you don't need to negotiate
a ceasefire when only one side is shooting. Just do it. Israel can
even declare that if Palestinians do keep shooting rockets at Israel,
there will be reprisals (short in time, but severe). That would be
understandable. But negotiations just does something Israel claims
it doesn't want to do, which is to elevate Hamas as the representative
of the people of Gaza.
The headline suggests that both Netanyahu and
Hamas are unfortunate political choices, but Netanyahu was a choice,
at least of the limited electorate within Israel, and there's plenty
of reason to believe he's doing exactly what those who voted for him
want. Hamas was never elected, because Palestinians have never been
free to choose their own leaders. The West Bank is, well, complicated,
but Gaza should be simple: all Israel has to do is stop attacking and
step away. They've more than punished Hamas. They've destroyed most
of the region's infrastructure. For at least the next 20 years, the
only way people will be able to live in Gaza is through foreign aid,
which they will basically have to beg for. If Israel takes itself out
of the picture, and lets the UN organize a proper democratic government
there, Hamas will release the hostages, and quietly disappear. (Sure,
Hamas may still survive in the West Bank, and among exiles, but that
shouldn't be Gaza's fault. Hamas has no life except as resistance to
Israeli power.)
The idea that some people who got to power purely through the use
of terror -- and that's every bit as true of Netanyahu as of Hamas
(and only slightly less for the Saudis and Americans and other parties
invovled) -- can settle something in Paris that will bring peace to
Gaza is absurd. Freedland writes: "To grasp it, the Palestinians need
to be free of Hamas and Israelis free of Netanyahu." Swap those and
you start to enter the realm of the possible: Palestinians need to be
free of Netanyahu, which for Gaza at least is easy to do. And that
would also make Israelis free of Hamas (except, of course, in the
areas where they're still determined to rule rough over Palestinians,
because such rule always begets resistance -- if not by Hamas, then
by the next bunch that bands together to stand up for freedom and
against injustice).
Thomas L Friedman: [02-27]
Israel is losing its greatest asset: acceptance: This is one of
those "if even Thomas Friedman sees a problem . . ." pieces. Israelis
have a handicap here: they're so conditioned to expecting that the
whole world hates them, they can't imagine how much worse it can get,
or how that might impact them. They figure as long as the US stays
in line, no problem. And they figure the US is way too big to worry
about its own diminishing acceptance.
Mehdi Hasan: [02-21]
Biden can end the bombing of Gaza right now. Here's how.
Robert Inkalesh: [02-23]
Why the US must enage Hamas politically: I don't agree with this now,
but I do believe that I do believe that America's refusal to accept the
results of the 2006 Palestinian Authority elections -- I believe Israel,
which had always preferred Hamas to the secular-socialist PLO, was only
following the American lead -- was largely responsible for pushing Hamas
back into violent rebellion, including the desperate attacks of Oct. 7.
There is, of course, much room for debate as to how to apportion blame
for the continued repression and resistance. Israel's behavior is fully
consistent as a white settler colony overseeing a rigidly racist system
of control -- call it "Apartheid" if you like, but it differs in some
from the disgraced South African system, and often for the worse. It
reflects a demented and ultimately self-destructive worldview, but
they are pretty clear on what they're doing, and why. As for Americans,
they're much harder to explain. Having developed two (or maybe three)
such rigidly racist systems, then dismantled them without ever owning
up to their crimes, they're amazingly ingenious at lying to themselves
and others -- hypocrisy is much too superficial a word -- for the way
they so easily rationalize and romanticize Israeli brutality as high
moral dudgeon.
Jake Johnson: [02-22]
"I think we should kill 'em all," GOP Rep. Andy Ogles says of
Palestinians in Gaza. Makes him exhbit A (but not the only
one) in:
Robert Lipsyte: [02-22]
I'm heartbroken by the war in Israel.
Mitchell Plitnick: [02-23]
Biden won't let Israel's rejection of a Palestinian state interfere
with his delusions.
Philip Weiss: [02-21]
The context for October 7 is apartheid, not the Holocaust: "The
Israel lobby is attempting to indoctrinate Americans that the context
for the October 7 attack is the Holocaust. This is a misrepresentation.
The Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust."
America's expansion of Israel's world war:
Spencer Ackerman:
Samar Al-Bulushi/Ahmed Ibrahim: [02-21]
US inks deal to build up to 5 bases in Somalia.
Giorgio Cafiero: [02-19]
Will Egypt suspend the Camp David Accords?
Dave DeCamp: [02-22]
$14 billion US aid package for Israel crafted to prepare for
'multi-front war,' not just Gaza.
Julia Gledhill: [02-23]
The new 'defense industrial strategy' is a boon for the arms makers,
not so much for regular Americans.
Eldar Mamedov: {02-23]
The EU's flagging credibility in the Middle East.
Ishaan Tharoor:
[02-21]
The world confronts Israel over its occupation of Palestinian
lands: "There is a growing global perception that Israel is at
odds with the international system and reliant on the United States
to shield it from further censure."
[02-23]
In Ukraine and Gaza, twilight for the 'rules-based order':
"Western leaders may see in Ukraine the defense of the 'rules-based
order' against Russian brutishness, but in the ongoing calamity in
Gaza, it's easy to also see its breakdown."
[02-27]
Netanyahu's 'day after' plan for Gaza is unviable: "Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled a blanket rejection of any
solutions that empower the Palestinians." Or to allow Palestinians
any measure of dignity anywhere near Israel's vaunted Iron Wall. No
one anywhere should credit Netanyahu as having any legitimacy to rule
over Palestinians. I don't see any way to force his government from
power, but he and it should be shamed and shunned with every option,
including ICJ charges and sanctions. Sure, other governments treat
their minorities with insufficient respect, but no other works so
relentlessly to destroy their livelihood, and often their lives.
Trump, and other Republicans: Well, South Carolina is done
and dusted -- see [02-24]
Trump defeats Haley in South Carolina primary, 60.1% to 39.2%
(at the point with 92% counted). Also, if you care,
How different groups voted in the South Carolina primary, according
to exit polls. Nothing terribly surprising there, except perhaps
that Trump had his best age split in 17-29 (66% vs. 63% for 65+).
[PS: The final delegate split was 47 Trump, 3 Haley.]
Liz Anderson: [02-13]
The crack-up of the Michigan GOP: "The trouble is, when the
working-class WCN [White Christian Nationalists] takes over a party,
their lack of and contempt for managerial skills, their conspiratorial
mindset, and their inability to assume personal responsibility for
their failures leads to organizational failure and financial crisis."
Also on the Michigan GOP:
Zack Beauchamp: [02-24]
The South Carolina primary is a joke. It tells us something deadly
serious: "Trump's seemingly inevitable romp to victory in Nikki
Haley's home state reveals how strong his hold on the GOP is -- and
how dangerous he remains to democracy."
Jackie Calmes: [01-22]
I watched a Trump rally so you don't have to. But you need to know
what he's saying.
Igor Derysh: [02-23]
Experts trash Trump's "insultingly stupid" filing asking Judge Cannon
to dismiss case: "Trump invoked presidential immunity and other
arguments that have already been rejected by other courts."
David Freedlander: [02-22]
The Swiftboater coming for Biden: "With co-pilot Susie Wiles,
Chris LaCivita has brought discipline to the Trump campaign. Is that
enough to win?"
Margaret Hartmann: [02-21]
Trump doubles down on making Navalny's death about him.
Christopher Hooks: [02-25]
The human toll of Greg Abbott's war at the border.
Ed Kilgore:
Charisma Madarang: [02-23]
Trump claims he's 'being indicted for the black population': "The
ex-president additionally said 'the Black people like me' because he
has been indicted four times." So, like, they can relate to a guy who
has spent $50 million on lawyers to stay out of jail (for months, maybe
even a year or two)?
Ben Protess/Jonah E Bromwich: [02-24]
Donald J Trump is racing against time to find a half-billion dollar
bond.
Jennifer Rubin:
[02-21]
Trump idolizes Putin, the man who killed Navalny and invaded Ukraine.
After being horrible for years, Rubin's conversion to anti-Republicanism
was more convincing than most, but she's lost her marbles here. Trump
doesn't idolize Putin. Trump only worships himself. Maybe he has a bit
of grudging admiration for Putin, as a guy who gets away with doing
things he can only dream of. Maybe he thinks Putin might be a fun guy
to pal around with, like Jeffrey Epstein, but if so he's almost dead
certain wrong. (Does Putin really strike you as the kind of guy who'd
enjoy Trump's company?) Trump throws these gestures out mostly just
to wind up the Russiagate libs, knowing they'll react hysterically,
and knowing that when they do, that'll just reinforce the sense of
his base that he's a straight shooter, one of the very few people in
national politics who's not under the spell of the warmongering Deep
State. Meanwhile, Rubin is only winding up her base, giving them
talking points that seem archly moral but are instantly recognized
by anyone not in the clique as hypocritical at best and quite likely
seriously dangerous.
[02-25]
Dim or disloyal? Republicans again ensnared in possible Russian plot.
And here she goes again, although here we should also note how easy it
is for Russian agents to play Republicans. After all, if you want to
swindle someone, the easiest possible mark is someone who's convinced
in his own con.
Praveena Somasundaram: [02-25]
Koch network ends financial support for Nikki Haley's presidential
bid: Regular people may get a chance to vote in America, but
only for candidates who have been vetted and backed by the very
rich. And when that backing falters, the candidates have little
choice but to withdraw (er, "suspend"). Having lost what appeared
to be her two best chances (Trump-averse New Hampshire and her
home state of South Carolina), and now the biggest source of her
funding, she has no chance of winning, and little of making much
of a showing. Sure, as long as she's nominally in the race she'll
continue to trounce Ron DeSantis (who still got 0.4% in South
Carolina), and she's still got the fawning PR coming from
Jim Geraghty and
Kathleen Parker.
Matt Stieb: [02-22]
Was the Biden Crime Family informant a Russian asset?
Kate Sullivan: [02-18]
Trump launches sneaker line a day after judge's order to pay nearly
$355 million.
Tatyana Tandanpolie: [02-23]
Bipartisan Wisconsin ethics commission refers Trump PAC for felony
prosecution over alleged scheme: "Officials find evidence Trump's
Save America committee skirted campaign finance laws to take down
disloyal GOPer."
CPAC: The erstwhile conservative (more like fascist)
organization held their annual conference last week, headlined
by Donald Trump, so we'll offer this as a Republicans overflow
section. Before we get serious, probably the best introduction
here is: [02-23]
Jimmy Kimmel on CPAC: 'A who's who of who won't accept the results
of the election'.
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Perry Bacon Jr: [02-26]
Criticizing a president is always okay -- even one running against
Trump: If you care about issues, you should say so, even when
it's politically inexpedient. Otherwise, you lose your credibility,
and any hope for eventual success. You reduce politics to a game,
signifying nothing. If that's your view of it, you may already be
a Republican -- although they've adopted some truly obnoxious issue
stands, they're really just saying whatever they think gives them
a slight advantage, because all they're really intererested in is
power: seizing it, keeping it, cashing in on it.
Aaron Boxerman/Jonathan Weisman: [02-24]
Biden caught in a political bind over Israel policy: "His steadfast
support of the Gaza war effort is angering young people and Arab Americans
in an election year. But any change risks alienating Jewish voters." Not
really: recent
polling has Jewish Americans favoring a ceasefire 50-34%. That's
not as high as support for a ceasefire from Americans in general,
but not enough to justify the NYT's antisemitic trope of painting
"the Jews" as responsible for Biden's colossal blunder.
Jackie Calmes: [02-14]
Biden's polls aren't great. How much is the media's fault?
Ben Davis: [02-21]
Biden visited East Palestine a year after Trump. This doesn't bode
well.
William Hartung: [01-31]
Tone deaf? Admin brags about 55% hike in foreign arms sales:
"Washington's sanitized view of unleashing $80.9 billion in weapons
on the world, especially now, is a bit curious."
Eric Levitz: [02-23]
Biden is weak -- and unstoppable: "It will be hard to convince
the president that he isn't the best of his party's bad options."
Norman Solomon: [02-25]
Joe Biden's moral collapse on Gaza could help Donald Trump win.
I'm not going to not vote for Biden in November even though I regard
him as not just naive and/or negligent but materially complicit in
the most crime against humanity in recent decades, but only because
I fully realize that Trump would even be worse (as, indeed, his four
years as president amply demonstrated). Still, by all means, tank
Biden's polls and trash his prospects, at least until he starts to
reverse course. And also note that lots of people are not fully
apprised of how awful Trump has been on Israel in particular and
on world war in general -- indeed, he is campaigning, Wilson-like,
on having "kept us out of war" and steering us away from the path
to "world war" that Biden is heading (even though, sure one might
even repeat Wilson-like, he's done more than anyone to pave that
path). If Biden fails to get his war under control, enough people
are likely to fall for Trump's line to tip the election. Also
linked to by Solomon:
Robert Wright: [02-23]
Biden's tough love deficit: Two years after Ukraine, and 20 weeks
after Gaza, turned into massive wars:
There are lots of differences between those two events and between
the wars they've brought, but there's one important commonality: how
President Biden has reacted. In both cases he has come to the aid of
a friend in need and done so in a way that wasn't ultimately good for
the friend. Biden is good at showing love and catastrophically bad at
showing tough love.
With both Ukraine and Israel, the US has massive leverage -- by
virtue of being a critical weapons supplier and also in other ways.
And in both cases Biden has refused to use the leverage to try to end
wars that are now, at best, pointless exercises in carnage creation.
