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Monday, May 4, 2026

May archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45881 [45850] rated (+31), 14 [10] unrated (-4).

Finally back to Monday for Music Week. I had other stuff in mind when I woke up today, but after realizing how worn down I felt, I figured the minimum I could still do was to bag this and get it off the checklist. Still, it will probably take all day before I finish the post and update the website. I'm so far behind I need to pace myself.

Or so I thought. I ran the cutover on Monday, but then I went to work on a Substack post, and didn't get that up until Tuesday evening. I wanted to note all my recent writing here, so keeping this in sync made sense. Let me explain, from most recent first, working my way back:

1. The Real Road to Serfdom: "Extraction, Resentment, Trump." A brief comment on a section of Tim Wu's book, The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity (pp. 122-124). He lays out five steps or stages, moving from economic concentration (monopoly) to strongman dictatorship (Trump). My first thought was that it's not that linear, and the sequence doesn't necessarily follow, but it makes more sense if you allow overlap and feedback (e.g., democratic failure allows more monopoly and extraction, which adds to the democratic failure). Also, Trump is a close enough strongman to make this sequence historical, and not just theory. This piece is also archived here.

2. Lookback: Iraq 2003: "From day of infamy to one fleeting 'feel good' moment." While thinking about Trump's 2026 war with Iran, I recalled what I had written about Bush's 2003 war with Iraq, and thought it might be worth a revisit. I pulled that post out of my notebook, plus a couple more quotes — earlier, when I first noted the war plans, and later, when Baghdad fell and the Saddam Hussein statue was toppled (an event I designated the "feel good" day of the war; I contrasted that with the longer but still brief period of triumphalism when the major cities of Afghanistan fell in 2001). This piece is also archived here.

3. On May 1, I wrote answers to two reader questions. The first had to do with "what motivates you to write to the extent that you do, for free no less?" I attribute this to two things: one has to do with my upbringing, where I find similar behavior in my siblings, and for that matter in my parents; the other had to do with my economic fortune, which isn't great, but suffices to allow me to do what I do. (I didn't go into the matter of how much potential income I'm sacrificing by not pressing the point. I suppose I can't know for sure, but I seriously doubt I'm giving up on much.)

   The second question is about blues and jazz books. I don't have much to offer, in that my own reading has been pretty stunted since 2001 (although I mention some new books on the shelf). I have, of course, read quite a bit online, but my proper book reading has tended toward my political and philosophical interests, whereas what I read about music is mostly just prospecting.

4. I answered another question on April 29, about "what is it like to live in tornado alley?" More family history there.

5. I can refer you to a Facebook post from April 30, which gives you a glimpse of my current office space. I was inspired to take this after I couldn't find a promo album. Let's see if I can link to the photo:

   

   This post got 43 likes and 12 comments (probably records for me, as the last time I checked, my previous Facebook post had something like 19 views). I'll note that I mostly work on the computer on the right (unseen, under the desk), rather than the newer/more powerful computer on the left (both are home-built Linux boxes). Much more stuff on the floor, unseen this side of the chair. While the shelves have long been like this (and there are many more similar ones in every other room in the house, I do occasionally clear the desks off, and most of what's lying loose on the floor isn't meant to be permanent. Although it is convenient to keep the travel cases out on the left desk, as that's the easiest place to look for a favorite oldie.

6. I published another Substack post back on April 27, called Explaining Inflation. For it, I took a definition from "Explain It Daily" and tried to show how price increases aren't always the result of inflation: sometimes they're plain old-fashioned price gouging, especially when companies have monopoly power. I want to show that calling price gouging "inflation" is not only wrong, it implies that someone/something other than the culprits are responsible for price rises, and it further suggests that the solution for higher prices is to reduce the money supply, which is to say to promote recession. This makes no more sense than bleeding did in 19th century medicine. Come to think of it, the similarities should be unsettling.

I'm trying to write more, and quicker, on Substack. Some of this is just pushing ideas out that I've been developing all along in my journals and places like Loose Tabs. Would be nice to get more subscribers there, although I really treasure the ones I already have. Laura suggested today that instead of holding back all of my Loose Tabs drafts, I should dump them out as I go. (I've recently discovered that Jeffrey St. Clair's Roaming Charges columns are basically compilations of his Facebook posts, as I've started to follow him.) I've set up my Facebook account to allow Followers as well as Friends. Evidently, everyone who's sent me an unrequited Friend request has been dumped into the Followers list, which helps explain why the office mess photo got more circulation. (Maybe that it had a photo helped. Perhaps I need an art director?) My original interest in Facebook was because I wanted to stay in touch with certain friends and relatives, and knew they were more likely to post there than to, like, write or phone. So I've generally ignored requests from casual or virtual acquaintances, and I've done very little promotion of my writing there (for that, follow me on Bluesky (or, less reliably, on X), or just use the RSS. Whether knowing I have more followers makes me more likely to post on Facebook remains to be seen.

Of course, there is also a batch of record reviews below. I will note that before I did this week's unpacking, I had hit the bottom of my demo queue. Or at least the tray was empty: I have two more titles in the pending list that I don't seem to have CDs for. Could be elsewhere on the desk, or in another bin.

While I doubt I'll ever be classified as neat, I do intend to get a bit better organized in coming weeks. I've set up a couple of files in the "pile" for books and CDs I want to get rid of. That's the first step to moving them out. The first book to get the axe was called PostgreSQL Developer's Manual. The book dates from 2002, at which point PostgreSQL had several "advanced" features that MySQL lacked, and was favored for certain website development packages, but I never wound up using it. The first wave will mostly be tech books, as lots of them are clearly expendable. So they'll go into the file, then to the kiosk, then eventually out the door. As space opens on the shelves, I should at least be able to get stuff off the floor. I don't have the "out the door" part figured out yet, but one option is the recycle bin.

I should report that we got the carport railing up last week. We took it down before the roof work, so it's been 4-5 months. I still need to get the mini-split hooked up. Supposedly that will happen this week. I may call the attic work done for the season. While it was pretty cool today, I spent the day on other errands, and writing. Crawling around the attic is getting pretty painful for me, and it's not like I ever do anything up there other than work, so it will be out of sight, out of mind, with only the extra lumber in the garage to remind me of unfinished work.

Good chance I'll hold up next Music Week for a Loose Tabs. I have about 12,000 words in the draft file, which is more than enough to post, even if it's nowhere near complete. I'm not at all clear where the Iran war stands right now, which doesn't necessarily make me less informed than Trump. My idea of writing a piece on what should be a reasonable solution has fallen by the wayside, for lack of reasonable people, in Washington for sure, maybe also in Tehran and elsewhere.

New records reviewed this week:

Atmosphere: Jestures (2025, Rhymesayers Entertainment): Hip-hop duo from Minneapolis, rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and producer ANT (Anthony Davis), debut 1997, many albums, most very good. More consistently interesting than most, runs long (26 songs, 71 minutes) and gets stronger along the way. A- [sp]

MC Paul Barman & Kenny Segal: Antinomian Pandemonium (2026, Fused Arrow): Rapper from New Jersey, debut an EP in 2000 (It's Very Stimulating), only his fifth album, producer has long worked in similar circles. Seems to have slowed down a bit. B+(**) [bc]

Black Nile: Indigo Garden (2026, Hen House Studios): Los Angeles jazz fusion group, principally Aaron Shaw (sax) and Lawrence Shaw (bass), with keys (Luca Mendoza) and drums (Myles Martin), seems to be their fourth album since 2019 (but none on Discogs). B+(**) [bc]

Ryan Blotnick: The Woods (2024 [2026], Fishkill): Guitarist, fourth album since 2007, quartet with Tyler G. Wood (piano/organ), Adam Chilenski (bass), and Otto Hauser (drums). Some nice stuff scattered about here, but more often when it breaks with the sweet guitar than when running with it. B+(**) [dl]

Bobby Broom: Notes of Thanks (2025 [2026], Steele): Guitarist, originally from New York, based in Chicago, has at least 15 albums since 1981, 4 Deep Blue Organ Trio albums, many side credits, including with Dr. John and Sonny Rollins. Trio here, with Dennis Carroll (bass) and Kobie Watkins (drums), playing nine Rollins songs (plus one by Carroll). [Received CD, but unplayable.] B+(*) [sp]

Garret T. Capps: I Still Love San Antone (2026, Nudie): Country singer-songwriter, has several previous albums, including 2021's I Love San Antone, turns up the Tex-Mex when Joe King Carrasco and Augie Meyers drop in, before swinging into Bob Wills. B+(***) [bc]

Jessye DeSilva: Glitter Up the Dark (2024 [2026], Nine Athens): Singer-songwriter from Boston, plays keyboards, several previous albums (one on Discogs), writes songs "about religious alienation, mental health struggles, and societal injustice to create a uniquely queer and unholy ruckus." Some politics, some solid rock guitar. B+(**) [sp]