I'll add that both of these wars were advertised long before they
broke out, coming out of long-standing conflicts, and only surprising
to the those in Washington who pretended that peace can be secured
simply by buying American arms and covering them with clichés about
deterrence and sanctions. Most of the fault belongs to presidents
before Biden: to Bush and Trump for indulging Israel's most right-wing
fantasies (and Obama for not resisting them, reinforcing the idea that
American reservations are not things Israelis need to take seriously);
to Obama's pivot toward a renascent Cold War (after Clinton and Bush
expanded NATO to Russia's doorstep); and to Trump for his half-assed
mishandling of Ukraine, Russia, China, and everything else. On the
other hand, every president inherits the mistakes of his predecessors.
Thanks to Trump, Biden wound up with more than usual, but it was his
job to fix them. In some cases he tried, and has even had some success.
In others, he failed, sometimes not even trying. But here, he's made
bad situations worse, and seems incapable of even understanding why.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Eric Levitz: [02-21]
Why you probably shouldn't blow up a pipeline. Reaction to
Andreas Malm's book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, and the
subsequent movie. My rejection of such notions is so deep-seated --
I'm still anti-Luddite, even after having developed some appreciation
for the intractable
problems they faced -- I've never had to wrestle with the
issues, nor do I expect that I ever will. But I won't be surprised
to see a rising tide of sabotage -- they've already coined the term
"ecoterrorism" for this eventuality -- as climate distress worsens,
especially if major powers are unwilling to reform and continue to
set the standard for dealing with problems through repression and
violence. [PS: Note, however, that in Kim Stanley Robinson, in his
novel, The Ministry for the Future, expects to see a lot of
"ecoterrorism," and sees it as promoting necessary changes.]
Economic matters:
Dean Baker: [02-21]
The sham "The economy is awful" story: Per Baker's
tweet: "Too bad they [New York Times] weren't allowed to run these
when Donald Trump was in the White House." Next in my Twitter queue
was
Kevin Erdmann: "It's really crazy how interest rate casual stories
get canonized without the slightest interest or curiosity in facts.
EVERY story about housing will stipulate that the Fed's rate hikes
slowed down sales." The chart shows that sales spiked after the worst
of the pandemic in 2020, while interest rates were still low, and
declined as interest rates increased, but since 2022 they're basically
back to pre-pandemic levels, albeit with higher interest rates.
Farrah Hassen: [02-23]
The rent's still too high! "A new Harvard study found that
half of U.S. renter households now spend more than 30
percent of their income on rent and utilities. And rent
increases continue to outpace their income gains. . . . Last
year, homelessness hit an all-time national high of 653,100
people."
Ukraine War:
Responsible Statecraft: [02-22]
The Ukraine War at two years: By the numbers.
Kyle Anzalone: [02-22]
US officials see Ukraine as an active and bountiful military research
opportunity.
Medea Benjamin/Nicolas JS Davies: [02-25]
After two grueling years of bloodshed, it's time for peace in
Ukraine.
- Aaron Blake: [02-27]
Zelensky's increasingly blunt comments about Trump: This isn't
a good sign, but Trump has always wanted Zelensky to wade into the
American political fray -- on his side, of course, but it's not
like he can't play opposition just as well. Zelensky is careful to
portay his interests as America's own, but Trump is unflappable in
that regard.
Joe Buccino: [02-22]
Ukraine can no longer win. This piece appeared in the Wichita
Eagle right after the Doran piece, below. Added here after I wrote
the Doran comment, but let's list it first.
Peter Doran: [02-24]
Ukraine can win -- here's how: Author works for Center for European
Policy Analysis (CEPA), one of our leading war tanks, out here to buck
up the troops by, well, quoting Winston Churchill and Henry V. He's
wrong on many levels, starting with the notion that anyone can win at
war these days. Even when he has a point (that Russia's "manpower pool"
isn't inexhaustible) he misses it (that it's still much deeper than
Ukraine's). He points to the unpopularity of the war in Russia, the
suggestion being that Putin will buckle if the West only shows we're
firmly resolved to win, but hasn't Putin proven much more effective
at stifling dissent than the democratic West has? Aside from greater
resolve, he insists the keys to winning are faster deliveries of even
more sophisticated weapons systems, and even tighter sanctions. How
did the war planners miss that? He insists on "a clear and compelling
definition of victory in Ukraine that advances our national interests."
Note nothing here about the well-being of the Ukrainian people, who
bear the primary costs of continued war. His definition? "The
requirements of this victory include the Russian military ceasing to
kill Ukrainians, departing Ukrainian territory and not threatening
the existence of the country in the future." It should be obvious
by now that the only way to achieve any way of this is through a
negotiated settlement that leads not just to a ceasefire but to an
enduring stable relationship between Russia, Ukraine, and the West.
That may require lesser steps -- a ceasefire would be a good start --
but also means giving up impossible definitions of victory.
Steven Erlanger/David E Sanger: [02-24]
Hard lessons make for hard choices 2 years into the war in Ukraine:
"Western sanctions haven't worked. Weapons from allies are running low.
Pressure may build on Kyiv to seek a settlement, even from a weakened
position."
Ben Freeman: [02-22]
The Ukraine lobby two years into war.
Joshua Keating: [02-22]
Are Ukraine's defenses starting to crumble? "What Ukraine's biggest
setback in months tells us about the future of the war."
Serhiy Morgunov/David L Stern: [02-25]
Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since invasion.
His first public disclosure since Dec. 2022 ("up to 13,000"). He's also
claiming 180,000 Russian troops have been killed. When the New York Times
reported this story
(31,000
Ukrainian soldiers killed in two years of war, Zelensky says,
they also noted that Zelensky's number "differs sharply from that
given by U.S. officials, who have said the number is closer to
70,000."
A
leaked Pentagon document had estimated deaths at 15,500-17,000
Ukrainian soldiers, and 35,000-42,500 Russian soldiers. That doesn't
count at least 10,000 Ukrainian civilians killed. For more figures,
some exaggerated, some minimized, see Wikipedia's
Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Marc Santora: [02-24]
Ukraine's deepening fog of war: "Two years after Russia's full-scale
invasion, Ukrainian leaders are seeking a path forward in teh face of
ferocious assaults and daunting unknowns."
Paul Street: [02-22]
500,000 dead and maimed in Ukraine, enough already: It's been a
long time since I've seen any figures for war in Ukraine, so this
one caught me off guard.
Marc A Thiessen: [02-22]
If Republicans want to help Trump, they should pass Ukraine aid now.
I never cite him, mostly because he's pure evil (he got his start as
Cheney's torture apologist), but my local paper loves his columns, so
I run into him constantly, and occasionally read enough to reconfirm
my judgment. But this one is especially twisted, so I offer it as an
example of the mind games regular Republicans play to manipulate the
deranged Trumpian psyches -- in effect, to keep them reliably evil.
The pitch is that Republicans should keep the war going so Trump can
fulfill his "I'll have that done in 24 hours" campaign promise once
he's elected. Of course, if Trump does win, Thiessen will do his most
to sabotage any peace moves, but in the meantime the war goes on and
Biden gets the blame.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel/James Carden: [02-23]
10 years later: Maidan's missing history.
Walt Zlotow: [02-24]
First 2 years of US proxy war against Russia finds both US and Ukraine
in downward spiral.
Navalny/Assange:
The Observer: [02-17]
The Observer view on Alexei Navalny's murder: Putin must be shown he
can't kill with impunity: "Russia has been exposed as a rogue
state that is a menace to the rest of the world." Isn't the Guardian
supposed to be the flagship of Britain's left-leaning press? But I
cringe any time I see an "Observer view" editorial, perhaps because
so many of them are so full of spite yet so futile, combinations of
hypocrisy and bluster. After fulminating for twelve paragraphs, they
finally explode: "It's time to get real with Russia." So, like, no
more patty-cakes? Like 74 years of "cold war" that actually started
with US and UK troops fighting the revolution on Russian soil? That
went on to using Afghan proxies to snipe at Russians in the 1980s?
That after a brief respite when Yeltsin tried to adopt America's
prescription of "shock treatment" nearly self-destructed Russia?
That was followed by the relentless expansion of NATO combined with
economic warfare including crippling sanctions?
When they wail, "After
Navalny, it's time to drop any lingering illusion that Putin's Russia
is a normal country, that it may be reasoned with." If Russia is not
"a normal country," and I'll grant that it isn't, perhaps that's
because no one in the US/UK has tried to reason with it in dacades?
Navalny is part of the price of this hostile rivalry, and unless he
was some sort of spy, he wasn't even a price the US/UK paid. He was
just collateral damage, like thousands of Ukrainians and Russians
maimed and killed in Ukraine, the millions displaced, the many more
who are denied food and fuel due to sanctions, and the millions of
Russian subjects who are denied free political rights because they
are living under a state whose security is constantly being attacked
by the West.
Andrew Cockburn: [02-19]
Tears for Navalny. Assange? Not so much.
Ellen Ioanes: [02-20]
Where does the fight for a free Russia go now? "Yulia Navalnaya
picks up her husband's battle against Putin."
Fred Kaplan: [02-21]
Even if you hate Julian Assange, the US attempt to extradite him
should worry you.
Margaret Sullivan: [02-20]
The US justice department must drop spy charges against Julian
Assange: 'You don't have to like him or WikiLeaks to recognize
the damage these charges create."
Walt Zlotow: [02-22]
Julian Assange is Biden's Navalny.
Other stories:
Mac William Bishop: [02-23]
American idiots kill the American century: "After decades of
foreign-policy bungling and strategic defeats, the US has never
seemed weaker -- and dictators around the world know it." This is
a pretty seriously wrong-headed article, its appeal to the liberal
publisher based on the MAGA movement, prominent Republicans, Elon
Musk and Tucker Carlson for making America weak, the effect simply
to "advance Putin's agenda." The key to American influence around
he world was always based on nothing more than the perception that
we would treat the world fairly and generously -- unlike the old
colonial empires of Europe, or the new militarism of the Axis, or
the growing Soviet-aligned bloc. Sure, the US was never all that
innocent, nor all that charitable, but in the late 1940s seemed
to compare favorably to the others. The US squandered its moral
standing and good will pretty rapidly, and as the article notes,
is losing the last of it with Biden's wholehearted support for
Israeli genocide.
Marina Bolotnikova/Kenny Torrella: [02-26]
9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you
realize: "Factory farms aer now so big that we need a new
word for them."
Nick Estes: [02-19]
America's origin story is a myth: Daniel Denvir interviews Estes,
author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota
Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance.
David French: [02-25]
What is Christian nationalism exactly? NY Times
opinion columnist, self-described
Never-Trump Conservative, professes as evangelical Christian,
claiming the authority to explain his wayward brethren -- the flock
Chris Hedges wrote about in his 2007 book, American Fascists:
The Christian Right and the War on America -- or at least to
make fine distinctions between his kind and the others, who he's
more inclined to dub "Christian supremacists." That works almost
as well as Hedges' "Fascists" to identify the dictatorial and
vindictive powers they aspire to, without implicating Christians
who practice tolerance and charity, and allowing new nationalists
to express their love for American diversity (as opposed to the
old ones, wallowing in xenophobia and racism).
By the way, one term I haven't seen, but seems more to the point,
is Republican Christianists (or, I guess, Christianist Republicans):
those who enbrace the Republicans' cynical pursuit of coercive power
at all costs, while justifying their lust and avarice as a divine
mission. This piece led me to some older ones:
Katie Glueck: [02-19]
Anti-Trump burnout: The resistance says it's exhausted: "Bracing
for yet another election against Donald Trump, America's liberals
are feeling the fatigue. "We're kind of, like, crises-ed out," one
Democrat said." Well, if one Democrat said it, that's exactly
the sort of thing you can count on the New York Times to blow up
into a page one issue. Genocide in Palestine? Not so much. Reading
their own paper, they don't seem to understand that Trump is out of
power, and has been for 3.5 years now. Sure, he still talks a lot,
but that's all he is. Trying to shut him up, even if we wanted to,
not only isn't worth the effort, but would make things even worse.
For most of us, there's nothing much we can do except wait until
November, then vote against him.
Sarah Jones: [02-22]
The right to a private life is under attack: Starts with the
Alabama ruling on IVF (see Cohen, Millhiser, and others, above),
but of course the Trump-supporting Christian Nationalists want
much more than that: they want to run nearly every aspect of your
life:
Our private freedoms are linked to public notions of equal citizenship.
Conservatives attack the former in order to undermine the latter. It's
an unpopular strategy, but as the scholar Matthew Taylor told Politico,
"These folks aren't as interested in democracy or working through
democratic systems as in the old religious right because their theology
is one of Christian warfare." This is total war, and not just on women.
Anyone who fails to conform is at risk.
More, especially on the IVF backlash:
Taylor Lorenz: [02-24]
How Libs of TikTok became a powerful presence in Oklahoma schools:
"The owner [Chaya Raichik] of the far-right social media account, who
sits on a state advisory panel, has drawn attention since the death
of a nonbinary student near Tulsa." I could have filed this under
Republicans (above), as that's her mob, but didn't want to bury it
under the usual graft and bullshit. Related here:
Garrison Lovely: [01-22]
Can humanity survive AI? Long piece I haven't spent much time
with as yet, although the subhed "Capitalism makes it worse" is
certainly true. I don't know how good and/or bad AI will be, but
it's generating a lot more press than I can follow, including:
Kelly McClure: [02-23]
Ex-NRA chief funneled millions of dollars into his own pockets,
according to a NYC jury: "Wayne LaPierre and other NRA executives
were found liable for financial misconduct."
Anna North: [02-23]
Mascuzynity: How a nicotine pouch explains the new ethos of young
conservative men: "Stimulants, hustle culture, and bodybuilding
are shaping young men's drift to the right." Not obvious to me why
this has become "a gateway to right-wing politics." Unless, that is,
you're broadening the definition of right-wing from servants of
hierarchy/oligarchy to plain old, all-around assholes.
Rick Perlstein: [02-21]
The neglected history of the state of Israel: "The Revisionist
faction of Zionism that ended up triumphing adhered to literal fascist
doctrines and traditions." This is, of course, directly relevant to
what's happening in the Israel section above. The relationship is not
just temperamental and ideological: Netanyahu's father was Jabotinsky's
secretary and confidant.
Alissa Quart: [02-21]
US media is collapsing. Here's how to save it. She's director of
something called
Economic Hardship Reporting Project
Aja Romano: [02-18]
An attempt to reckon with True Detective: Night Country's bonkers
season finale: Noted in the breach, as a remarkably bad review
of a season and series where I'm hard pressed to find any points
to agree with, either in praise (mostly of seasons one and three,
where the flaws are most obvious) or in panning (seasons two and
four, where the messes swamp out the positives). But I will say
that the "bonkers season finale" was much more satisfying than any
I imagined to that point. I at least took the political point, which
is that the power of the rich, and the hopelessness of the people
they carelessly grind down and toss aside, are never as complete as
they imagine.
At the same time, I was also watching
A Murder at the End of the World, which was, if anything, even
messier (though just a close second for bone-chilling cold), and
again mostly acquitted itself with a politically-charged "bonkers
finale": the murders were orchestrated by AI, but the context was
corporate megalomania, as represented by a billionaire obsessed
with control and life-extension. Speaking of which:
Jeffrey St Clair: [02-23]
Roaming Charges: Somewhat immature: Title is Brig. Gen. Anthony
Mastalir, commander of U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, describing
the "rules of engagement for orbital warfare," which is to say nobody
agrees on any rules, or even knows what they are or should be. But
who's that going to stop?
Ben Wray: [02-24]
It's time to dismantle the US sanctions-industrial complex: "The
US has built up an elaborate machinery for waging economic warfare on
its rivals with little or no public debate. This sanctions-industrial
complex is a disguised form of imperialism and a dangerous source of
global instability."
Li Zhou: [02-23]
America's first moon landing in 50 years, explained.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Daily Log
Clifford Ocheltree in Facebook on my Mingus review:
I liked the Mingus box a tad more, the music is solid BUT the set
saves me shelf space AND enabled me to sell off the individual CDs. In
essence the set became 'free' or no cost plus it does benefit from the
remastering. The Jasmine 50s could indeed be shorter but, as I
suggested about the 40s set, it provides context. Certainly, given the
price, it serves as an educational experience for those younger than
you or me.
I added this:
Packaging is so important in box sets that it's rather unfair just to
write a review of streaming the music. Also sheer length leads to
fatigue, which is one reason I'm so reluctant to even bother with
them. On the other hand, I'm suspicious that reviewers who are gifted
with the deluxe packages tend to be overly generous -- in part,
because I know that when I'm the beneficiary, I often do cut them some
slack. I could imagine myself bumping up the "Hot House" grade if I
had the proper set. As I noted in the review, the Mingus set was a big
time filler for me: my biggest disruption every day is figuring out
what to play next, and the boxes saved me a lot of that. Plus it was
the highest-rated Critics Poll album I hadn't heard, plus it's Mingus,
and I really love Mingus (the hostname of one of my computers). Even
with my cursory approach, I did learn a few things: I significantly
bumped my very low grades of "Mingus Moves" and "Cumbia," and I
finally heard the two last studio albums (more closely related to the
post-Mingus big bands than to his own albums, but still very
good). The "Changes" albums, which I bought on vinyl shortly after
they came out (and as such were probably my first Mingus) slipped a
bit from my memory, but not enough to downgrade them. So all-in-all, I
think, a fair and worthwhile review. But sure, packaging could have
made a difference. As would the ease of replaying individual discs.
Monday, February 19, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
February archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 3 A-list
Music: Current count 41864 [41828] rated (+36), 20 [23] unrated (-3).
I posted a long
Speaking of Which just before bedtime late Sunday night.
I didn't quite get through my usual rounds, so added some more
stuff today, which in turn pushed this out late, again. Still
unclear how far I'll get Monday night.
Fortunately, I don't have much to say about music this week.
The rated count is down, but I hit up several boxes, including
the big Mingus one I saw little point in but enjoyed anyway,
and yet another iteration of the Massey Hall Quintet/Trio.
Also, another big r&b oldies box, again not ideal but
quite thoroughly enjoyed.
Very little progress to report on EOY lists, websites, book
projects, or anything else. The links, of course, are in the
usual place.
New records reviewed this week:
- Joe Alterman: Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe (2023, Joe Alberman Music): [sp]: B+(**)
- Carsie Blanton: Body of Work (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Stix Bones/Bob Beamon: Olimpik Soul (2023 [2024], BONE Entertainment): [cd]: B+(*)
- Peter Bruun/Søren Kjærgaard/Josas Westergaard: Thēsaurós (2022, ILK): [bc]: B+(*)
- Mina Cho's Grace Beat Quartet: "Beat Mirage" (2023 [2024], International Gugak Jazz Institute): [cd]: B+(**)
- Commodore Trio: Communal - EP (2023 [2024], self-relesed, EP): [cd]: B+(*)
- Dogo Du Togo: Dogo Du Togo (2022, self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
- Jose Gobbo Trio: Current (2023 [2024], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
- Mary Halvorson: Cloudward (2023 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B+(**)
- Jon Irabagon: Survivalism (2024, Irabbagast): [bc]: B+(*)
- Jon Irabagon's Outright!: Recharge the Blade (2021 [2024], Irabbagast): [bc]: B+(**)
- Steven Kamperman: Maison Moderne (2023, Trytone): [cd]: A-
- Liquid Mike: Paul Bunyan's Slingshot (2024, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Richard Nelson/Makrokosmos Orchestra: Dissolve (2023 [2024], Adhyâropa): [cd]: B+(**)
- Nondi_: Flood City Trax (2023, Planet Mu): [sp]: B+(*)
- Angel Olsen: Forever Means (2023, Jagjaguwar, EP): [sp]: B
- Public Image Ltd.: End of World (2023, PIL Official): [sp]: B+(*)
- Zoe Rahman: Colour of Sound (2023, Manushi): [sp]: B+(*)
- Andrew Rathbun: The Speed of Time (2022 [2023], SteepleChase) **
- Monika Roscher Bigband: Witchy Activities and the Maple Death (2023, Zenna): [sp]: B+(**)
- Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: Vox Humana (2023, Jazzheads): [sp]: B+(***)
- Adam Schroeder/Mark Masters: CT! Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry (2023 [2024], Capri): [cd]: B+(***)
- Matthew Shipp/Steve Swell: Space Cube Jazz (2021 [2024], RogueArt): [cdr]: B+(***)
- Rajna Swaminathan: Apertures (2021 [2023], Ropeadope): [sp]: B+(**)
- Tucker Brothers: Live at Chatterbox (2023 [2024], Midwest Crush Music): [cd]: B+(*)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- George Cartwright's GloryLand PonyCat: Black Ants Crawling ([2024], Mahakala Music) **
- Late Night Count Basie (2023, Primary Wave): [sp]: B+(**)
- Charles Mingus: Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings (1973-78 [2023], Rhino, 7CD): [sp]: B+(***)
- Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie/Bud Powell/Charles Mingus/Max Roach: Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings (1953 [2023], Craft, 2CD): [sp]: B+(***)
- Sonny Rollins: Go West! The Contemporary Records Albums (1957-58 [2023], Craft, 3CD): [sp]: A-
Pharoah Sanders: Festival de Jazz de Nice, Nice, France, July 18, 1971 (1971 [2024], Kipepeo Publishing): [bc]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: Sings Louis Jordan [The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions] (1973 [2019], Black & Blue): [sp]: B+(**)
- Millie Jackson: On the Soul Country Side (1977-81 [2014], Kent): [sp]: B+(***)
- The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59 [2013], Acrobat, 6CD): [cd]: A-
Grade (or other) changes:
- Sonny Rollins: Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders: Barney Kessel/Hampton Hawes/Leroy Vinnegar/Shelly Manne (1958, Contemporary): [was: B+] B+(***) [r]
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Bob Anderson: Live! (Jazz Hang) [03-29]
- Lynne Arriale Trio: Being Human (Challenge) [03-01]
- The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59, Acrobat, 6CD) [2013]
- Dave Rempis/Pandelis Karayorgis/Jakob Heinemann/Bill Harris: Truss (Aerophonic/Drift) [04-23]
- Håkon Skogstad: 8 Concepts of Tango (Øra Fonogram) [03-15]
- Jack Wood: The Gal That Got Away: The Best of Jack Wood, Featuring Guest Niehaud Fitzgibbon (Jazz Hang) [03-29]
Daily Log
I wrote this in a letter to Michael Tatum. Obviously something I
should have filed in the book draft, but will hold here until then:
Book files opened, but I haven't found any time to work on them,
and the basic prep -- basically what to do with all the old stuff,
which needs to be cleared out so I can lay out the beams I hope to
build around, is daunting or, at least, given my discomfort with the
tools, depressing. But I do find myself thinking about it much of the
time, including every morning when I'm waking up, and keep coming up
with what seem like good ideas -- often fed by recent reading, as I've
finished Grandin and started into Geoghegan. Latest idea, given the
extreme pessimism I'm developing around Biden, is to add a new section
to the end of the book.
Lots of policy books are structured as long critiques of some major
problem, followed by a brief how-to-fix-it section, an
almost-never-convincing attempt to end on an optimistic note. But in
my case, the how-to-fix-it section was the point of the book, a major
integral part. To recap:
Thinking about American history (not a real title, but
basically the old four-eras model with some additional bells and
whistles, notes on concepts, methods, my skepticism about determinism,
etc.).
The history of the Republican Party, how they started with a
dialectic of principles and pragmatism, and evolved into completely
cynical assholes.
A "brief" survey of the many problem areas that have developed
while they were happily playing politics, and why their superficial
approach inevitably fails.
A section on the Democrats, which could turn into three: one on
how and why Democrats' attempts to compete politically by adopting key
elements of Republican rhetoric inevitably fail, because Republican
ideas are so fundamentally flawed, and because Democrats (unlike
Republicans) are expected to actually solve problems, not just pretty
them up; then develop a set of principles that can be used to solve
problems (chiefly by resurrecting the concept of public interest,
showing how that mostly involves social rights, and how the whole
point of democracy is to assert social rights and the public interest
against the corruption of private interests -- now wholeheartedly
embraced by the criminalized Republican Party; finally conclude with a
sketchy but more practical section on how Democratic candidates need
to think and talk in order to succeed in their mandate: which is to
win elections, and to solve problems, and to keep winning and
solving. This last section is where we get into disposing of the
various culture war wedge issues that Republicans dwell on (because,
well, they don't have anything else, because they don't care about
solutions, and they thrive on fear and chaos).
I could go back and expand the first three like the fourth. The
second, for instance, starts with Richard Nixon, as the "godfather" of
the modern Republican Party -- although it just occurred to me that he
could have been Jesus, turning Goldwater into John the Baptist, seeing
as how he was crucified, with Reagan spreading and sanitizing the
gospel like Paul, and Trump finally the resurrection (there are
actually books about this last bit, written by people who believe
it). The second is also where the problem of dysfunctional government
belongs, since that's largely the work of Republicans (unlimited
money, gerrymanders, packing the courts, etc.).
The first is where I lay out the tool kit: introduce my model, then
mention other models, then lay out the underlying concepts, and how
they develop as myths. At some point I may simply list a bunch, with
one-paragraph framing. Some will take a bit more, like
liberal/conservative, left/right, etc.
The third is most in flux. Originally I was thinking of policy
areas, with macro first, then things like health care, climate change,
education, and inequality. Now I'm wondering if change itself isn't
the problem area, so start with technology, and then show how it is
shaped and given force by business. After that, well, it's mostly
capitalism, impinging on most aspects of daily life. But recent events
have brought war front and center, so that has to fit in somewhere
(not as some primordial force, as many are inclined to believe, but,
like it's oft-bound cousin politics, as struggle against
equality).
Anyhow, the latest idea is to tack on a 5th (or 7th?) section,
which is what I really think will happen if (and most likely when) my
plans and pleas in the second half of the book are defeated (or more
likely just ignored). There's something tantalizing about ending with
a premature I-told-you-so. Saving it up for the end might also make
the third section less grim (or at least shorter).
I know, I should probably save this off, and paste it into the book
file, and expand in place.
The preceding took a bit over an hour (the time of one record),
just off the top of my head. The idea is to spend a month writing like
that, to see what it looks like then. Maybe not all off the top of my
head -- may do some minor fact-checking to minimize the gross errors,
but mostly, figuring that way I can keep track of the overall
structure, so it makes sense and balances out. Then we can decide to
go/no go.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Another week, dallying on work I should be doing, eventually finding
a diversion in the world's calamities, reported below.
Note, however, that I didn't manage to finish my
usual rounds by end-of-Sunday, so posted prematurely, and will
try to follow up on Monday, the new pieces flagged like this one.
Initial counts: 151 links, 7,009 words.
Updated: 171 links, 7,780 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
[02-12]
Day 129: Israel bombards Rafah, killing more than 60 in a night:
"67 Palestinians, including babies and children, were killed Sunday
night as Israel intensified bombing in Rafah, where over 1 million
Palestinians are sheltering, in preparation for a ground invasion
that experts warn would amount to genocide."