Richard Gilman-Opalsky: A Fierce and Gentle Force (2025 [2026], Edgetone): Drummer, has a couple albums, following early groups like Jody Crutch, The Judas Iscariot, Countdown to Putsch, and End Times Trio. This one is solo. Caught me in an agreeable mood. B+(***) [cd]

Ize Trio: Global Prayer (2023-25 [2026], self-released): Names, also on the cover: Chase Morrin (piano), Naseem Alatrash (cello), and George Lernis (percussion), plus a "featuring John Patitucci" (bass). Second group album. B+(**) [cd] [06-12]

Paul Kahn: Willingness (2026, Carl Cat, EP): Singer-songwriter, unless I'm confused, has a previous album from 1999, various production credits as far back as 1977. Six rather breezy songs (24:05), produced with backing vocals by Catherine Russell (also pictured on cover), with some reputable jazz musicians helping out. B- [cd] [06-19]

Kehlani: Kehlani (2026, Atlantic): R&B singer-songwriter, fifth studio album since 2017, first couple certified gold. B+(**) [sp]

Ella Langley: Dandelion (2026, Sawgod/Columbia): Country singer-songwriter from Alabama, second album (after an EP), this one keynoted by a hit single, with a Miranda Lambert duet. B+(***) [sp]

Los Thuthanaka: Wak'a (2026, self-released, EP): Bolivian-American electronica/collage duo, originally Elysia and Joshua Crampton, the former aka Chjuquimamani-Condori, had an eponymous album that placed high on some 2025 EOY lists, return here with a 3-track, 18:27 EP. Considerable noise quotient here, one I'm finding hard to take. B [bc]

Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii: Katarahi (2024 [2026], RogueArt): Duets by two of the avant-garde's world class pianists, b. 1957-58, Melford got a start with a 1990 album that Francis Davis rated a pick hit for his brief Village Voice Consumer Guide, Fujii was a student at New England Conservatory in 1994 when she was introduced to Melford by Paul Bley. They have a previous duo album from 2007. I'm not a big fan of solo, let alone duo, piano, but they are astonishing, which by now is just what you expect. A- [cd] [05-15]

Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns: Bitches Blues (2026, Rune Grammofon): Norwegian guitarist, trio with Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Ole Mofjell (drums), group name from a 2023 live album (evidently some slang term for Norwegians). Opens with tough fusion, then relaxes a bit. B+(***) [sp]

The Monochrome Set: Lotus Bridge (2026, Tapete): British group, appeared in the post-punk new wave of 1980, took breaks 1985-90 and 1995-2012, singer Bid Seshadri the only constant member, although Andy Warren (bass) has been around nearly as long, with Athen Aryen (keyboards) and Steve Gilchrist (drums) recent additions. I recall the name but not the sound (I had an LP in my ungraded list). This lacks the edge I associate with the early 1980s, moving it more into Cure-Suede territory. B [sp]

Maisy Owen: Dark on a Sunny Day (2026, Tompkins Square): Folkie singer-songwriter, a Nashville native, plays guitar, viola, bass, and piano, first album, 8 songs, 26:31. B+(*) [sp]

Andreas Røysum Ensemble: With Marvin Tate (2025, Motvind): Norwegian clarinetist, large group (tentet here) has three previous albums, digital was rushed out a week after recording, but LP could qualify as a 2026 new release. Tate is a poet/artist from Chicago, has several albums since 1997, mostly with his D-Settlement group, as well as appearing on albums by Mike Reed and Jaimie Branch. Strong spoken word over delightful music, lost a bit at the end. B+(***) [bc]

Maria Schneider Orchestra: American Crow (2025 [2026], ArtistShare, EP): Big band composer/arranger, a Gil Evans protégé, albums start with Evanescence in 1994, has swept the Jazz Critics Poll three times[*], every album since 2007's Sky Blue. Undoubtedly talented, but I've never warmed to her work — the only occasion where Francis Davis doubted not just my judgment but my sanity. Title piece here was commissioned in 2022 and recorded along with a second piece, totalling 18:37, but here is padded out with an alternate take and some crow vocal samples. [*Her 2015 album was tied for 1st on points, but had fewer votes, which at the time was the tie-breaker; but Davis declared a tie.] B [os]

Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): DJ/producer/sound system operator from Limpopo, in far northeastern South Africa. B+(*) [bc]

Bria Skonberg: Brass (2025 [2026], Cellar Music Group): Trumpet player from Canada, also sings (just the last song), eighth album since 2009, backed by piano (Luther Allison), bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. (2026, Erskine/Columbia): English singer-songwriter, started in boy band One Direction, has by far the biggest solo career of the quintet, fourth chart-topping album. I've never been a fan, but this is fairly agreeable. B+(*) [sp]

Tokischa: Amor & Droga (2026, Warner Latina): Dominican rapper-singer, as a bunch of singles since 2018, seems to be her first album, with ties to rap and reggaeton and who knows what else. B+(***) [sp]

Álvaro Torres Trio: Mairena (2025 [2026], Fresh Sound New Talent): Spanish pianist, based in New York, website has several previous albums, trio with Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Kresten Osgood (drums), but recorded live in his old home town of Madrid. Five originals, plus a Cole Porter cover. B+(**) [cd]

The Twilight Sad: It's the Long Goodbye (2026, Rock Action): Post-punk band from Scotland, some industrial slag combined with shoegaze guitar fuzz, sixth album since 2007, a 7 year break this time. B+(**) [sp]

Steve Wilson: Enduring Sonance (2025 [2026], Smoke Sessions): Saxophonist (alto/soprano, also flute), has a couple dozen albums since 1992, many more side credits, including big bands (notably Maria Schneider). With Joe Locke (vibes), Renee Rosnes (piano/electric), Jay Anderson (bass), and Kendrick Scott (drums), plus french horn on two tracks. B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Terry Callier: At the Earl of Old Town (1967 [2025], Time Traveler, 2CD): Singer-songwriter from Chicago (1945-2012), ranges into soul and jazz but mostly figures as folk. Has something of a cult rep, but Christgau dismissed him as "the black Jim Webb, only warmer — and less talented." Live set here at a Chicago folk club, just singer and guitar, predates his 1968 debut album, and is all cover songs, with "Work Song," "The Seventh Son," "Gallows Pole," "and "My Girl Sloopy" the ones I most readily recognize. Seems like a nice night out with a fairly distinctive interpreter. B+(**) [cd]

Antoine Dougbé: Antoine Dougbé Et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou (1977-82 [2026], Analog Africa): I was initially tempted to file this under the Benin band, which already has a substantial database entry (starting in 1973). Dougbé (1947-96), dubbed the Devil's Prime Minister, released three albums in this brief period. A- [bc]

Roy Hargrove: Bern (2000 [2026], Time Traveler): Big-time trumpet player (1969-2002), has had a couple of stellar archival releases recently. Live set from Switzerland, a quintet with Sherman Irby (alto sax), Larry Willis (piano), Gerald Cannon (bass), and Willie Jones III (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Old music:

Ryan Blotnick: Kush (2016, Songlines): Guitarist, third album, mostly quartet with Michael Blake (tenor/soprano sax), Scott Colberg (bass), and RJ Miller (drums), plus guest pedal steel on one track. Blake is often impressive here, and the guitar fills in expertly. A- [sp]

Terry Callier: The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier (1964 [1968], Prestige): Black singer from Chicago ("childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, Major Lance and Jerry Butler"), learned piano before guitar, started in doo-wop groups, recorded a single for Chess in 1962, moved into folk clubs, had a brief duo with David Crosby. First album, folk/blues covers (mostly trad.), with guitar and bass. Good singer, but not especially interesting music. [The 2018 reissue added a bunch of bonus tracks, but the 2025 remaster dropped them.] B [sp]

The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (1980, Dindisc): British group, made some noise in the early post-punk period, caught my attention but didn't sink in enough to make my early ratings database. Singer-songwriter went as Bid, with Lester Square (lead guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar), and JD Haney (drums). Upbeat stuff has some snap and crunch, but not all that memorable. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Dawn Clement: Dear Ms. Dearie (Origin) [05-22]
• George Cotsirilos: In the Wee Hours (OA2) [05-22]
• Gabriel Espinosa: The Brazilian Project (Origin) [05-22]
• David Janeway Trio: Live at Blue LLama (SteepleChase) [05-04]
• Doug MacDonald: Tribute to South Central (Dmac Music) [06-01]
• Jennifer Madsen: Girl Talk (SingBaby Productions) [06-26]
• Andrew Moorhead: Mirage (OA2) [05-22]
• Sergio Pereira: Colors of Time (Sergio Pereira Music) [05-15]
• Leigh Pilzer: Keep Holding On (Strange Woman) [06-19]
• Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads) [04-10]
• Christopher Sánchez: Latin Jazz Meets Opera (Zoho) [05-08]
• Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: A Blue Time (Circle 9) [04-24]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, April 28, 2025

April archive (done).