[02-13]
Day 130: U.S. Senate votes to send additional $14 billion to Israel
as catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah appears imminent: "As
Palestinians prepare for a catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah,
the U.S. Senate votes to send an additional $14 billion to Israel.
Amnesty International warns Palestinians in southern Gaza are "facing
the real and imminent risk of genocide."
[02-14]
Day 131: Israeli snipers force dozens to evacuate Nasser Hospital in
Khan Younis, Israel steps up bombing in Lebanon: "As ceasefire
negotiations enter their second day in Cairo, fighting around Nasser
Hospital in Khan Younis is intensifying -- with dozens of Palestinians
who have been sheltering inside forced to evacuate by Israeli sniper
attacks."
[02-15]
Day 132: Israel bombards Nasser hospital, reports of Egypt preparing
'buffer zone' ahead of Gaza expulsion: Israel bombarded Nasser
Medical Complex in Khan Younis, killing and injuring patients and
those sheltering inside. Egyptian human rights group reports
construction underway on detention zone ahead of a possible mass
expulsion from Gaza into Sinai.
[02-16]
Day 133: Israel cuts electricity to critical Nasser Hospital patients,
forces staff to evacuate: Medicins Sans Frontiers reports "an
unknown number of dead and wounded" following Israel's attack on
Nasser Hospital. UNRWA says 84% of Gaza health facilities have been
impacted by Israeli attacks, and 70% of civilian infrastructure has
been damaged.
[02-17]
Day 134: Biden claims to push for temporary ceasefire, as US authorizes
more weapons to Israel: "After several days of reported negotiations,
Hamas says it will not accept anything less than complete ceasefire,
blames Israel for stalling a ceasefire agreement."
[02-18]
Day 135: Israel's war on Gaza's hospitals continues: "Nasser
Hospital, the second-largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip,
was forced closed Sunday following an Israeli siege, storming,
and arrest of medical staff and patients. Meanwhile, Israel also
bombed Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis."
Kyle Anzalone: [02-16]
Israel Military says Hamas will not be defeated in Gaza offensive:
But it will continue, as long as possible, because Hamas is just
systematic of the real target, the Palestinian people. We refer to
what Israel is doing in Gaza as "genocide" because, well, that's
clearly the intent, but even the Nazis left a million or so Jews
alive, and several times more beyond their war zone. Palestinians
will also survive, and will remember, and struggle to return. No
doubt the Israelis fully understand that: Hamas is the Palestine
they most need, because it's the force that justifies perpetual
struggle, and that's what distinguishes and lifts Israelis above
diaspora Jews.
Avishay Artsy: [02-16]
The looming ground assault on the last "safe" zone in Gaza:
Never have scare quotes been more warranted.
Dave DeCamp: [02-15]
Egypt building walled camp in Sinai Desert to absorb Palestinian
refugees from Gaza: Cites report by:
Irfan Galaria: [02-16]
I'm an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn't war -- it
was annihilation.
Tareq S Hajjaj: [02-13]
Rafah on the precipice: "Palestinians in Rafah are dreading
Israel's impending invasion, but there is nothing we can do to
ensure our safety. If the army surrounds us, we have nowhere left
to go. We will be forced to endure the fire and look death in the
face."
Shatha Hanaysha: [02-15]
From the cities to the countryside, armed resistance is spreading in
the West Bank: "Armed resistance in the West Bank had been
concentrated in larger cities, but since October 7 it is spreading.
'Resistance in Azzun used to be non-armed,' a resident of the small
town tells Mondoweiss. 'Then everything changed after October 7.'"
Ellen Ioanes/Nicole Narea: [02-15]
Hospitals are supposed to be safe. Not in Gaza. "Israel's raid on
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yuonis might break international humanitarian
law." Might?
Nicole Narea: [02-12]
Israel's dangerous escalation in Rafah, explained.
Jonathan Ofir: [02-15]
Former Mossad official: Children in Gaza over the age of 4 deserve
to be starved: Interview with Rami Igra.
Meron Rapoport: [02-13]
'Change in Israel will only happen when there are costs that force
our eyes open': "Oct. 7 has 'broken a contract' between the army
and gov't, but has yet to shake key parts of Israeli society into a
different paradigm, says scholar Yagil Levy."
Daisy Schofield: [02-11]
Israel has ramped up attacks on Jenin Camp in the West Bank.
Richard Silverstein:
Brett Wilkins: [02-14]
Israel jails Palestinian human rights lawyer Diala Ayesh without
charge: "How is this not hostage-taking?"
Israel vs. world opinion:
Spencer Ackerman: [02-14]
The children of Gaza were not killed for democracy: "Absolutely
nothing about Israel's U.S.-sponsored genocide has to do with democracy.
Biden needs to stop staining democracy with the blood of children."
AlJazeera: [02-18]
Brazil's Lula compares Israel's war on Gaza with the Holocaust.
Michael Aria: [02-15]
The Shift: AIPAC targets Bush and Bowman: "AIPAC is poised to
spend $100 million this election cycle, as they look to oust the
few House members who criticize Israeli policy."
Ramzy Baroud: [02-16]
The unrepentant West: Germany's Olaf Scholz and the right to commit
genocide in Gaza.
Dave DeCamp:
Eoghan Gilmartin: [02-16]
Why Spain opposed the West's punishment of UNRWA.
Marc Martorell Junyent: [02-18]
Munich dispatch: Gaza "wind blowing against the West": "EU foreign
policy chief Josep Borrell warns the world smells hypocrisy as Israel
readies death blow in Rafah." Well, it's much worse than hypocrisy,
but that tiny concern shows that the public relations disaster is
starting to sink in, even as far as the EU's top security mandarins.
David Kattenburg: [02-13]
Dutch court orders government to stop providing F-35 parts to
Israel.
Daniel Larison: [02-13]
Biden's calls for Israel to mind the laws appear feeble, and
ignored.
Shaul Magid: [02-14]
The forgotten history of American Jewish dissent against Zionism:
"In resurrecting stories of non- and anti-Zionist
critics, a new book shows American Jews how questioning Israel is
deeply rooted in their community." The book is Geoffrey Levin:
Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent
1948-1978. Note: Magid's own book, The Necessity of Exile:
Essays From a Distance, is one of several reviewed here:
By the way, here's a quote from Magid's book:
But what if instead, we began to explore a new ideology of Jewish
self-determination? One that doesn't begin with the proprietary
narrative of Zionism? One that doesn't lay claim to the land of
the Jews at the exclusion of others? What if we separated the
Jewish homeland from the notion of a Jewish state (as Hannah Arendt
suggested in her essay "To Save the Jewish Homeland")? What if the
concept of shared sovereignty was not perceived as Jews giving away
"their" land to Palestinians, but as recognition of the equal
rights of Palestinians to the land -- that is, an acknowledgment
that the right of Palestinian self-determination is equal to the
right of Jewish self-determination, and that the proprietary nature
of the Zionist claim is abolished? What if we did away with the
"Arab Question" altogether since the very notion assumes Jewish
ownership and sovereignty, just as the "Jewish Question" once
implied Jews' second-class status in Europe because of their
resistance to assimilation?
Of course, this hypothetical was never seriously entertained by
the actual Zionists, who plotted to seize power from the outset --
Herzl's book, after all, was titled The Jewish State. Nor
were the Palestinians, at least as long as they held the majority,
inclined toward sharing. (Sure, there were dissenting voices, on
both sides, especially among communists, but they never had real
power.) Sharing power is something all sides can conceivably agree
to. Dominance, on the other hand, can only be seized, and with it
inevitably resisted. Israel remains unwilling to share anything,
only because they haven't been forced to realize that dominance
is unsustainable. After all, they've gotten away with it for 75
years since seizing power in 1948. They realize it takes harsh
measures, and that they risk turning themselves into international
pariahs, but they're getting away with it. Some of them may even
figure that when they are so shunned and shamed they're unable to
sustain their policies of apartheid and genocide, they'll still be
able to settle for equality -- a deal the overwhelming majority of
Palestinians were already hoping for decades ago. But for now, most
repeat the threat that, if given the opportunity, Palestinians would
do unto Israelis as Israelis have done unto them. Whether that line
is just propaganda or paranoia varies from person to person. But we
others should realize that denying Israel license to deny and destroy
Palestinian humanity, by taking the weapons of genocide away, will
do no serious harm to the Israeli people. All that would do is to
prod Israelis to negotiate a more equitable sharing of power, and
with it recognition of everyone's humanity. And if we fail to do so,
we will be cursing Israelis as well as Palestinians to an eternity
of dread and doom.
By the way, looking at Magid's book led me to another similar
but perhaps even more pointed book, by Daniel Boyarin:
The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto. (Not many reviews,
but Jewish Currents published
Two paths for diasporism, and First Things (a right-wing
journal previously unknown to me) went with
Anti-Zionism goes woke.
Jeff Merkley/Dick Durbin/Elizabeth Warren/Chris Van
Hollen/Peter Welch: [02-16]
The US should immediately mobilize 'Operation Gaza Relief':
Five Senators, three of whom just voted to send Israel $14.1B more
ammo and to prohibit the US from giving any funds to UNRWA, the UN's
already-active relief and works agency. Supposedly a direct American
operation would be tolerated by Israel while continuing its systematic
destruction of Gaza. But most certainly it would become an instrument
of Israel's genocidal aims, making the US even more complicit. Until
there is a ceasefire, relief isn't even feasible. By the way, students
of Israeli history will recall that Israel twice agreed to ceasefires
during the 1948-50 war. The reason they did so was that they ran low
on ammo, and the ceasefire bought time to rearm. The only thing that
will cause Israel to slow down its assault is blocking its resupply
of arms and ammunition.
Ed Rampell: [02-11]
Israelism bucks blind faith in Israeli occupation, apartheid
and "the Jewish Disneyland": Reviews a documentary by Erin Axelrod
and Sam Eilertsen.
Mazin Qumsiyeh: [02-18]
Pathetic state of our world: Also includes many more links.
Paul Rogers: [02-13]
The US could stop the horror in Rafah today. Why won't it?
Hamza Ali Shah: [02-16]
Western governments share responsibility for Israel's crimes.
Ishaan Tharoor:
Daniel Warner: [02-16]
If a mother can be found complicit in her son's murders, shouldn't
states be held complicit in a "plausible" genocide?
Philip Weiss: [02-18]
Weekly Briefing: Why any decent person supports a ceasefire, but
not Biden: "Americans are overwhelmingly for ceasefire by 4 to 1,
and Democrats by more than 7 to 1. The reason Biden can't life a finger
in the face of genocide is that he is afraid of alienating the Israel
lobby as a force for his reelection. It's that simple."
America's expansion of Israel's world war:
Trump, and other Republicans:
Jamelle Bouie: [02-16]
Trump owns Dobbs and everything that comes with it. Bouie also,
recently, also wrote: [01-27]
Dobbs overturned much more than Roe v. Wade.
Josh Dawsey/Ashley Parker: [02-16]
Inside Trump's ouster of Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair.
Nia Prater: [02-16]
Trump banned from his company, fined $355 million for fraud:
"Plus nearly $100 million in interest." [PS: Some reports stick
with the base figure, while others add the interest in to get to
$454 million.] The ban is for three years.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were also fined, and banned for two
years each.
More on this:
Susan B Glasser: [02-15]
Trump's threat to NATO is the scariest kind of gaffe: It's real.
Not really. Trump neither understand what NATO was designed to do --
to divide Europe with the Russians, while occupying the West on the
cheap simply by controlling their armed forces (while allowing the
UK and France a bit of leeway to fight their colonies), or what it
ultimately became in the post-Soviet period: an arms cartel. Well,
he half-understands the latter part, which he sees as a protection
racket: pay up, or we'll toss you into a revived version of the
Hitler-Stalin Pact. But there's very little chance of him acting
on that. The Deep State, which he has no clue how to deny -- even
if he wanted to, which he probably doesn't -- wouldn't let him.
But the rhetoric plays well to the "America First" yahoos, because
it makes him look tough and superior, not dependent on the expensive
good will of pampered (and mostly useless) allies. Moreover, his
rhetoric makes the liberal Blob types squirm, and it's easy to
blame them for all the recent wars gone bust -- while exempting
the macho hotheads, like himself.
Melvin Goodman: [02-16]
Never forget who Donald Trump really is.
Ed Kilgore: [02-15]
What the polls say today: Does Haley still have a shot in South
Carolina? Nope. The poll average is 64% Trump, 31% Haley.
Nationwide, it's 74% Trump, 19% Haley.
Heather Digby Parton: [02-14]
Lara Trump's takeover of the RNC turns the GOP into a second Trump
Organization.
Andrew Prokop: [02-15]
Trump's big day in court: The Georgia and New York state cases
had hearings. Later on these cases:
Jake Tapper: [02-16]
'Yes Jared, we're still doing this': Tapper reacts to Kushner's
comments about Saudi crown prince: Video here. For more in print:
Michelle L Price: [02-14]
Jared Kushner, former Trump adviser, defends business dealings with
Saudi Arabia. The "business dealings" included accepting a $2B
investment into his hedge fund.
Li Zhou: [02-14]
Republicans' baseless Mayorkas impeachment sets a disturbing
precedent: "It weaponizes the practice in a new way."