Music: Current count 45850 [45803] rated (+47), 10 [20] unrated (-10).

The usual plan is to run Music Week on Mondays (sure, usually very late), regardless of how much or little I've listened to. But sometimes I commit to a different blog post, hoping to get it out before the next Music Week, and I wind up pushing Music Week back. That happened a couple weeks ago, when Loose Tabs ran over to Wednesday, April 15, pushing Music Week back to Thursday, April 16. After that, I figured I'd skip a week, and sync up on Monday, April 27.

I actually wound up considering an April 20 Music Week, but it would have only had 8 albums (mostly multi-CD archival sets. But the moment passed. I had a lot of work to do on the house, and I had the idea of writing a little something on political economics for my Notes on Everyday Life Substack newsletter. While that didn't preclude me from posting on Monday, I spent Monday working on it instead of this. It went out last night, under the title Explaining Inflation. Thus far response has been underwhelming: 1 quick like, 0 comments, 0 new subscribers, $0 (no problem there, since I'm not asking for any). Probably another case of "TL;DR" (3333 words), but also my mass subscription base peaked at 100, and has now slipped back to 99. I'm tempted to declare the venture a big failure, but I like the extra care I've put into the small amount of writing so far, and I recognize a lot of the subscriber names as dear friends, so I expect to slog on.

By the way, everything that goes to Substack also goes into a directory on my website, here.

A big part of my recent writing has focused on the Iran war, which I am of two minds about:

1. This is the dumbest and/or most senselessly cruel thing Trump has ever done, by a pretty large margin, even though most of what he does falls into those categories.

2. No other American politician has done so much to expose the political and moral rot that has long resided in the hearts and minds of most Americans (at least the ones that count in our distorted democracy).

My Iran war pieces are here:

• [03-13]: Days of Infamy: "Franklin Roosevelt knew how to sell a war." Donald Trump doesn't. He only knows how to start one.

• [04-03]: Iran War: The Three Questions: Why is this happening?

• [04-05]: Iran War: The Big Question: How does it end? Or does it end at all?

Since I wrote the last one, little has changed. Sure, the intensity of bombing and reprisals have tailed off under the guide of ceasefires, but Iran's leaders are confident in their ability to persevere in the long run, while Trump and Netanyahu would rather drag this out than admit failure or even misjudgment. I expected to write a fourth piece, one that would focus on what I think should happen. Diplomacy works best when both sides seek to do the right thing: to find compromise which benefits both sides, while dispensing with claims that don't really benefit anyone. Regarding Iran, the most important outcome is that all sides normalize relations, showing recognition and respect for Iran's sovereignty and security. (A respect which Iran should reciprocate, but that's hard to expect as long as Israel lashes out at other countries while repressing its own people. While decent democratic folk could take exception at how Iran treats its own people, Israelis [and Americans] have no standing to do so until they put their own houses in order.)

The new piece on inflation was based on a definition given by Explain It Daily. That definition is fundamentally, and even somewhat comically, wrong, for reasons I try to explain. Let's see if I can reduce my points to a bare minimum:

1. The word "inflation" is being used loosely to describe several different things, notably rising consumer prices and looser money. This allows them to perform a palm trick, where your concern over prices leads to their preferred solution (tighter money).

2. While rising prices can be the result of loose money, in most cases they are decided by greedy businesses based on opportunities based on poor information, weak competition, and exorbitant rents — none of which can be fixed by tighter money.

3. Tight money works by making people too poor to buy things. When that happens, slack demand can be met with lower prices, but that causes hardships for sellers as well as for buyers.

4. There are better solutions for high prices, like competition, rent limits, and lesser profits. Also higher wages and more evenly distributed benefits — which is the solution they really want to keep off the table.

This last point aligns nicely with Mamdani's affordability focus. High prices may always be disappointing, but less so if your wages are rising fast enough to meet them. Inflation is often presented as an absolute horror, but like most things involving money, it is an arena with winners and losers. My feeling is that it's good politics to identify which is which, to temper the winners, and to prop up the losers. And it's better politics to do this in a way that creates many more winners then losers, which is possible because most trade-offs aren't simple zero-sum games.

Inflation became a heated political issue in the 2024 election, ineptly handled by Biden and Harris and their economic advisers, who seemed to be more interested in defending their statistical gains than in listening to the complaints of actual voters. Even now, Democratic-leaning economists are still in denial, coining terms like "vibecession" to dismiss voter concerns as confused. I've been reading Cory Doctorow's Enshittification, which offers a much more apt framing of problems that extend well beyond the notorious tech platforms. I have a couple shelves full of similar (if less colorful) books to draw on, as well as a fairly decent grounding in Marx and his friends and enemies. I also have a fair amount of real world experience ranging from typesetting ads to consulting on market strategies and working with financial wheeler-dealers, so I've seen plenty of what goes into the sausage.

I expect to draw on all that experience for future pieces. Maybe we'll figure out just how Trump has enshittified politics. Simply calling him a fascist demands too much prior knowledge on the subject. This at least gets to the point quickly, and doesn't run the risk of normalizing him.

Some progress worth reporting around the house. It's been cool enough that I was able to do a bit of work in the attic, but turns out very little. Good chance I'm going to leave it as is, although it might not be too hard to frame in the next extension of the planking. At least I have a rough plan for as far as I want to go. But rather than push through on that, I decided to get the railing up on the carport. Because the carport roof has a slight slope, I wanted to build a frame (20 feet long, with two 10-foot sides) with pressure-treated 2x6 lumber, which could be propped up on the outside level. We got that done in a big push on Saturday. Not perfect, but good enough. (Some plastic covers aren't tight, and I have a few screws left. One baluster probably has to be removed. But it's all straight, level, and solidly attached. Also moves a lot of clutter out of the house and garage.

Next step is to get the mini-split hooked up again and recharged. That's a job for the contractor, so my role is mostly to nag. Next week or so I expect to finally get started on organizing tools and hardware, weeding out books and CDs, and recycling clothes and such. I got some more storage drawers for the basement to help on that, plus a lot of plastic baskets to move things around. Jigsaw puzzles may be the single biggest item, especially as they don't have the residual library value of books and CDs. Probably pointless to ask for help here, especially as I have little desire to ship things long-distance.

I've been slow transitioning from the carport to these cleanup projects because the former involved a lot of painful crawling around, and I'm needing a few days to recover. That's a drag, but seems to be life these days. Working on the computer is relatively painless, but I've been plagued by keyboard disconnects and video freeze ups lately. I bought a new video board (Radeon RX550) and a Logitech mechanical keyboard, but only plugged them in a couple days ago. Keyboard is rather noisy, and taking some time to get used to, but I think it will be OK.

No writing to speak of on political book or memoir, and no idea when I might restart. I'm thinking of "Did Something Weird Happen in the 2024 Election?" might be scoped down to a Substack post. At least there I can get my basic thesis out. It's that Americans wanted a revolution, but when they got to the polls the only option they were allowed was Trump, so that's what they got. But when I tried to explain this to a friend, I got a counterargument that Trump was/is the revolution (I don't quite remember how that went). Well, yes, no, maybe, certainly not a very good one. I suppose you can say that he did his reign of terror early, then jumped into Napoleon without much Thermidor. Or we could try to figure out what to call the next higher order of Napoleonic farce. But analogies are supposed to inform, not become games in their own right. Or so I thought.

I grew up in a period when it was still possible to see revolutions as implementors of progress, so it's somewhat discomfiting top watch them go awry. But in retrospect, I see more and more of that, to the point where I'm more likely to see a revolution as a gross failure of ancien regime management as opposed to the emerging will of the people and their drive for equality, freedom, and justice. I don't wish to deny Trump agency, but a lot of what elevated him was the failures of both parties not to oppose him but to do their fucking jobs and run the country in a decent and responsible manner. They couldn't do this, not because they were evil or even stupid, but because they found it expeditious to believe a lot of crap that simply was untrue. (See my inflation post for one prime example. The Iran war pieces at least point to a couple more.) I know I'm tilting at windmills here, but from where I sit, it all seems so perfectly clear.

Still, it's damn hard to write about it, and I'm running out of time and patience. I'm thinking about shifting direction and doing some long-neglected website work. I'm also thinking about running a mid-year jazz critics poll, even though I'm far from ready to commit to the end-of-year poll. These are stopgaps, because I'm not quite ready to do nothing at all. But I seem to be headed in that direction.

Meanwhile, my first short-week's 8 albums have grown to 47 here. No real guiding principles behind what I wound up listening to. Obviously, the [cd] entries were promos, with the archival music collections timed for Record Store Day. The Gil Scott-Heron was a reader suggestion. I get so few of them I'll probably follow up if I can find something to stream. I will say that I played Anthony Joseph shortly after that, and thought it fit the same niche, but with even better music. I have another question pending, on tornados, so I'll try to get to that next week.