More on this:
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Gabriel Debenedetti: [02-17]
Too old? Biden World thinks pundits just don't get Joe: "The
president's friends and aides play media critic amid a political
mess." They're probably right, but it's hard for outsiders to see,
because Biden has never been a very good communicator, and that's
never sunk in deep enough to save his latest gaffes from being
attributed to obvious age. David Ogilvy
advised: "develop your eccentricities while you are young. That
way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga." But if
they hadn't paid attention, that's what they'll think anyway, since
that's the easiest answer. But people who have paid attention often
come to a different appreciation of Biden. I was surprised when, as
Biden was just sewing up the 2020 nomination, to see the "Pod Save
America" guys appear on Colbert and profess not just support for
Biden -- as any practical Democrat would -- but love. I take that
to be the point of Franklin Foer's The Last Politician (on
my nightstand but still unread as, well, I'm pretty upset with him
since he sloppily endorsed Israeli genocide).
Elie Honig: [02-16]
The real Biden documents scandal (it's not the old-man stuff).
Paul Krugman: [02-13]
Why Biden should talk up economic success: I'm pretty skeptical
here. Two big problems: one is that people experience the economy
differently, so it's hard for most people to see how the big stats
affect them personally, and the latter requires more personalized
messaging; the other is that lots of people think the economy does
wonderfully on its own, and that politicians can only muck it up.
They're wrong, but telling people they're stupid or naive is a
rather tough sell. What Biden should be doing is talk about case
examples. He should identify problems, like high prices (drugs is
a good one; gasoline is less good, but still affects people), low
wages (minimums, unions, etc.), rent, debt, pollution, corruption,
fraud, etc. -- the list is practically endless -- and talk about
what he has done, and what he is still trying to do, to help with
these problems. And also point out what businesses, often through
corrupt Republicans, are doing to make these problems even worse.
Every one of these stories should have a point, which is that the
Democrats are trying hard but need more support to help Americans
help themselves, and to keep Republicans from hurting us further.
But just throwing a bunch of numbers up in the air doesn't make
that point, at least in ways most people can understand, even if
you're inclinled to believe Biden, which most people don't. And
isn't that the rub? There are lots of good stories to be told,
but Biden is such an inept communicator that he's never going to
convince people.
Miles Mogulescu: [02-10]
Biden's unqualified aid to Israel could hand Trump the presidency:
I think this is true, even though anyone who knows anything knows
that it was Trump who gave Israelis the idea that Washington would
blindly support any crazy thing right-wing Israelis could dream up,
and that was what increasingly pushed Hamas into the corner they
tried to break out of on Oct. 7. However, Biden didn't so much as
hint at any scruples over Israel, even after raging vengeance turned
into full genocide. At this point, the war in Ukraine is slightly
less of an embarrassment, but also shows the Biden administration's
inability to think their way out of war. As I said last week, if
Biden can't get his wars under control, he's toast.
John Nichols: [02-16]
Michigan just became the first state in 6 decades to scrap an infamous
anti-union law.
Ari Paul: [02-16]
The media is cheering Dems' rightward turn on immigration.
Christian Paz: [02-12]
Yes, Democrats, it's Biden or bust: "Even if voters or the
establishment wanted to, there really isn't a viable process to
replace Biden as the nominee." More "replacement theory":
Paul Rosenberg: This also led me to a couple
of older articles also on tactics.
Dylan Saba: [02-15]
Democrats are helping make the US border look more and more like
Gaza.
Robert J Shapiro: [02-12]
Based on incomes, Americans are a lot better off under Biden than
under Trump.
Norman Solomon: [02-16]
Dodging Biden's moral collapse is no way to defeat Trump.
Paul Starr: [02-15]
It's the working class, stupid: Review of John Judis/Ruy Teixeira:
Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Story of the Party in the
Age of Extremes. I've been thinking about the same problem,
so picked up a copy of the book, but haven't rushed to get into it.
After all, these guys aren't exactly known as geniuses. Their 2002
book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, tried to flip Kevin
Phillips' 1969 book on how demographic trends favored Republicans,
and didn't fare so well -- it's easier to be optimistic than to be
self-critical. Starr lets them off easy, noting that he wrote a
similar essay five years earlier
(An
Emerging Democratic Majority), so it's nice to have that
reference.
Matt Stieb: [02-15]
Biden picks up key Putin endorsement: Eliciting suspicion by
Democrats that he's playing some kind of devious reverse psychology
game, although his explanation ("[Biden] is a more experienced,
predictable person") sounds eminently reasonable. Of course, it
would have been more sensible to just dodge the questions, maybe
even to admit that covert support for Trump in 2016 was a blunder.
In their rush to demonize him -- which Navalny's death once again
sends into overdrive -- people forget that he is the kind of guy,
secure in his own power, that one can do business with, at least
if you approach him with a measure of respect. Unfortunately,
that seems to be a lost art in Washington, supplanted by a cult
of power projection with no concern for doing right.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Blaise Malley: [02-16]
Diplomacy Watch: Putin's ceasefire suggestion turned down.
Zack Beauchamp: [02-13]
The moral and strategic case for arming Ukraine: "Congress should
have approved Ukraine aid yesterday." Deep down, I don't buy either
of these arguments. I'm not dead set against sending arms to Ukraine,
but the focus needs to be on negotiating a ceasefire and a peace that
fairly reflects the needs of the people impacted by the war. Longer
term, it needs to develop peaceful cooperation between Russia, Europe,
and the world, which involves, but is far from limited to, easing the
tensions caused by NATO enlargement. The last year has pretty clearly
shown that the military ambitions of both Russia and Ukraine will not
be met, making further fighting exceptionally pointless.
Connor Echols: [02-16]
New poll: Nearly 70% of Americans want talks to end war in
Ukraine.
Carlotta Gall/Marc Santora/Constant Méheut: [02-17]
Avdiivka, longtime stronghold for Ukraine, falls to Russians.
Keith Gessen: [02-15]
Can Ukraine still win? "As Congress continues to delay aid and
Volodymyr Zelensky replaces his top commander, military experts
debate the possible outcomes." But haven't both sides already lost
more than they could ever have hoped to gain?
Marc Martorell Junyent:
[02-16]
Dispatch from Munich: VP Harris warns against 'isolationism':
"The Biden administration is intent on impressing to the annual
security conference that it is the steward of 'international rules
and norms.'" The term "isolationism" was invented in the 1940s,
and applied retroactively to pretty much every American as far back
as George Washington who was reluctant to send American troops to
far away lands (as John Quincy Adams put it, "to find dragons to
slay"), as if the only alternative to military adventurism was
burying one's head in the sand. That's never been true, yet they
still keep trotting the cliché out, imagining they're making a
point.
[02-17]
Munich Dispatch: After Adiivka, Zelensky insists Russians are
losing: "Meanwhile, the German chancellor joins European heads
in promising more money to Ukraine and NATO."
Rand Paul: [02-15]
Seizing Russian assets: A feel good bill that will absolutely
boomerang: "A Senate measure under consideration would breed
contempt and prolong the war in Ukraine."
Olivia Rosane: [02-19]
With $280 billion in profits, oil giants are 'main winners of the
war in Ukraine'.
Valerie Hopkins/Andrew E Kramer: [02-16]
Aleksei Navalny, Russian opposition leader, dies in prison at 47.
I don't have any real opinions on Navalny, other than that his arrest
and death reflects badly on Russia's political and justice systems,
and therefore on their leader, Vladimir Putin. Like most people with
any degree of knowledge about Russia, I don't have much respect let
alone admiration for Putin. I could easily imagine that, if I were
Russian, I would support whatever opposition seems most promising
against Putin, and that may very well mean Navalny, but not being
Russian, I also realize that it's none of my business, and I take
a certain amount of alarm at how other Americans have come to fawn
over him. I don't think that any nation should interfere in the
internal political affairs of another, and I find it especially
troubling when Americans in official positions do so -- not least
because they tend to be repeat offenders, using America's eminence
as a platform for running the world.
On the other hand, I don't believe that nations should have the
right to torture their own people over political differences. There
should be an international treaty providing a "right to exile" as
an escape valve for individuals who can no longer live freely under
their own government. Whether Navalny would have taken advantage of
such a right isn't obvious: he did return to Russia after being
treated for poisoning in Germany, and he was arrested immediately
on return, so perhaps he expected to be martyred. That doesn't
excuse Russia. If anything, that the story had such a predictable
outcome furthers the indictment.
More on Navalny:
Speaking of prominent political prisoners, there's been
a flurry of articles recently on Julian Assange:
Around the world:
Other stories:
Keith Bradsher: [02-12]
How China built BYD, its Tesla killer.
Tim Fernholz: [02-15]
How the US is preparing to fight -- and win -- a war in space:
"Meet the startup trying to maintain American military dominance in
space." Author previously wrote Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk,
Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race (2018). Few ideas are more
misguided than the notion that anyone can militarily dominate space.
Chalmers Johnson illustrated that much 20 years ago by imagining
the result of some hostile actor launching "a dumptruck full of
gravel" into orbit: it would indiscriminately destroy everyone's
satellites, and everything dependent on them (including a big
chunk of our communications infrastructure, and such common uses
as GPS, as well as the ability to target missiles and drones).
Lydialyle Gibson: [02-12]
We have treatments for opioid addiction that work. So why is the
problem getting worse?
Umair Irfan: [02-14]
Carmakers pumped the brakes on hybrid cars too soon.
Ben Jacobs: [02-13]
The race to replace George Santos, explained: Written before
Tuesday's vote, which gave the seat to Democrat Tom Suozzi, who
was favored in polls by 3-4 points, and won by 8 (54-46).
Sarah Jones: [02-14]
The anti-feminist backlash at the heart of the election.
Eric Levitz: [02-18]
How NIMBYs are helping to turn the public against immigrants:
"(In this house, we believe that high rents fuel nativist backlashes."
Charisma Madarang: [02-13]
Jon Stewart skewers Biden and Trump in scathing 'Daily Show' return:
I watched the opening monologue segment, and must say I didn't laugh
once. It was about how much older Stewart is now than when he retired
from the show 20 years ago, which was when Biden was the same age
Stewart is now. And, yes, Trump's pretty old too. The most annoying
bit was when Stewart, repeatedly, referred to being president as "the
hardest job in the world." That it most certainly is not. As far as
I can tell, it looks like a pretty cushy job, with lots (probably
too many) people constantly at your beck and call, keeping track of
everything and everyone, and preparing for every eventuality. It may
be overscheduled, but Trump showed that doesn't have to be the case,
and Biden doesn't seem to spend a lot of time in public, either. It
may be dauntingly hard to fully comprehend, and the responsibility
that comes with the power may be overwhelming, but Trump, and for
that matter Biden, don't seem to be all that bothered. Maybe we
should have presidents who know and care more, but history doesn't
suggest that it makes much difference. Once they get their staffs
in place, the bus pretty much drives itself. (Or, in Trump's case,
wrecks itself, repeatedly.)
Later on, Stewart brought in his "team of reporters," tending
to all-decisive diners in Michigan -- the sort of comedians who
developed careers out of the old Daily Show, like Samantha
Bee and John Oliver -- and sure, they were pretty funny, albeit in
stereotypical ways (naïve/inept Democrats; vile/evil Republicans).
More on Jon Stewart:
Jeet Heer: [02-16]
Jon Stewart is not the enemy: "You don't defeat Trump by rejecting
comedy." I agree with the subhed, but I'm still waiting for the comedy.
For what it's worth, I think Messrs. Colbert, Myers, and Kimmel have
done great public service over the last eight years in reminding us
how vile, pompous, and utterly ridiculous Trump has always been, and
I thank their audiences for robustly cheering them on. (It's nice to
know you're not alone in thinking that.) Myers even does a pretty good
job of reminding us that all Republicans are basically interchangeable
with Trump, which is a message more people need to realize.
Ciara Moloney: [01-29]
What peace in Northern Ireland teaches us about 'endless' conflicts:
"If the international community can underwrite war, it can also underwrite
peace and justice." Nathan J Robinson linked to this in a
tweet, pace a quote from Isaac Herzog: "You cannot accept a peace
process with neighbors who engage in terrorism."
Kevin Munger: [02-16]
Nobody likes the present situation very much. Unclear where
this is going, but it's something to think about:
I think that the pace of technological change is intolerable,
that it denies humans the dignity of continuity, states the
competence to govern, and social scientists a society about
which to accumulate knowledge.
Dennis Overbye: [02-12]
The Doomsday clock keeps ticking: The threat of nuclear weapons
is real, but the metaphor is bullshit. The clock isn't ticking. It's
just a visual prop, meant to worry people, to convey a sense of panic,
but panic attenuates over time. So if 7 minutes haven't elapsed since
the clock was set 77 years ago, why should we worry now? We clearly
need a different system for risk assessment than the one behind the
doomsday clock. We also need some much better method for communicating
that risk, which is especially difficult, because there are actually
dozens of different risks that have to be represented, each with their
own distinct strategies for risk reduction. I'm not willing to enter
that rabbit hole here, other than to offer a very rough swag that the
odds of any kind of nuclear incident in the next 12 months are in the
1-2% range (which, by the way, I regard as alarmingly high, given the
stakes, but far from likely; my greatest uncertainty has to do with
Ukraine, where there are several serious possible scenarios, but the
avoidance of them in 2023 and the likelihood of continued stalemate
suggests they can continue to be avoided; by the way, I would count
Chernobyl as an above-threshold incident, as it caused more damage,
and more fallout, than a single isolated bomb; it should be understood
that there is a lot more danger in nuclear power than just the doomsday
scenario).
Jared Marcel Pollen: [02-14]
Why billionaires are obsessed with the apocalypse: Review of
Douglas Rushkoff's book,
Surival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires.
Aja Romano: [02-15]
Those evangelical Christian Super Bowl ads -- and the backlash to
them -- explained.
Also:
Brian Rosenwald: [02-14]
The key to understanding the modern GOP? Its hatred of taxes.
Review of Michael J Graetz: The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax
Movement Hijacked America. The reviewer, by the way, had his own
equally plausible idea, in his book:
Talk
Radio's America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That
Took Over the United States.
Becca Rothfeld: [02-15]
The Alternative is just the book economists should read --
and won't: "Journalist Nick Romeo lays out eight examples of
what we gain when we think about morality alongside money." The
book's subtitle: How to Build a Just Economy.
Matt Stieb: [02-13]
The millionaire LimeWire founder behind RFK Jr.: "Mark Gorton has
done his own research on JFK, LBJ, vaccines, and the 2024 election."
Li Zhou:
The New Yorker: [02-17]
Our favorite bookstores in New York City: From the days after
I turned 16, got a driver's license, and dropped out of high school,
up until perhaps as late as 2011 (i.e., when Borders show down),
I spent large parts of my life carousing around bookstores -- at
least two, often more like four times a week. (Since then, I mostly
just
do this.) I fell out
of the habit here in Wichita (which still has Watermark Books, and
a Barnes & Noble), but what really got me was find most of the
bookstores I regularly sought out when visiting New York City had
been turned into banks (Colisseum Books was especially saddening).
So I'm pleased to see this article, and also to note that the only
store listed I've actually been in was the Barnes & Noble. Not
that I'm actually likely to get back there any time soon -- most
of the people I knew there have departed, and I haven't traveled
since the pandemic hit -- but at least one can again entertain the
thought.
Also, some notes found on ex-Twitter (many forwarded by
@tillkan, so please do yourself
a favor and follow her; my comments in brackets):
John Cassidy:
When 2 headlines are worth 10,000 word[s].
[Image
of Wall Street Journal page. Headlines: "Biden Presses Netanyahu to
Accept Plan"; "U.S. Is Preparing to Send Bombs, Other Arms to Israel"]
Tony Karon:
Judge Biden by what he does, not by what he says. Israel can't sustain
its genocidal war without the US munitions Biden keeps sending, while
offering the equivalent of "thoughts and prayers" for the Palestinian
civilians they'll kill [link to:
US to send weapons to Israel amid invasion threat in Gaza's
Rafah]
Nathan J Robinson:
The worst serial killer in history killed nearly 200 children. A
true monster. Unfathomable evil.
So far Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu have killed over 10,000
children. Their evil reaches a whole other level of depravity.
[Commenters belittle the comparison by pointing to the usual list
of political monsters -- Hitler, Stalin, Mao -- without realizing
that they're only adding to the list (which should, by the way,
also include Churchill, Nixon, and GW Bush). Where Netanyahu ranks
on that list is open to debate, but that he is morally equivalent
isn't. As for Biden, he's certainly complicit, a facilitator, but
things he's directly responsible for are relatively minor even if
undeniably real (e.g., strikes against Yemen, Iraq, Syria; general
poisoning of relations with Iran and Russia). I'm less certain
that Stalin and Mao belong, at least the mass starvation their
policies caused: that result was probably not intended, although
both did little to correct their errors once they became obvious.
Churchill's relationship to starvation is more mixed: the Bengal
famine was mostly incompetence and lack of care, much like Stalin
and Mao, but his efforts to starve Germans were coldly considered
and rigorous.]
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Daily Log
Christgau Consumer Guide notes (my grades in brackets, - earlier,
+ after review:
- Aesop Rock: ITS: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers '23) B+ - [B+(***)]
- Dogo du Togo: Dogo du Togo (self-released '22) *** + [B+(*)]
- Jack Harlow: Jackman (Atlantic '23) A- - [B+(*)]
- Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings (1953, Craft '23) A + [B+(***)]
- Millie Jackson: On the Soul Country Side (Kent) A- - [B+(***)]
- James Kahn: By the Risin' of the Sea: Shanties for Our Times (self-released) *** - []
- Jim Kweskin: Never Too Late: Duets With My Friends (StorySound) *** - []
- The Mountain Goats: Jenny From Thebes (Merge '23) B+ - [B+(**)]
- Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note '23) * - [B+(*)]
- Nirvana: Live at the Paramount (Geffen) ** - []
- Okuté: Okuté (Chulo '21) A- - [B+(***)]
- Bill Orcutt: Music for Four Guitars (Palilalia '22) A- - [B+(**)]
- The Paranoid Style: The Paranoid Style Presents: The Interrogator (Bar/None '24) A - [A-]
- Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (Loma Vista '24) B+ - []
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
February archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 51 albums, 2 A-list
Music: Current count 41828 [41777] rated (+51), 23 [21] unrated (+2).
I posted a long
Speaking of Which just before bedtime late Sunday night.
I didn't quite get through my usual rounds, so added some more
stuff today, which in turn pushed this out late, again. Still
unclear how far I'll get Monday night.
Fortunately, I don't have much to say about music this week.
The rated count is down, but I hit up several boxes, including
the big Mingus one I saw little point in but enjoyed anyway,
and yet another iteration of the Massey Hall Quintet/Trio.
Also, another big r&b oldies box, again not ideal but
quite thoroughly enjoyed.
Very little progress to report on EOY lists, websites, book
projects, or anything else. The links, of course, are in the
usual place.
New records reviewed this week:
- Colby Acuff: Western White Pines (2023, Sony Music Nashville): [sp]: B+(***)
- Jim Alfredson: Family Business (2021 [2023], Posi-Tone): [sp]: B+(**)
- Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions (2020-23 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B+(*)
- Alex Anwandter: El Diablo En El Cuerpo (2023, 5 AM): [sp]: B+(**)
- Atmosphere: Talk Talk EP (2023, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: B+(**)
- Bad Bunny: Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Manana (2023, Rimas Entertainment): [sp]: B+(**)
- Barbie: The Album (2023, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(***)
- Berlioz: Jazz Is for Ordinary People (2023, self-released, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
- Jaap Blonk/Damon Smith/Ra Kalam Bob Moses: Rune Kitchen (2022 [2023], Balance Point Acoustics): [sp]: B+(*)
- Brothers Osborne: Brothers Osborne (2023, EMI Nashville): [sp]: B+(*)
- Burial: Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above (2024, XL, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
- Tré Burt: Traffic Fiction (2023, Oh Boy): [sp]: B+(*)
- Willi Carlisle: Critterland (2024, Signature Sounds): [sp]: B+(**)
- Jordan Davis: Bluebird Days (2023, MCA Nashville): [sp]: B+(*)
- John Dierker/Jeff Arnal: Astral Chronology (2022-23 [2023], Mahakala Music, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
- Drake: For All the Dogs (2023, OVO Sound): [sp]: B
- Ana Frango Elétrico: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua (2023, Mr Bongo): [sp]: B+(**)
- Andy Emler MegaOctet: No Rush! (2023, La Buissonne): [bc]: B+(**)
- Ilhan Ersahin/Dave Harrington/Kenny Wollesen: Your Head You Know (2023, Nublu, EP): [bc]: B+(*)
- Peter Erskine and the Jam Music Lab All-Stars: Bernstein in Vienna (2021 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B+(**)
- Greg Foat & Eero Koivistoinen: Feathers (2023, Jazzaggression): [sp]: B+(*)
- Hardy: The Mockingbird & the Crow (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: B+(**)
- Ayumi Ishito: Ayumi Ishito & the Spacemen Vol. 2 (2020 [2023], 577): [os]: B+(*)
- Maria João & Carlos Bica Quartet: Close to You (2019-21 [2023], JACC): [bc]: A-
- Cody Johnson: Leather (2023, Warner Music Nashville): [sp]: B
- Ruston Kelly: The Weakness (2023, Rounder): [sp]: B+(*)
- Knower: Knower Forever (2023, self-released): [sp]: B
- Tony Kofi & Alina Bzhezhinska: Altera Vita (For Pharoah Sanders) (2023, BBE, EP): [sp]: B
- Ella Langley: Excuse the Mess (2023, Sawgood): [sp]: B+(*)
- Metric: Formentera II (2023, Metric Music International): [sp]: B+(***)
- Mokoomba: Tusona: Tracings in the Sand (2023, Out Here): [sp]: B+(**)
- Nickel Creek: Celebrants (2023, Thirty Tigers): [sp]: B-
- Old Crow Medicine Show: Jubilee (2023, ATO): [sp]: B
- Dave Pietro: The Talisman (2023 [2024], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(**)
- Dougie Poole: The Rainbow Wheel of Death (2023, Wharf Cat): [sp]: B+(*)
- Noah Preminger/Kim Cass: The Dank (2023, Dry Bridge, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
- Nicky Schrire: Nowhere Girl (2023, Anzic): [sp]: B+(*)
- Laura Schuler Quartett: Sueños Paralelos (2021 [2023], Antidrò): [sp]: B+(**)
- Sparks Quartet [Eri Yamamoto/Chad Fowler/William Parker/Steve Hirsh]: Live at Vision Festival XXVI (2022 [2023], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)
- Peter Stampfel/Eli Smith/Walker Shepard: Wildernauts (2024, Don Giovanni): [sp]: B+(**)
- Tani Tabbal Quartet: Intentional (2022 [2023], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(***)
- Truth Cult: Walk the Wheel (2023, Pop Wig): [bc]: B+(*)
- Turnpike Troubadours: A Cat in the Rain (2023, Bossier City): [sp]: B
- Morgan Wallen: One Thing at a Time (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: B+(*)
- Stephen Wilson Jr.: Søn of Dad (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: A-
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Tubby Hayes: No Blues: The Complete Hopbine '65 (1965 [2023], Jazz in Britain): [bc]: B+(***)
- Jeffrey Lewis: Asides & B-Sides (2014-2018) (2014-18 [2023], self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
- Lou Reed: Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007 [2024], Light in the Attic): [sp]: B+(**)
- Taylor Swift: 1989 (Taylor's Verison) (2023, Republic): [sp]: B+(***)
- Barbara Thompson: First Light (1971-72 [2023], Jazz in Britain): [bc]: B
Old music:
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Alon Farber Hagiga With Dave Douglas: The Magician: Live in Jerusalem (Origin) [02-24]
- David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness (Origin) [02-24]
- Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru: Solo/Duo/Trio/Quartet (2004, JMood) [03-01]
- Zach Rich: Solidarity (OA2) [02-23]
Monday, February 12, 2024
Daily Log
Music Week got delayed. I did the cutover more/less on schedule,
but thought I should catch up with some delayed bookkeeping, and it
got the better of me: turns out I hadn't done the indexing not just for
January but also for
December and
November of
2023. Those were
all big months, and I still hadn't finished adding December to the
artist directory when
the clock ran out on Monday. Needless to say, hadn't written any
text by they, either (although I did manage to add a postscript to
Speaking of Which). Prospects for a Tuesday post are pretty
good, which may even include the January indexing.
I noticed
this post to the Expert Witness group on Facebook, from Elizabeth
Nelson Bracy, auteur behind the Paranoid Style, with a new album out,
The Interrogator.
I reviewed it last week, and liked it well
enough to give it an A-, evidently without displaying the enthusiasm
that grade usually denotes. A couple days ago, I heard from a frequent
correspondent, who offered me a
YouTube playlist of their 2013 debut, The Power of Our Proven
System, a five-song EP I noted as unheard in my database. The
letter included this: "I'm into Elizabeth Nelson's work even less
than you are, and certainly less than Christgau and his brood."
I played it three times, but only watched some of the videos --
which were collages of newsreel footage with bits of Nelson looking
pensive and/or quizzical but not singing -- and wrote up a B+(***)
review. So I wrote that just before the Nelson post appeared.
One more bit of background. Christgau's
reviews are very favorable (grades: A-, A, A-, A-, A, A, A). He
hasn't reviewed The Interrogator yet, but that's probably the
only record I got to before seeing his review, so it's unsurprising
that my reviews should trail and reflect his (my grades: ***, A-, ***,
***, A-, ***, ***, A-, A-; the reviews are more likely to note that
the good music isn't that great, and that my slowness as grasping
lyrics preclude analysis of her undoubtedly serious stances). I
could write several more paragraphs here using Nelson as a prism
for exploring where and why Christgau and I diverge (and after 50
years of engagement, I doubt I'm the only one who ever diverges,
although his eight years of seniority seemed like much more at
the start). For now, let me just quote from one of his early
reviews, that pretty much established the theme for everything
since (emphasis added):
Faster and louder, slower and more reflective, better recorded with
a better drummer, this five-song EP is where Elizabeth Nelson fully
vents her contempt for the 60s, structural injustice, the 60s, escapist
liberalism, a charismatic mentor who brainwashed her with reason, the
60s, and the musical style she and her husband mean to be better
at than anybody else in the world except maybe Sleater-Kinney. Her
motto: "Don't think twice, it's all over now." Her self-promo:
"Glam-rock for the end times."
The bold part there is the content, which I don't recall ever
parsing (in the songs, that is, which might add some depth and/or
detail beyond the review), which Christgau clearly admires, and
which I have some doubts about (which 60s? whose 60s? and who was
that mentor? -- Richard Hofstadter? mine was Robert Paul Wolff,
and that makes a big difference). As for the music, don't get me
started on Sleater-Kinney.
Anyhow, the post:
Hey gang,
Long-time member, first-time commenter here.
A lot of you are very nice people and I've enjoyed hearing your
thoughts about music. A few of you are extremely toxic towards me, and
that's enough for me to decide to leave the group. Before I do, I did
just wanna say this:
No individual anywhere is under the remotest obligation to enjoy or
even tolerate the Paranoid Style LP 'The Interrogator' or any of our
other records. I couldn't be more okay with that. However: Weaponized
comments like "I think she's just too smart for me" or "I just don't
want to read a peer reviewed journal to understand a rock song" or
"she talks pretty good, but . . ." are standard issue reactionary dog
whistles. If that isn't clear enough you might need to do some
reflections on yr group chat. It's basically the 2016 Trump campaign
in microcosm.