New records reviewed this week:

Paulo Almeida: Love in Motion (2025 [2026], Dox): Brazilian drummer, also sings, sixth studio album, with Lorenzzo Vitolo (piano, synths), Josh Schofield (alto/soprano sax), Joan Codina (bass), plus vibes (Jorge Rossy) on one track, vocals (Lisette Spinnler) on another. Nice groove, vocals hit/miss. B+(**) [cd]

Angine De Poitrine: Vol. II (2026, Spectacles Bonzaï): Instrumental rock duo, from Chicoutimi in Quebec (I've been there, and think of it as far enough off the beaten path to be the Duluth of Canada), appear on stage with masks, one playing microtonal guitar, the other drums. B+(***) [sp]

Teller Bank$: Hate Island (2026, $357ENT): Underground rapper from Des Moines, half-dozen self-released albums since 2019, gave his label a name here. Interesting vibe here, but the pleasures aren't unequivocal. B+(**) [sp]

Yaya Bey: Fidelity (2026, Drink Sum Wtr): Neo-soul singer-songwriter from New York, seventh album since 2016. B+(***) [sp]

Julie Campiche [Solo]: Unspoken (2024 [2026], Ronin Rhythm): Swiss harpist, looks like she has several previous albums (but not in Discogs), this one billed as "Solo" (but with sampled voices and electronics, plus bass on 4 of 8 tracks; one track features a Spanish poem by Las Patronas (a group of Mexican women who help migrants to the US) accompanied by drum and shruti. B+(***) [sp]

Dälek: Brilliance of a Falling Moon (2026, Ipecac): Newark-based experimental hip-hop group, principally Will Brooks (MC Dälek), six albums 1998-2010, returned in 2016 with producer Mike Manteca (Mike Mare), fourth album together. Some interesting industrial undertow. B+(***) [sp]

Damana: Rhizome (2023 [2025], Umulius): Octet led by Norwegian drummer Dag Magnus Narvesen, released a good album on Clean Feed in 2016, group with three saxophones, trumpet, trombone, piano, and bass. B+(**) [bc]

Marie-Paule Franke: Through the Cracks, the Light Is Born (2026, MariPosa): Jazz singer-songwriter, born in Germany, raised in Belgium, seems to be her first album, with a "New York-based quartet." First song is a tribute to Joni Mitchell. Cabaret touches, nice saxophone, a closer in French I particularly like. B+(***) [cd] [06-26]

Fuerza Regida: 111xpantia (2025, Rancho Humilde/Street Mob/Sony Music Latin): Described as "an American regional Mexican band formed in San Bernardino," ninth album since 2019, evidently very popular (Spotify credits then with 45 million streams/month). B+(**) [sp]

Barry Greene: Giants (2025 [2026], Origin): Guitarist, recently retired from a long career teaching at the University of North Florida, has several albums, and books and videos on jazz guitar. Half trio with Pat Bianchi (organ) and Ulysses Owens Jr. (drums); half quintet with David Kikoski (piano), Steve Nelson (vibes), Marco anascia (bass), and Owens; with one original and covers mostly from the guitarists who inspired his title (Wes Montgomery, Grant Greene, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Russell Malone). B+(*) [cd]

Jared Hall: Hometown (2023 [2026], Origin): Trumpet player, based in Seattle, has a couple previous albums (including a Rick Margitza tribute), post-hard-bop quintet with Troy Roberts (tenor sax), Ben Markley (piano), bass, and drums. B+(**) [cd]

Phil Haynes/Ben Monder/Peyton Pleninger: Terra (2025 [2026], Corner Store Jazz): Drummer, originally from Oregon, moved to New York, was part of Joint Venture in 1987 (with Ellery Eskelin, Drew Gress, and Paul Smoker) and settled into their nook of the avant-garde, while maintaining his feeling for the "old, weird America" (not sure who coined that phrase, but you probably know what I mean). Trio with guitar and saxophone: Monder is well known, and coming off a duo with Haynes. Pleninger isn't, with just two credits on Discogs (one with Henry Threadgill). Engages gradually, but engages before the final fade. B+(***) [cd] [05-01]

IDK: E.T.D.S. A Mixtape by .IDK. (2026, Rhymesayers Entertainment): Rapper Jason Mills, born in London, parents from Sierra Leone and Ghana, grew up in Maryland, first mixtape in 2014, five albums since 2019, fifth mixtape (some as Jay IDK, I've seen this attributed both ways). Acronym stands for Even the Devil Smiles. Thematically works through a 15-year prison sentence he entered at 17 (3 years actually served). Not gangsta, but hard knocks. B+(***) [sp]

Kathy Ingraham: Jazz Dreams (2026, Peirdon): Singer, half-dozen albums since 2014, wrote two songs here, the rest rock era (roughly 1964-74) standards: "Dream On," "House of the Rising Sun," "Ruby Tuesday," "Eli's Coming," "Stairway to Heaven." Arranged by Pete Levin (piano/strings/bass), features called out for Randy Brecker (flugelhorn), Evan Christopher (clarinet), Elliott Randall (guitar), and William Galison (harmonica). B+(*) [cd]

Anthony Joseph: The Ark (2026, Heavenly Sweetness): Spoken word artist from Trinidad, based in England, honed his craft writing poetry and novels, half-dozen albums since 2013 (per Discogs; Wikipedia goes back to 2007), a striking lyricist but I'm even more impressed with the music. A- [sp]

Kesha: . [Period] (2025, Kesha): Dance-pop singer-songwriter, sixth album since 2010, her debut album a big hit, subsequent records never much impressed me, which may be why I didn't bother with this one. Or maybe the title escaped me, until someone translated . to Period — I've actually been listening to a version with three dots, which Spotify calls . (...), but which is the core album plus some not entirely redundant remixes. Or it just didn't garner the rep (AOTY 64/15), but I'm hearing a solid sequence of singles. A- [sp]

Jason Kruk: Beyond the Veil (2026, SunGoose): Drummer, has at least one previous album, this one leans fusion, with two guitarists (Wayne Krantz, on 2 songs, and Adam Rogers, on 4), Fima Ephron (bass, 6 songs), and "members of Snarky Puppy" — aside from Michael League (bass) and Bob Lanzetti (guitar) I'm not sure how (or why?) they figure that, as the others on the songs with them (5 of 11) are Art Hirahara (piano) and Brian Donohue (tenor sax). B [cd] [05-01]

Joachim Kühn: Joachim Kühn & Young Lions (2025 [2026], ACT Music): German pianist, debut 1967, 81 when he recorded this, with four younger players I don't recognize: Jakob Bänsch (trumpet), Andrés Coll (marimba), Nils Kugelmann (bass), and Sebatian Wolfgruber (drums), playing new (and quite tricky) pieces by Kühn. Some exceptional music, with the trumpet player a major find. A- [sp]

M.I.A.: M.I.7 (2026, Ohmni): Maya Arulpragasam, born in London, parents Tamils from Sri Lanka, moved back there from 6 months, where her father was active in a civil war, before she returned to England at age 11. Seventh album since 2005, from a time when she partnered with Diplo (2003-08), producing a very infectious funk-rap hybrid. Has had a tumultuous life, including a relationship with one of the Bronfman heirs (2008-12), and a set of political pronouncements that are fiercely heterodox, including endorsements of Corbyn and Trump (following RFK Jr., after she had become one of the world's most vocal anti-vaxxers). Parents were Hindu, but she attended a Catholic school in Sri Lanka, and declared herself a born-again Christian in 2017. This album is "structured around the seven Trumpets of Revelation," and is being treated as Christian rock/rap, although the gospel tinges are minor, the beats uniquely her own, and the narration, well, not something I particulary notice (or mind). B+(***) [sp]

Mammal Hands: Circadia (2025 [2026], ACT Music): British jazz trio, half-dozen albums since 2014, with Jordan Smart (sax), Nick Smart (piano), and Rob Turner (drums). Easy listening jazz with hints of more. B+(*) [sp]

Liudas Mockūnas/Samuel Blaser/Marc Ducret: Twisted Summer (2023 [2026], Jersika): Lithuanian avant-saxophonist (soprano/tenor/bass sax, also clarinet), trio with trombone and guitar. B+(**) [sp]

Ashley Monroe: Dear Nashville (2026, Mountainrose Sparrow): Country singer-songwriter, seventh solo album, the first previewed in 2006 but not released until 2009 (and then only digital), but got more notice for four albums in Pistol Annies. Theme is about the many ways Nashville screws you over. B+(*) [sp]

The Outskirts: Orbital (2025 [2026], Aerophonic, 2CD): Trio of Dave Rempis (alto/tenor sax), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), and Frank Rosaly (drums), active in Chicago when the Norwegian bassist live there (2005-08), belatedly released a 2009 live album ("a barely usable rough mix") in 2020, but regrouped here for a couple of live dates in Europe: one in Padova on the first disc (74:41), and one a week earlier in Antwerp on the second (69:45), joined by pianist Marta Warelis. (I filed the old album under Rosaly's name, but Rempis claims all the compositions here.) Rempis is terrific, as usual. Warelis isn't necessary, but a plus. A- [dl]

Praed: Al Wahem (2026, Ruptured/Annihaya): Duo of Raed Yassin (keyboards, electronics, vocals, from Lebanon) and Paed Conca (clarinet, electric bass, electronics, from Switzerland), seventh album since 2008 (plus two albums as Praed Orchestra). B+(**) [sp]

Shalosh: What We Are Made Of (2025 [2026], ACT Music): Israeli piano trio: Gadi Stern (piano), David Michaeli (bass), Matan Assayag (drums). Six previous albums back to 2015. Some nice passages, some a bit overwrought. B [sp]

Jae Skeese & ILL Tone Beats: The Good Part, Vol. 1 (2026, Griselda): Buffalo rapper, busy since 2020, producer also from Buffalo, associated with Black Soprano Family, they did a single together in 2024. B+(**) [sp]

Peter Somuah: Walking Distance (2025 [2026], ACT Music): Trumpet player from Ghana, based in Rotterdam, has a couple previous albums (one called Highlife, which wasn't all that deeply rooted in its namesake music). This one doesn't totally dispense with eclectic exotica, but works as contemporary European postbop, with keyboards (Anton de Bruin), bass (Marijn van de Ven), drums (Jens Meijer), extra percussion (Danny Rombout), and spots of guest cello and flute. Still, this is a very nice example. I'd be curious what big fans of Ambrose Akinmusire make of it, since to my ears they are very similar. B+(***) [sp]

Station Model Violence: Station Model Violence (2026, Anti Fade): Australian post-punk group, first album, Bandcamp page starts by talking about Iggy Pop listening to Neu's "pastoral psychedelicism," which may be what they're aiming for (as opposed to the more obvious Wire gestalt). B+(*) [bc]

Taroug: Chott (2026, Denovali): Tunisian electronic producer, grew up in Germany, second album, some vocal content, some interest, not both at the same time. B+(*) [sp]

Katelyn Tarver: Tell Me How You Really Feel (2026, Nettwerk): Pop singer, from Georgia, probably songwriter, appeared as a teenager on American Juniors (2003), released an album in 2005 (at 16), did a fair amount of TV acting since 2010, third album since 2021, could pass for country but doesn't make a point of it. B+(**) [sp]

They Might Be Giants: The World Is to Dig (2026, Idlewild): Witty guys, John Linnell and John Flansburgh, released an eponymous album (group named after a cult fave movie) in 1986 that was easily my year-topper, but my interest waned fairly quickly after that, long before this 24th studio album. Which only really caught my attention mid-way through with their cover of "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" (written by Eric Carmen for Raspberries in 1974, the single from one of the year's best albums, Starting Over). The next songs registered stronger, which got me to replay the whole thing, paying more attention. It wasn't unrewarded. B+(**) [sp]

Viktoria Tolstoy & Jacob Karlzon: Who We Are (2025 [2026], ACT Music): Swedish jazz singer, adopted the surname of the Russian novelist, a great-great-grandfather. Fifteen albums since 1994. Has a previous (2013) album with the Swedish pianist, who has a similar number of albums since 1997, and who wrote all of the songs here (aside from the Radiohead cover). Choice cut: "Trigger Warning." B+(**) [sp]

Jessie Ware: Superbloom (2026, EMI): British pop singer-songwriter, sixth album since 2012, Barney Lister the most frequent co-writer/producer. Has some disco glitz. B+(*) [sp]

What You May Call It: Da Qi (2024 [2026], MechaBenzaiten): Quartet of Chris Kelsey (soprano/tenor sax, stritch), Rose Tang (guitar, vocals), Steve Holtje (keyboards, trombone), and Charles Downs (drums). Kelsey I recall as a jazz critic who did some records on CIMP that were long in my shopping list but hard to find. Holtje I know as ESP-Disk's publicist. Downs has a long and distinguished discography with Billy Bang, Cecil Taylor, William Parker, Jemeel Moondoc, etc., but mostly as Rashid Bakr. They make for some powerfully interesting music, but Tang's vocals — an acquired taste, quite possibly — disincline me from playing this again. B+(**) [cd] [05-08]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Angine De Poitrine: Vol. 1 (2024 [2026], Spectacles Bonzaï): First album, first self-released in 2024, then picked up by Les Cassettes Magiques, and now reissued by their Vol. II label. Six songs, 32:54. B+(***) [sp]

Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978 [2026], Resonance, 2CD): Tenor saxophonist (1937-2001), made a big impression with Blue Note in the 1960s, and managed to keep going strong through the 1990s. Penguin Guide noted that he always sounds like he's in the middle of a big solo, and there is a lot of that here in sets that span 160 minutes. with Joanne Brackeen (piano), Steve Rodby (bass), and Danny Spencer (drums). Suffers a bit from sprawl, compared to albums like 1985's The State of the Tenor, but the high points are undeniable. A- [cd]

Joe Henderson Quartets: Tetragon (1967-68 [2026], Craft): After five more/less classic albums on Blue Note (1963-66), the tenor saxophonist moved to Milestone for this pair of quartet sessions, with Don Friedman or Kenny Barron (piano), Jack DeJohnette or Louis Hayes (drums), and Ron Carter (bass) on both. A- [sp]

Ahmad Jamal: At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976 [2026], Resonance, 2CD): Pianist (1930-2023), mostly trios starting in 1951, some quite brilliant, including the first disc here, with John Heard (bass) and Frank Gant (drums). Second disc slacks off some. B+(***) [cd]

Yusef Lateef: Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975 [2026], Resonance, 3CD): Tenor saxophonist (1920-2013), also studied and played a lot of flute, especially as his interests moved into African and Middle Eastern musics. Born William Huddleston in Chattanooga, moved to Detroit where his mother remarried, briefly making him Bill Evans, until he converted to Islam and changed his name. Received advanced degrees, and taught in Massachusetts and Nigeria. Quartet here with Kenny Barron (piano), Bob Cunningham (bass), and Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums), runs the gamut, includes some impressive tenor sax and a lot of flute (which I've never much cared for, but is not uninteresting). B+(***) [cd]

Art Pepper: Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (1959 [2026], Omnivore, 4CD): Alto saxophonist, started out in the 1940s with Benny Carter and Stan Kenton, recorded some brilliant albums early but got busted for drugs and other crimes, spending most of 1954-64 in jail, except for a brief stretch from 1956-60, when he recorded his classics (the prime albums are Meets the Rhythm Section and Smack Up, but also look for the later-collected 1956-57 Aladdin sessions). After he got out, he gigged some, but didn't really get going again until his 1975 album Living Legend, followed by years of manic touring and massive recording until he died at 56 in 1982. The late studio work is collected in a 16-CD box set, The Complete Galaxy Recordings, which invites (and rewards) random sampling. Since his death, his third (and last) wife, Laurie Pepper, has been releasing his tapes, mostly from this late period. But this product goes back to the earlier period, with four hours of live sets recorded in Vancouver, with all the tape they could find (including incomplete tunes when tape ran out, ambient noise, chatter, etc.). Quartet with Chris Gage (piano), Tony Clitheroe (bass), and George Ursan (drums), who are proficient but hardly stars. But Pepper is a star, and able to extend his aura indefinitely. A- [sp]

Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa (1987 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): French pianist, short-lived (1962-99), physically stunted but he had an amazing span of the keyboard, trio with Dave Holland (bass) and Eliot Zigmund (drums), left some extraordinary performances, but this isn't quite one. B+(**) [cd]

Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (1969 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): Pathbreaking avant-garde pianist (1929-2018), but a charmed one, who recorded early on for major labels, waltzed easily into DownBeat's Hall of Fame, and shows up here in an archival series that had never before strayed farther out than Mingus. But apparently this European tour packaged him alongside Duke Ellington and a very dismissive Miles Davis (described by Taylor as "pretty good for a millionaire"). His Unit always included Jimmy Lyons (alto sax), usually Andrew Cyrille (drums), and on this occasion Sam Rivers (tenor/soprano sax, flute). Three sets, over two long CDs (70:10 + 71:45), where Taylor works his magic, while the discordant horns wail away, remarkable as long as patience holds. A- [cd]

Old music:

Joe Henderson: The Elements (1973, Milestone): Featuring Alice Coltrane (piano/harp/tamboura/harmonium), with Charlie Haden (bass) and Michael White (violin) also noted on the cover, and various others. Interesting exotica. B+(***) [sp]

Kesha: Gag Order [Live Acoustic EP From Space] (2023, Kemosabe/RCA, EP): Four songs from her 2023 album Gag Order, mostly produced by Rick Rubin. B [sp]

Ashley Monroe: Satisfied (2006 [2009], Sony): Country singer-songwriter, got noticed for the trio Pistol Annies (3 good albums 2011-18, plus the 2021 Hell of a Holiday, which I missed), where Miranda Lambert was an established star, and Angaleena Presley and Monroe were newcomers, on their way to some pretty good solo albums. But this was Monroe's forgotten debut, recorded and teased with a couple singles in 2006, then shelved until 2009, when it appeared digital-only. She co-wrote seven songs, but the covers stand out ("Can't Let Go," a Randy Weeks song via Lucinda Williams, and a duet with Dwight Yoakam). B+(***) [sp]

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson: 1980 (1980, Arista): Politically-engaged poet, spoken word albums from 1971 on paved the way for rap, worked with Jackson's funk grooves for seven albums from 1974, with this the last of the series. Regarded by some at the time as the best of the bunch, I'm finding it a bit dated and quaint. B+(***) [yt]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Richard Gilman-Opalsky: A Fierce and Gentle Force (Edgetone) [03-15]
• Ize Trio: Global Prayer (self-released) [06-12]
• Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii: Katarahi (RogueArt) [05-15]
• John Pachnos: John Pachnos (Avgonyma Music) [05-15]
• Álvaro Torres Trio: Mairena (Fresh Sound New Talent) [05-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

April archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45803 [45771] rated (+32), 20 [29] unrated (-9).