For those special few: Have I taken screenshots of all of the
ill-considered, misogynistic, potentially career-ending comments
you've written about me? Of course. Will I do anything with them?
Probably not. But trust and believe that I will remember all of the
mean things you've said over the years regardless.
Mostly, I just want to say to Jon LaFollette that I DO think he is
smart enough for the Paranoid Style. As someone who also went to
::checks notes:: Indiana University for grad school -- and I was a
mediocre student!! -- I think he's actually in a uniquely good position
to get my songs. That he doesn't like the material is totally
groovy. That he chooses to dunk on any achievement my band and I have
by pissing in the punch with his snarky slights just bums me out. To
him I say: Respectfully, dude, you don't have to listen to my
music. It's not a mandate. Last I checked, this is America. You can go
and listen to any of the other zillions of albums released in the last
ten seconds. Or pick up your guitar and work on your own alt-rock
choogle. Write a better song than whatever I've put out. Release a
record. Send it to me and I'll happily -- HAPPILY -- review it.
Nelson out.
Nelson gets a fair amount of press from the Expert Witness group,
not just for her group's music but often for her writing. I haven't
read a lot of the latter, partly because it seems like a lot of it
is her catching up on stuff I'm old enough to have lived through, but
mostly because I don't read much on music except for brief scans for
prospecting. But I can remember when I was catching up myself, and
how much I was into serious criticism at the time, so I liked seeing
her on that track.
I don't recall any past hostility to her from the
EW group: most are fans, some big (the new album has been getting
advance hype for 3-6 months now), maybe the occasional reservation
(I don't recall uttering any myself). But evidently what brought
this to a head was a seemingly innocuous
post by Steve Alter, linking to the
Pitchfork review: "The score [7.4] is too low, but the words are
pretty good." What kicked this off was a comment by Jon R. LaFollette:
Am I the only one who doesn't feel nearly smart enough to understand
what the fuck this band is singing about half the time?
That was all I saw in the feed. I didn't recognize it as toxic
at the time, but it did make me wonder whether talking about how
smart Nelson is hasn't become some kind of cliché. Hadn't I just
done that? (My summary line in my EP review: "straitlaced indie
rock with copious smarts, a formula [they] have stuck doggedly
with.") I'm reminded of people at parties who flip off a lot of
names and concepts when they corner you: are they really so smart,
or just being pretentious? I've never had that reaction to Nelson,
but the more the cliché hardens into expectation, the more likely
someone will turn it over.
So I took LaFollette's comment to be a harmless joke. (Four
emojis weighed in: two hearts, two laughing/howling/hard to tell.)
Hardin Smith responded with "I always keep a thesaurus and a big
bottle of Prevagen handy when I listen to their stuff." LaFollette
countered with "I just don't want to read a peer-reviewed journal
in order to understand a rock song, ya know?" I'd score both of
these as dumb (after having to google "Prevagen," so maybe add an
esoteric to that): no one does that, and who even thinks such a
thing? My rule of thumb on lyrics is if you get them, they're a
plus or minus, but if you don't, they didn't matter.
None of this seems toxic, at least until Timothy Bracy -- Nelson's
husband and the principal non-singer in the band -- jumps in with
(directed to LaFollette): "Are you so smart that you got into law
school (vaulting achievement that) or too dumb to grasp a fucking
rock song? Clowntime." Further down, he explains:
With all due respect, Jon has been making the same nasty, belligerent,
not very funny joke about every thing Elizabeth has released for seven
years, and we have sat there and quietly consumed his abuse on the
principle that "what is the point in engaging?" At a certain juncture,
seeing your wife get repeatedly dragged by a mean, spirited anonymous
(to me) individual gets hard to take- try it sometime. I think if you
put yourself in my position you might be able to understand this. Why,
exactly, does this person have license to throw snarky,
personal-seeming elbows without consequences or pushback? Is that your
definition of a healthy critical ecosystem? Having said that, not my
best moment or rhetorical highpoint.
I perhaps should have ended that quote after the first line, but
the rest backtracks a bit, so is fair to include. This elicited a
thoughtful reply from Alter, and a reiteration from Bracy (which I
will excerpt):
However, I think you are underrating the extent to which Jon's ongoing
(and it has been ongoing) critique HAS been of a gratuitous and
particularly personal nature. He obviously hates Elizabeth's music-
which is fine- but he seems also to hate the very idea of the band
even existing, and he's extremely caustic about it.
Adding the following on 02-15, but thematically this belongs here.
LaFollette finally apologized:
I apologize to Elizabeth and Tim for my snarky comments about their
music. I should have just kept my mouth shut as I know how hard the
grind is for bands on the up-and-come. Far from my finest moment and I
take responsibility for it. But to accuse me of dog-whistling for
misogynists everywhere is a step too far. And as for supposedly being
so damn smart, I went to the same school that gave Mike Pence a law
degree. They let anyone in the club.
Joe Lunday, the group admin, also commented:
I second Barrett's comment. I also understand that the Bracys may have
been added by a group member nearly nine years ago, and perhaps
knowing nothing about the group, not considered that it would mean
reading the chatter of people who are discussing your work. To respond
to some of those comments with ad hominem attacks, macho bluster and
empty threats isn't cool. If we're going to sometimes have artists in
the group, they should consider that mobilizing the base in this way
in a gang-up on a group member - based on the most ungenerous reading
of slightly snarky criticism - isn't a fair use of their clout with a
significant number of people in the group.
Given Facebook's "significance" algorithm, Barrett Whitener's
comment appears after Lunday's seconding. Here it is:
As I said earlier, this sucks, and I'm truly sorry Elizabeth, whose
work as a musician and a critic I admire like crazy, was unhappy with
some comments. That said, this is a group where opinionated fans of a
renowned music critic talk about music. Musicians (and certainly
recording artists, and most certainly artists whose work is liable to
come up here) shouldn't be too surprised if some sharp elbows get
thrown sometimes.
I thought I might have had more to say about this, but a two-day-old
Facebook rant suddenly seems like ancient history.
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
It's pretty exhausting trying to wrap this up on Sunday evening,
early enough so I can relax with a bit of TV, a few minutes on the
jigsaw puzzle, a few pages in my current book, and maybe a bit of
computer Mahjong before I run make to get a jump on Monday's Music
Week. After a night's sleep, chances are good that I'll think of
some introductory text, and stumble across a couple stories I
initially missed. If I do, I'll add them and mark them accordingly,
with that red right-margin border.
But if you want a pull quote right now, it's probably this:
But if Biden can't get his wars under control by October, I fear
he's toast -- and will be deserving of the loss, even if no one else
deserves to beat him. After all, the ball is in his court.
Initial counts: 145 links, 5,485 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
[02-05]
Day 122: Endless killings and despair in Gaza: "Biden urges Congress
to 'swiftly pass' a $118bn bipartisan deal that includes $14.1bn in
military aid to Israel after the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its ongoing
attacks on civilians in Gaza."
[02-06]
Day 123: New testimonies emerge of Israel torturing detained
Palestinians in Gaza: "Euro-Med publishes new testimonies of
Palestinian detainees subjected to dog attacks, forced nudity, and
sexual harassment in Israeli jails, as Israeli soldiers continue
posting images and videos of themselves committing atrocities in
Gaza."
[02-07]
Day 124: Hamas proposes 135-day truce to exchange captives and end
war: "Potential ceasefire deal still at discussion stage, as
U.S. President Joe Biden calls Hamas counter-proposal "a little
over the top." Israel continues to bomb Rafah and Khan Younis in
Gaza, as Israeli forces raid the West Bank, killing one teenager."
[02-08]
Day 125: Israel rejects ceasefire proposal, plans to expand ground
invasion into Rafah: "Israel rejected a Hamas proposal for a
ceasefire, which included the return of Israeli captives held in
Gaza, and is preparing instead to expand its ground invasion to
Rafah, where 1.9 million Palestinians are seeking refuge."
[02-09]
Day 126: U.S. claims it won't support 'unplanned' ground operation
in Rafah, Israel escalates attacks anyway: "Even Joe Biden admits
that Israel's conduct in Gaza is "over the top," while the Israeli
army has continued to intensify its attacks following Netanyahu's
rejection of Hamas's most recent ceasefire proposal."
[02-10]
Day 127: Growing international alarm over Israeli plans to invade
Rafah: "Israel has announced its intention to push ahead with
its plans to invade Rafah in the southernmost Gaza Strip, where
1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering. Rafah's mayor, Ahmed
al-Sufi, warns any military action there would result in a
'massacre.'"
[02-11]
Day 128: Israeli snipers kill Palestinians at Nasser Hospital; gear
up for Rafah invasion: "Hamas says an Israeli attack on Rafah
would end any exchange talks for captives. The siege of the Al-Amal
and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis enters its third week, three
patients die due to Israel blocking oxygen tanks from entering."
Richard Hardigan: [02-10]
Polls show broad support in Israel for Gaza's destruction and
starvation: "Nearly 58 percent of respondents in one poll
said they think the IDF is using 'too little firepower' in Gaza."
Maryam Jamshidi: [02-05]
Biden executive order on West Bank violence more likely to be used
against Palestinians than Israeli settlers.
Tarif Khalidi/Mayssoun Sukarieh: [02-04]
Leader of the underground tells all: "Yahya al-Sinwar's autobiographical
quasi-novel Thorns and Carnations shows the Hamas leader has lived
a life focused on faith and an obsessive project to build an infrastructure
of resistance in Gaza."
Middle East Monitor: [02-11]
Israeli soldiers steal over $54m from Gaza bank.
Tamam Mohsen: [01-10]
The Gaza genocide is just an instrument in Israel's larger colonial
project.
Loveday Morris: [02-10]
Young Israelis block aid to Gaza while IDF soldiers stand and
watch.
John Mueller: [02-05]
After a spate of warnings, Israel went down the 9/11 path anyway:
"Overreaction has unleashed a fury that has sucked away sympathy and
likely spawned a new generation of terrorism."
Jeremy Scahill:
Israel's ruthless propaganda campaign to dehumanize Palestinians.
Richard Silverstein: [02-09]
Netanyahu: IDF to expel 1.5 million Gazans in Rafah: "Ground invasion
to start within two weeks." It's hard to imagine how this plan might work,
other than to knock down the walls separating Gaza from Egypt, making it
impossible for Egypt to control the border.
Ishaan Tharoor: [02-09]
Netanyahu's delusional, deadly quest for 'total victory'.
Eric Toler, et al: [02-06]
What Israeli soldiers' videos reveal: cheering destruction and mocking
Gazans: "The footage provides a rare and unsanctioned window into
the war."
Sharon Zhang: [02-09]
As Israel starves Gaza, 1 in 10 children under 5 are now acutely
malnourished.
Oren Ziv: [02-08]
Meet the settlers targeted by Biden's sanctions -- and their victims:
"Palestinians and Israelis who've experienced the settlers' attacks
first-hand see the move as a positive but wholly insufficient step
toward accountability."
Israel vs. world opinion:
Ben Armbruster: [02-08]
Media downplays lack of evidence in UNRWA employee scandal.
More on UNRWA:
Zubayr Alikhan: [02-08]
The unthinkability of slave revolt: "Those who say that Israel knew
about the plans for October 7 all along are repackaging an old colonial
trope which believes that the natives are too docile, too submissive,
too cowardly, and too inferior to revolt against their oppressors."
Donald Earl Collins: [02-11]
Western narcissism and support for genocidal Israel go hand in
hand.
Masha Gessen: [02-07]
The limits of accusing Israel of genocide: "Two recent court cases
failed to stop the mass violence in Gaza, but they gave center stage
to facts and historical interpretations that, in Western countries,
at least, are often relegated to the margins."
Omar Karmi: [02-01]
Gaza genocide turns into PR disaster for US.
Julianne McShane: [02-09]
At Hillary Clinton's panel on sexual violence, a clash over the war
in Gaza: Once again, she's stepping up to aid Israel's propaganda
machine in its genocide promotion.
Mitchell Plitnick: [02-09]
Dehumanization and misinformation in service of genocide: "The
dehumanization of Muslims and Arabs combined with outright misinformation
about October 7 is the engine powering the genocide in Gaza."
Alex Skopic/Nathan J Robinson: [02-07]
Islamophobia will poison this country: "The U.S. media is once again
presenting the vicious dehumanizing caricatures that make it easier to
oppress and wage war on people."
Philip Weiss:
[02-09]
CNN bias toward Israel starts at the top.
[02-11]
Weekly Briefing: Biden buckles (under the weight of 28,000 Palestinian
deaths): I've said all along that the genocide will stop only when
Israeli authorities develops a conscience, or at least a sense of shame.
No evidence of that in Israel, so we're looking at Biden, who thus far
has remained politically subservient, but his complicity in genocide
is taking a toll -- on his polls, if not necessarily on a conscience
that has exhibited much flexibility over fifty-some years. It's hard
to remember the last time any American president cajoled Israel into
doing something its leader didn't want -- maybe GWH Bush dragging
Shamir to the peace table at Madrid in 1991, only to endure endless
haggling over the shape of the table (but enough Israelis took note
of American displeasure to replace Shamir with Rabin, leading to the
Oslo breakthrough). It would take a much clearer break to make any
impression on Netanyahu or his voters, and Biden would need to grow
a backbone as well as a conscience (something Eisenhower showed when
he backed Ben Gurion out of Sinai in 1956-57 -- yeah, it took that
long, even through a presidential election). But "buckled" is a bit
optimistic here. But if Biden can't get his wars under control by
October, I fear he's toast -- and will be deserving of the loss,
even if no one else deserves to beat him. After all, the ball is
in his court.