Last week's Music Week dropped a day late, on Tuesday. After that, I figured I should flush out my Loose Tabs draft file before doing another Music Week. The Trump-Netanyahu wars against Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, and random boats in the Caribbean were roiling (as they still are), with maximum cognitive dissonance to try to hack through. I've written three substantial pieces on the Iran War — really the Trump-Netanyahu War, as it's hard to see any national interests being served by actions that are hard to make any sense of except as psychotic. These are:

• [03-13]: Days of Infamy: "Franklin Roosevelt knew how to sell a war." Donald Trump doesn't. He only knows how to start one.

• [04-03]: Iran War: The Three Questions: Why is this happening?

• [04-05]: Iran War: The Big Question: How does it end? Or does it end at all?

The latter provides a framework for trying to figure out how this ends, but as a born-and-bred optimist, my most likely error is in expecting that somehow it has to end, for better or worse. Given the two key political figures, the most likely scenario is that it doesn't end, at least as long as they remain in power, but rather cycles through periods of greater or somewhat diminished violence. The US-Iran "ceasefire" of the moment is an example of how a state of war can be extended on a budget, while Israel's continued siege of Lebanon reminds us that Israel can turn on America as readily as on anyone else.

Compiling Loose Tabs gave me a chance to catch up with what people were saying about the war. (I started to say with what's happening on the ground, but reporting on the actual war and its casualties is exceptionally spotty even by usual standards: there is very little reporting from Iran, while Israel's censor covers up Iranian strikes, and US media usually sticks to what they're told.) Consequently, it's hard to make any predictions based on leverage (losses and other costs). What we can say is that certain extreme outcomes (like collapse of Iran's regime, or of Israel's and America's bombing capability) will not happen. We can also say that Trump and Netanyahu (together but mostly separately) have incoherent and/or fantastical views and goals, so it's hard to see how they can end the war with any sort of plausible victory, or afford to swallow an obvious defeat.

I'm not sure what more to say about it, except to continue my usual harangues on the futility of war, and on how hard it is for the right to see this, given their habitual resort to violence to maintain domestic inequality and hierarchy. Given Trump's threats and dreams of using the armed forces against immigrants (and other Americans), how could anyone think he'd moderate against imaginary threats as feverishly hyped as Iran? He is an extremely violent man, perhaps not personally, but he has practically unlimited forces he can call on to do his dirty work, and he has little if any care or compunction about who gets hurt along the way.

I'm having increasing doubts about the viability of Loose Tabs (as well as its predecessors Speaking of Which and Weekend Roundup). The problem isn't just the amount of work such collation and annotation takes, or the increasingly dire state of the world, but that so many reputable sources are disappearing behind paywalls. I think I hit 5-6 different ones in a row yesterday. Sometimes I go ahead and jot down what I can see, and sometimes that suffices to make some point, but I run into a lot of dead ends, and that is doubly frustrating: an inconvenience for me, but also a grave distortion of the information landscape. My wife is a serious newshound, and subscribes to some things I may or may not piggyback on (but that's becoming even more difficult at places like the New York Times). I grew up poor and cheap, so I'm much more reluctant to indulge. (And when I do, I usually go for books, which seem like more durable investments. I've also bought a lot of music in my day, but not so much recently.)

I don't like to second-guess people on how they choose to make a living, but from a public viewpoint we'd be better off with a free exchange of ideas, which isn't possible in a world cluttered with toll booths. It wouldn't cost much to let anyone who wants to write (or engage in any other creative activity) to do so, with the fruits easily available for all. There's little chance of anything like that happening soon, not least because those in power jealously guard the artificial scarcity of information, especially given their role in fabricating much of it. On the other hand, the prohibitionist impulse, which objects to using tax money for anything one does not personally approve of, is still very much alive. The idea that we'd all be better off if other people were better off is hard to swallow for people who grew up in conditions of scarcity.

At some point, I should factor AI into this question. One potential problem is that as long as information is scarce and profitable, those who have leverage will be tempted to use AI to flood the market, driving less cost-effective intelligence to the sidelines — a result which would be much favored by the AI barons, who we're making incredibly rich on the hunch they will be positioned to extract incredible amounts of profit from the economy.

I'm still sitting on the fence regarding AI. I'm inclined to believe that it can be a very useful tool to help writers like myself who already have a pretty good idea how to think — several pieces in this Loose Tabs lean that way — but I have little idea how to start, or with what. But that I'm behind the learning curve seemed obvious tonight, when I went to the library and noticed a whole section of For Dummies books of various AI platforms: probably not the best place to start, but an indication that a lot of ground has been broken. Some of my needs are pretty simple, like reading my writing for typos and other grammar issues. I could also use something to dive into the old notebooks and summarize what I think about various issue. I could use a keyword generator. I could use research help. I've gotten a fair amount of value already from the AI that's recently been added to Google search. Good chance something better is available. I could also use coding help for website development. I'm a pretty fair programmer, but I don't know Javascript or Python, even tough I have a pretty good idea what one might do with both. But I don't have the energy I once had to throw myself into learning new things like that. (And, as I mentioned, I grew up cheap.)

Nine days in this week, which was barely enough to nudge me over the 30 album line. I had various distractions. Most significantly (for me, anyway), I spent a couple days cooking. I wrote up a bit about the meal(s) on Facebook, including two plate pictures (one for dinner, the other for dessert). A college friend turned me onto Greek cuisine, and that was my first major breakout from my mother's Arkansas soul food. Not sure when I'll get another chance, but it seems to be one of the few things I still feel pretty competent at.

Next week should be more house tasks. The biggest, most obvious thing will be getting the carport railing back up. That's been down since January (or maybe December). I probably won't do a Music Week next week, but will try to sync up again the following Monday (April 27). I'm not working very hard to track new releases, although we have an interesting batch of records this week — including one I hadn't heard of until I backtracked a subscriber to my free Substack — I seem to be stuck at 99 subscribers there, so if you haven't already, please sign up there — or was it Bluesky?

New records reviewed this week:

Juhani Aaltonen + Raoul Björkenheim: Nostalgia (2025 [2026], Eclipse Music): Finnish saxophonist/flautist, made some superb albums in the 1970s, with nothing under his own name between 1982-2000, but recorded much after that, including this album a few months before he turned 90. He plays flute here, in duets with the Finnish guitarist. I'm not much of a flute fan, but in the past he's stood out enough I've voted for him in polls. He's still on top here. B+(***) [sp]

Rodrigo Amado/This Is Our Language Quartet: Wailers (2019 [2026], European Echoes): The Portuguese tenor saxophonist's "American Quartet," with Joe McPhee (tenor sax), Kent Kessler (bass), and Chris Corsano (drums), first appeared on the album This Is Our Language in 2012. Impressive, as always, especially when both saxes crank up. A- [dl]

Atlantic Road Trip: Watch as the Echo Falls (2025 [2026], Calligram): Trio of Chad McCullough (trumpet/synths), Paul Towndrow (alto sax/flute/whistles) and Miro Herak (vibes), sort of chamber jazz. B+(*) [cd]

Mara Calder: We Stay Ugly 'Til the Pretty Decays (2026, Black Metal Archives Label): According to the only www source I can find, "Mara Calder is a 16-year-old musician and street-smart resident of Black City. Known as the girlfriend and creative partner of Kai (Purple C), she possesses the supernatural ability to see the dead, accompanied by her ghost companion Eli. A talented producer and vocalist, she balances high school life with the chaotic urban underground and paranormal encounters." Based on this debut album, I don't believe a word of this (except "talented producer and vocalist"), even before noting that the website seems to be a catalog of AI characters. Label is British, goes by BMAL, motto "Always underground/always antifascist," self-described as "an artist-first collective, operating on a transparent license." First song is "Junkyard Cabaret," built from "detuned piano, upright bass, clanking metal, and found sounds," including dramatic shifts and time changes that us old-timers recall from cabaret (or postmodern opera from Meatloaf to Ethel Cain). Some ballads are just backed by piano, and are nearly as striking as the more hyper stuff. What we used to call a "tour de force." Sample lyric: "If it's crashing, let it burn." A- [sp]

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective: No Wind & No Rain (2026, Calligram): Original songs by Larry Brown Jr. (guitar, some vocals) and John Fournier (tenor sax), with lead vocals by Dee Alexander, and support from Ryan Nyther (trumpet), Amr Fahmy (keyboards), Micah Collier (basses), and Keith Brooks II (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Paul Citro: Keep Moving (Home) (2024-25 [2026], Calligram): Chicago guitarist, first album, quartet with Nick Mazzarella (alto sax/wurlitzer), Matt Ulery (bass), and Quin Kitchner (drums), playin original pieces by Citro. B+(*) [cd] [05-01]

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: Ritual (2025 [2026], Chill Tone): Plays stritch mostly, with spots of soprano/sopranino sax and trumpet. Has several albums since 2018. This one with Hery Paz (tenor sax/flute), Orrin Evans (piano, 4/9 tracks in the middle), Vicente Archer (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Fcukers: Ö (2026, Ninja Tune): New York dance-pop group (duo? trio?), first album (11 songs, 28:57) after a couple of EPs. Lightweight but functional, which may be enough. B+(***) [sp]

Flea: Honora (2026, Nonesuch): Famous bassist, I recognized the pseudonym but couldn't place him (Red Hot Chili Peppers), debut solo album, plays trumpet on what is reportedly aa return to his jazz roots. That's not a parade I particularly want to rain on, but it doesn't particularly work as jazz, even as fusion. Part of this is that his social circle intrudes, and they're even less jazz-oriented than he is. B- [sp]

Sophie Gault: Unhinged (2026, Torrez Music Group): Americana singer, presumably writes some songs, second album, no notes I can find on it but puts one foot firmly in country by opening with a Buck Owens song, then rocks harder than the Nashville norm. B+(**) [sp]

Tomas Janzon: Jazz Diary (2025 [2026], Changes Music): Swedish guitarist, based in New York, half-dozen albums since 1999. Originals, backed by bass (Nedra Wheeler) and drums (Tony Austin or Chuck McPherson). Includes an extra track from 2000, with Wheeler on bass. B+(**) [cd]

Kin'Gongolo Kiniata: Kiniata (2024 [2025], Helico Music): Congolese group, from Kinshasa, first album, handcrafted instruments, in an album that will appeal to fans of Konono No. 1. A- [bc]

Kinact: Kinshasa in Action (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Another Congo band, founded in 2015 by Eddy Ekete, with its own mix of electronics, homemade percussion, and industrial tools. While I find these bands hard to resist, this isn't always as musical as I'd like. B+(**) [bc]

Gurf Morlix: Cobwebs & Stardust (2026, Rootball): Alt-country singer-songwriter, started connected to Blaze Foley and Lucinda Williams, went solo in 2000, has become increasingly prolific. Choice cut: "My Guitar Is a Blues Machine." B+(**) [sp]

Jim Robitaille Trio: Sonic (2026, Whaling City Sound): Guitarist, at least eight albums since 2004, backed by bass (Tom Casale) and drums (Chris Poudrier), eight originals plus covers of Coltrane and Davis. B+(**) [cd]

Ted Rosenthal Trio: The Good Old Days (2024 [2026], TMR Music): Pianist, debut was a trio in 1990, quite a few albums since, including a Maybeck Hall solo and many trios. This is mostly trio, a mix of originals and standards, one session with Martin Wind (bass) and Tim Horner (drums), the other with Noriko Ueda (bass) and Quincy Davis (drums), with two of the latter including "special guest" Ken Peplowski (clarinet), who has since passed. The rags are especially delightful. B+(***) [05-01]

Fie Schouten/Vincent Courtois/Sofia Borges/Pierre Baux: Open Space (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): Clarinets, cello, drums, and spoken voice (in French, which I'm not following very well, but finding interesting). B+(**) [cd]

Paul Silbergleit Trio: The Stillness of July (2024 [2026], Calligram): Guitarist, has a 1996 debut album but not a lot since. Trio with Clay Schaub (bass) and Devin Drobka (drums), playing three originals plus more/less standards from Charlie Parker to Stevie Wonder. B+(**) [cd] [05-01]

Harlan Silverman: Music for Stillness (2026, Intentional): Started off playing guitar for Mayer Hawthorne, member of Cosmic Tones Research Trio, first own album, on which he plays bansuri flute, cello, viola, piano, fender rhodes, aiming for "what might peace sound like?" Modest ambition, not to be scoffed at. Functional, even. B+(***) [bc]

Slayyyter: Wor$t Girl in America (2026, Columbia): Dance-pop singer-songwriter Catherine Slater, from suburban St. Louis, started with a mixtape in 2019, third album. B+(**) [sp]

Sky Smeed: Live at the Rock House (2026, self-released): Folkie singer-songwriter, based in Lawrence, KS (grew up near Chanute, which means something to me, probably not to you), has more than a dozen albums (4 on Discogs, as far back as 2004). A dozen songs, some attempts at audience participation, plus two "radio edits" (good to be prepared). A- [sp]

Alister Spence: Always Ever (2025 [2026], Alister Spence Music): Australian pianist, dozen or so albums since 2011, including a couple of duos with Satoko Fujii. Solo. Keeps it interesting. B+(**) [cd] [04-24]

Tanya Tagaq: Saputjiji (2026, Six Shooter): Canadian Inuk throat singer, seventh studio album since 2005. Played it last night and got nothing out of it, but noticed the first song was called "Fuck War," and heard if through the post-industrial din, followed by a spoken word explaining "we're children, needing nurture, not razorblades." Rest of the album wanders some, with nothing quite grabbing me the same way, but the bleak, disturbing chill comes off as its own virtue. A- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Born in the City of Tanta: Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi From Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75 (1968-75 [2025], Sublime Frequencies): Seattle label has been scraping together world music obscurities for at least 20 years, including a very wide swath of Asia as well as all of Africa and the deeper recesses of the Amazon (and one I haven't heard called West Virginia Snake Handler Revival). Some striking tracks here, less groove than later raï or dabke but no less remarkable. Hedged a bit because it's not all public. [4/8 tracks] B+(***) [bc]

Bill Evans: At the BBC (1965 [2026], Elemental Music): Piano trio, with Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker, two sets on one CD, runs 70:15, with Humphrey Lyttleton the announcer. Some remarkable passages, but that's not unusual for the dozen or more Evans live shots that have come out recently. B+(***) [cd] [04-18]

Freddie King: Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert (1975 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): Blues guitarist-singer (1934-76), placed three albums on Robert Santelli's list of the best 100 blues albums. Live in France, a little more than a year before he died at 42. B+(**) [cd] [04-18]

Cecil Taylor New Unit: Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016 [2026], Fundacja Słuchaj): Avant-garde pianist (1929-2018), debut 1956, ran a legendary band called the Cecil Taylor Unit in the 1970s with Jimmy Lyons, mostly recorded duos and trios after that, including a monumental showcase in Berlin in 1988. Last recording in my database was a duo with drummer Tony Oxley from 2011, so this New Unit album comes as a surprise. With Harri Sjöström (soprano and sopranino sax), Okkyung Lee (cello), Oxley (electronics), and Jackson Krall (drums), with piano and spoken word by Taylor, in a single 79:23 take (now split into two tracks). The music is remarkable. The words, which appear in the second half, are hard to follow, but have their own musicality. A- [bc]

Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call (2003-10 [2026], ECM): Czech bassist, studied music in Vienna, then got a scholarship to Berklee, emerging in 1970 as a founder of Weather Report, leaving in 1973 to pursue an eclectic solo career. Discography jumps a decade from 1992-2002, resumes with one of his best albums (Universal Syncopations), and continues, but with nothing since 2018. This picks from several sessions, with Michel Portal (clarinets) and Jack DeJohnette (drums) in large print on the cover, and variously the first nine pieces; Esperanza Spalding (voice), Bob Mintzer (bass clarinet), Gary Campbell (soprano/tenor sax), and Gerald Cleaver (drums) in smaller print, plus "members of Czech National Symphony Orchestra" (two extended pieces near the end). B+(*) [sp]

Mal Waldron: Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (1979 [2026], Resonance): A great pianist (1926-2002), came up during the hard bop era, is famous for accompanying Billie Holiday in her last years, but did some of his best work in the 1980s, leading free jazz groups on an Italian label. Transitional trio set here with Steve Rodby (bass) and Wilbur Campbell (drums), joined for the last two tracks by Sonny Stitt (alto sax). A- [cd] [04-18]