PS: For an examples of Biden's "buckling," see:
Netanyahu's already assured him there's no problem, but plans will
go ahead. Something else he can buckle for.
William Youmans: [02-08]
The Sunday talk shows on Israel-Gaza: The blob still reigns:
"Unsurprisingly, numbers show how one-sided and detached America's
elite newsmakers really are."
America's expansion of Israel's world war:
Trump, and other Republicans:
Nicole Narea: [02-09]
Nevada's primary and caucuses didn't change the race. They did wreak
avoidable chaos. "Trump won, Haley lost, and Nevada botched its
key role in the GOP primary."
Isaac Arnsdorf: [02-09]
Trump, using false comparisons with Biden, demands dismissal of documents
charges.
Devlin Barrett/Perry Stein: [02-11]
The Trump trials: Double hearings Thursday, awaiting Supreme Court
action.
Jonathan Chait:
EJ Dionne Jr: [02-11]
Let's just say it: The Republican problem is metastasizing.
The long-time columnist is a little slow on the draw, as he
implicitly admits in citing a 2012 op-ed from Thomas E
Mann/Norman J Ornstein:
Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem.
Tom Engelhardt: [02-06]
A Trumpian Bacchanalia in 2024? The long-time editor wrote a
prescient book in 1995 called The End of Victory Culture: Cold
War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation, and went
on to found
TomDispatch and edit a long list of
books chronicling the political, economic, and moral decay of the
American empire. Now, he envisions a sequel:
And if Donald Trump were to be elected, we would also find ourselves
in an almost unimaginable version of -- yes! -- defeat culture (and
maybe that will have to be the title of the book I'll undoubtedly
never write after I turn 80 and am headed downhill myself).
But don't make me go on! Honestly, you know just as well as I do
that, if the man who only wants to "drill, drill, drill" ends up back
in the White House, you can more or less kiss this country (which
already happens to be the biggest oil producer and natural gas
exporter around) and possibly this planet goodbye. And if he doesn't . . .
well, you may have to kiss it goodbye anyway.
And that would be defeat culture, big time.
Garrett Epps: [02-05]
It's not just the border: The Trump-Abbott-Republican nullification
crisis is here.
Naomi Fry: [02-06]
Donald Trump's chaos, straight to your in-box: "Political fund-raising
e-mails are often touched by hysteria, but the former President's are
unique -- wildly remixing favorite phrases into a fevered Surrealist
cut-up."
Margaret Hartmann: [02-08]
Rudy Giuliani's most eye-popping claims from his bankruptcy hearing.
Ed Kilgore: [02-09]
Nikki Haley couldn't even win the Virgin Islands caucus: "Trump
won big and swept the four delegates at stake."
Noel King: [02-09]
What the business community thinks of a Trump economy reboot:
"The economy did well under Trump the first time around." Really?
"Here's why some CEOs are worried about the sequel." Interview
with Economist columnist Henry Tricks.
Paul Krugman: [02-08]
Can America survive a party of saboteurs? But Republicans aren't
just saboteurs. They're extortionists. A big part of their campaign
pitch is: elect us, or we'll make a stink and wreck government at
every opportunity. But electing them doesn't end the sabotage. It
merely shifts it into less public spheres, where they can ultimately
do more damage. They are effectively nihilists, believers in nothing
but their own infallible grasp of power. The only way to survive a
party like that is to starve it of power, including publicity.
Kelly McClure: [02-09]
Trump brags to NRA about lax gun control during his time in
office. Again, see Steve M.: [02-10]
Trump on guns: The ad writes itself.
Bill Scher: [02-08]
Fear of immigrants has broken the Republican Party: "The
Congressional Republican chaos over the border and how it's delaying,
if not sinking, aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is more proof
that the GOP's nativist turn is not the surefire political winner
conservatives think it is." Another foolish defense of Washington
orthodoxy, if you ask me. The nativism may be unpopular among the
capitalists Republicans love to cater to, but it does energize
the Republican base, and the rich are hard-pressed to gain votes
for tax breaks and deregulation elsewhere, so they've developed
a cynical tolerance for right-wing bigotry. Given that Trump has
already rode the issue to the nomination, the "chaos" is nothing
more than a dispute over tactics. On the other hand, anyone who
thinks that support and encouragement for foreign wars is a
"surefire political winner," which seems to be Scher's point,
is a total fool. Republicans smell victory in November because
the Democrats are playing these two issues exactly wrong.
Margaret Sullivan: [01-25]
We must start urgently talking about the dangers of a second Trump
presidency.
Li Zhou:
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Michael Arria: [02-09]
The Shift: Biden and Michigan. The "swing state" is especially
crucial for Biden's reelection. Few broad-spectrum Democrats will
leave Biden for Trump no matter how much they oppose Biden's support
for Netanyuahu's genocide, but many Arab-Americans voted Republican
before Trump's racism drove them away, and they know all too well
how war against Muslims abroad comes home to harass them, so it's
not implausible they could tilt the election. Also:
Brakkton Booker: [02-06]
South Carolina Dems wanted to prove they should be first. The turnout
was underwhelming.
Ross Douthat: [02-10]
The question is not if Biden should step aside. It's how.
Good title, but I have so little respect for the messenger I
almost didn't bother. Sure, his notion that Biden should hold
back and throw the nomination open at the convention, without
endorsing anyone, has some merit. It would deny the rank and
file any real say, but would avoid bruising primaries, and
most importantly the scramble for donors that tends to be so
critical. The nominee might not be the best possible, but not
the worst, either. Still, it smacks of desperation, and few
insiders would be willing to give up easily. I don't see it
happening.
Jill Filipovic: [01-22]
Biden is whiffing it on the most important issue for Democrats:
"He needs to campaign a lot harder on abortion rights -- and how it's
inextricably tied to the threat Trump poses to democracy."
Jonathan Martin: [02-04]
Forget No Labels. Biden's third-party peril is on the Left.
Andrew Prokop: [02-08]
Biden and Trump are both old. Only one got a special counsel memory
test. The special prosecutor's report seems designed to fend off
Republican criticism for not indicting Biden by feeding them political
talking points.
Matt Stieb: [02-08]
Marianne Williamson ends campaign in the most Marianne Williamson
way possible.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [02-04]
Joe Biden's weird perception problem: "For the President and his
campaign staff, the problem is tactical. How can he pull this off?
There is no shortage of advice."
Lots of people have unsolicited advice for the Biden campaign,
which frankly seems to need one, but New Republic came up with a
bundle of them this week -- enough to break out from the news
items above, so let's collect them here.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Delger Erdenesanaa: [02-08]
Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist, wins his defamation suit:
I still don't approve of defamation suits, but anything that knocks Mark
Steyn and National Review down a notch must be counted a win --
the other defendant, Rand Simberg, doesn't ring a bell, but Competitive
Enterprise Institute sounds awful fishy. I'm aware of, but haven't read,
Mann's books, most recently The New Climate War: The Fight to Take
Back Our Planet (2021).
Umair Irfan:
Sarah Kaplan: [02-09]
Why this is one of the planetary shifts scientists are most worried
about: Disruption of the complex AMOC (Atlantic Meridional
Overturning Circulation) system, which circulates water in the
North Atlantic.
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Around the world:
Other stories:
Al Jazeera: [02-02]
Ex-CIA software engineer who leaked to WikiLeaks sentenced to 40
years: "Joshua Schulte had been found guilty of handing over
classified materials in so-called Vault 7 leak.
Nicholson Baker: [01-31]
No, aliens haven't visited the earth: "Why are so many smart people
insisting otherwise?"
Harry Brighouse: [02-05]
What's wrong with free public college? Some reasonable points,
but I'm not much bothered that a right to free higher education
would benefit the middle class more than poorer students. Lots of
worthwhile programs do the same, but we shouldn't, for example,
give up on airline safety just because the beneficiaries skew up.
Elizabeth Dwoskin: [02-10]
How a liberal billionaire became America's leading anti-DEI crusader:
Profile of Bill Ackman. Another rich guy with money to burn, but
how does having donated to Clinton and Obama make him any kind of
liberal?
Nicholas Fandos: [02-10]
What to know about the race to replace George Santos: "The
special House election in New York pits Mazi Pilip, a Republican
county legislator, against Tom Suozzi, a former Democratic
congressman." In other words, the Democrats nominated the most
anodyne white guy possible, while the Republicans calculated
that the best way to advance their racist, sexist, nativist
agenda was by nominating a black female Jewish immigrant from
Ethiopia.
Abdallah Fayyad/Nicole Narea/Andrew Prokop: [02-09]
7 questions about migration and the US-Mexico border, answered.
More border:
Rebecca Gordon: [02-11]
Banning what matters: "Public libraries under MAGA threat."
Joshua Keating: [02-06]
Welcome to the "neomedieval era": "Nations like the US have more
firepower than ever before -- but they also appear weaker than ever.
The upshot is a world that feels out of control."
Clare Malone: [02-10]
Is the media prepared for an extinction-level event? "Ads are
scarce, search and social traffic is dying, and readers are burned
out. The future will require fundamentally rethinking the press's
relationship to its audience."
AW Ohlheiser: [02-08]
What we've learned from 20 years of Facebook.
Nathan J Robinson:
Jeffrey St Clair: [02-09]
Roaming Charges: Comfortably dumb. Harsh on Biden. Quote:
Sen. Chris Murphy on the failed Border/Ukraine/Israel deal:
"They are a disaster right now. How can you trust any Republicans
right now? They told us what to do. We followed their instructions to
the letter. And then they pulled the rug out from under us in 24 hrs."
["They"? You got nothing but embarrassed.]
It's instructive that MAGA has threatened to "destroy" James
Lankford, the rightwing Senator from Oklahoma who wrote a border
closure bill that gave them 99% of what they wanted and Democrats are
lining up behind Biden for endorsing a bill that betrayed everything
he'd ever promised on immigration.
Bryan Walsh: [02-10]
Taylor Swift, the NFL, and two routes to cultural dominance:
My minor acknowledgment of the week's overweening culture story,
not that I have anything to say about it. Cultural dominance isn't
what it used to be LVIII years ago, when the Chiefs I remember
fondly -- Len Dawson, Otis Taylor, Ed Budde, E.J. Holub, Buck
Buchanan -- got butchered by the Green Bay Packers (IV was much
more satisfying), while the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan,
and James Brown were regularly outdoing themselves. These days,
even the largest stars seem much smaller than they did when I
was fifteen, because we now recognize that the world is so much
larger. I haven't watched football since the 1980s (or baseball
since the 1990s), and while I still listen to quite a bit of
popular music, I doubt that any new artist has occupied as much
as 1% of my time since 2000. I've listened to, and clearly like,
Taylor Swift, but I hardly recognize her song titles, and
certainly couldn't rank them (as
Rob Sheffield did, 243 of them). I suppose you could chalk that
up to age, but I'm feeling the least bit nostalgic. I reviewed more
than 1,600 records last year. In 1966, I doubt I heard more than 10 --
supplemented, of course, by KLEO and TV shows like Shindig!
and Hullabaloo,
but the universe I was conscious of extended to at most a couple
hundred artists. Back then, I thought I could master it all. Now
I know I never stood a chance.
I know I promised, but what the hell:
Li Zhou: [02-06]
The Grammys' Beyoncé snubs speak to a deeper problem: Beyoncé
was snubbed? "They're emblematic of how the awards have failed Black
artists." As someone who has never had any expectation of Grammy
ever doing anything right, I find the very notion that anyone could
be so certainly deserving of a win as to be snubbed baffling.
Sorry for doing this to you, but I'm going to quote a Donald Trump
tweet (quoted by
Matthew Yglesias, reposted by Dean Baker, my emphasis added):
2024 is our Final Battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the
Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government,
we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Communists,
Marxists, and Fascists, we will throw off the sick political class
that hates our Country, we will rout the Fake News Media, we will
Drain the Swamp, and we will liberate our country from these tyrants
and villains once and for all!
Yglesias responded: "This stuff is demented but it also serves
to deflect attention from the boring reality that what he's going
to do is cut rich people's taxes, raise prescription drug prices,
let companies dump more shit in the water, etc etc etc." There's
a lot of hyperbole in this pitch, but who can doubts that there
are warmongers in the cururent government, that they are pushing
us into more perilous foreign entanglements, and that Biden isn't
likely to restrain much less break from them. There's good reason
to doubt that Trump can fix this, but if he wants to campaign on
the promise, many people will find slim chance preferable to none.
Moreover, the rest of his pitch is coherent and forceful, and is
likely to resonate with the propaganda pitch much of the media --
and not just the shills at Fox -- have been pushing over the last
decade.
Countering that Trump won't really do this just feeds into the
paranoia over the Deep State -- which, to be sure, thwarted him in
2017, but this time he knows much better what he's up against.
Worse still is arguing that his actual government will be boring,
with a side of petty corruption, just shows you're not listening,
and also suggests that you don't much care what happens. If Trump
did nothing more than check off Yglesias's list, he'd still be a
disaster for most Americans. But at the very minimum, he's going
to do much more than that: he's going to talk, and he's going to
talk a lot, and he's going to bring more people into government
and media who are going to add ever more vicious details to the
mass of hate and pomposity he spews. And even though lots of us
are going to recoil in horror, we'll still have to stuggle to
survive being inundated by it all, all the while suffering the
glee of our tormenters.
Of course, the "Final Battle" and "once and for all" is as over
the top as the Book of Revelation he's taken to heart. But that it
can't happen won't make them any less determined, or dangerous, or
dreadful.
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