Old music:

Dorisburg & Sebastian Mullaert: That Who Remembers (2023, Spazio Disponibile): Swedish electronica producer Alexander Berg, third of three albums since 2016, Mullaert has more albums back to 2011, including a previous live album with Berg. B+(**) [sp]

Ted Rosenthal: Ted Rosenthal at Maybeck [Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Volume Thirty-Eight] (1994 [1995], Concord): Solo piano, part of a series Concord recorded from 1989-95, showcasing a who's who of (mostly) mainstream pianists (first volume was Joanne Brackeen, followed by Dave McKenna, Dick Hyman, Walter Norris, Stanley Cowell, Hal Galper, John Hicks, Gerry Wiggins, Marian McPartland, and Kenny Barron). He's relatively young here (35), with just a couple albums, but he's impressive, and touches a lot of bases (two originals, Porter and Gershwin, Dameron and Tristano, Powell and Nichols, Bach and James P. Johnson, "Gone With the Wind"). B+(**) [sp]

Wordsworth: Mirror Music (2004, Halftooth): Early album, savvy words and beats. B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Terry Callier: At the Earl of Old Town (1967, Time Traveler) [04-18]
• Roy Hargrove: Bern (2000, Time Traveler) [04-18]
• Kathy Ingraham: Jazz Dreams (Peirdon) [03-16]
• What You May Call It: Da Qi (MechaBenzaiten) [05-08]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

I'm posting this on April 15, after initially hoping for April 10. The delay has in turn pushed Music Week out, not that I have much to report there anyway. It's been a difficult week or two, but aren't they all these days? I'll probably add more when I do publish Music Week, in a day or two. Hoping to get to some long-procrastinated house work this weekend, with decent weather forecast. Then, I hardly know what. Maybe I'll write about cooking or housework, or the book on manufacturing I've been reading, or the other books I got out from the library on tech business, or maybe another book on the advent of the Third Reich — not that the good deal I already know about that subject has adequately prepared me for the rise of Trump.

I should also point out that I've written several standalone pieces on the Iran war:

• [03-13]: Days of Infamy: "Franklin Roosevelt knew how to sell a war." Donald Trump doesn't. He only knows how to start one.

• [04-03]: Iran War: The Three Questions: Why is this happening?

• [04-05]: Iran War: The Big Question: How does it end? Or does it end at all?

The last of these was written after Trump's April Fools' Day speech, but before his ultimatum threatening the "end of civilization" if Iran didn't surrender, or the "ceasefire" that allowed him to back down a bit (temporarily). My next piece will probably be on what I think a good peace agreement might look like, given a serious effort to find a solution based on "doing the right thing," and not just on which side is the more powerful and/or the most insane.

More on this below, in the still unfolding Iran War section.

This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically (12 times from April-December 2025). My previous one appeared 24 days ago, on March 22.

I have a little-used option of selecting bits of text highlighted with a background color, for emphasis a bit more subtle than bold or ALL CAPS. (I saw this on Medium. I started with their greenish color [#bbdbba] and lightened it a bit [#dbfbda].) I'll try to use it sparingly.

Table of Contents:

• Cuba
• "No Kings"
• Viktor Orbán
• Fascism
• War on Iran
• Israel
• Israel-American-World Relations
• Around the World
• Trump's World War III
• Trump vs. Law
• Trump's Administration
• Trump Himself
• Republicans
• Democrats
• The Economy (and Economists)
• Technology (Including AI)
• Paul Krugman
• Nathan J Robinson and Current Affairs
• Jeffrey St Clair
• Gabrielle Gurley: Ending sports owner blackmail
• Caitlin Dewey: Artemis II
• Books
• Some Notable Deaths
• Tweets

New Stories

Sometimes stuff happens, and it dominates the news/opinion cycle for a few days or possibly several weeks. We might as well lead with it, because it's where attention is most concentrated. But eventually these stories will fold into the broader, more persistent themes of the following section.

Cuba: As I was filing my previous Loose Tabs on March 22, my feed was lighting up with tweets on Cuba, where Trump was tightening the blockade, and people of good will were raising the alarm about its probable human toll. Much like the heady early days of Bush's Iraq War, when you heard quips about how "real men go to Tehran," Trump was already talking up "Cuba next."

• Lee Schlenker [03-13]: ? Vatican quietly steps up role in US-Cuba talks: "The Holy See is hoping to revive its place as a key mediator between Washington and Havana."

• Mauricio Torres/Michael Rios [03-18]: Cuba is going dark under US pressure. How the crisis unfolded and why its troubles are far from over.

• Yumna Rizvi [04-08]: How years of US policy put Cubans on a path to Gitmo: "The controversial military detention center could soon house migrants fleeing from disaster in Cuba."

• Connor Echols [04-09]: Jayapal: US policy is 'strangling' Cuba: "The congresswoman discussed her recent trip to the embattled Caribbean island."

"No Kings": Another round of "No Kings" protests against Trump were scheduled for March 28, expected to draw biggest — and most diverse — anti-Trump crowds ever.

• Michael Arria [03-26]: 'No Kings' protest refusal to address the war on Iran reflects the failure of the US antiwar movement: "The upcoming No Kings protest could be the biggest anti-Trump event ever, but opposing the war on Iran doesn't seem to be on the agenda." Sheesh! The organizers don't have to bullet point it (they may momentarily have balked, worrying about splitting their coalition, or maybe some kind of "rally around the flag" effect, but that didn't happen: people who were already anti-Trump saw through this war instantly, and others are discovering the war as a moment when he showed his true colors). Trump put the war on the agenda. The antiwar signs will come out. The war is already more unpopular than Vietnam was well into Nixon's "silent majority." As for the "antiwar movement," the job is going to be to get the Democratic politicians up to following their constituents and opposing the war in practice.

• Bette Lee [04-03]: 30,000 "pissed off" Americans: A photo essay of the No Kings Protests in Portland.

Viktor Orbán: He founded the right-wing Fidesz party in Hungary, entered Parliament in 1994, and became prime minister from 1998-2002, and again in 2010, this time with enough of a majority he was able to change the constitution to lock in Fidesz power, and he has remained in power until losing this week's election. During his long reign in power, Orbán has become a hero for much of the American right (Tucker Carlson has broadcast from Hungary; Orbán has been opening speaker at CPAC; Steve Bannon referred to him as "Trump before Trump"; Trump and he have endorsed each other multiple times; JD Vance went to Hungary to campaign for Orbán [reminding us that Vance visited Pope Francis just before he died].) Although Orbán lost in a landslide this year, it remains to be seen whether the new government will be able to change the constitution to free the government from Fidesz control. [Later reports show winner Peter Magyar's Tisza party winning 137 of 199 seats in parliament, which would give them the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution.]

• Zack Beauchamp [04-13]: How MAGA's favorite strongman finally lost: "Hungarians ousted Viktor Orbán in an election rigged to favor him. It wasn't easy."

• Molly O'Neal [04-13]: What Viktor Orban's crushing defeat in Hungary really means: "Ascendent leader Peter Magyar is no liberal, and is certainly not pro-Ukraine but tapped into bread and butter issues pressing on the people."

• Harold Meyerson [04-14]: A really bad week for the global right: "And what is it about Christian nationalism that looks to produce kleptocratic regimes?"

Scott Lemieux [04-15]: But it's *competitive* authoritarianism! Notes that one measure of how Orbán rigged Hungary's election process is that opposition leader Peter Magyar hadn't been able to appear on state media for 18 months until he won. Does anyone think that Trump, had he been banned from news media for 18 months before the 2024 election, would still have won? But now right-wingers, who have shown nothing but contempt for democracy, want to spin this loss as a vindication of their faith in the voters.

This kind of apologism, though, does provide a useful illustration of how Republican elites — including less Trump-aligned ones — have become comfortable with their own anti-democratic measures. Democrats could have broken the Wisconsin 2010 gerrymander by getting 70% of the statewide vote, so what's the big deal? Vote suppression measures don't make it impossible for Democrats to win, so why should we be worried about the Supreme Court effectively repealing the Voting Rights Act with a series of decisions that barely even pretend to have a legal basis? This is what John Roberts has believed since he was a DOJ functionary under Reagan, and it's a way in which Trump is more symptom than cause.

Tibor Dessewffy [04-15]: How was Orbán defeated? With energetic campaigning and cunning exploitation of his weaknesses.

Sarah Jones [04-16]: Why Orbán's loss was so devastating to the new right. This notes the cross-breeding between America's "new right" think tanks and Orbán's similar Hungarian/European organizations (which have recruited Americans like "crunchy con" Rod Dreher).

Fascism: This could be a regular feature section, but for everyday purposes we already have sections on Trump and Republicans (and Israel) that catch most of the news. Before the 2024 election, there was considerable debate over whether Trump is really a fascist (or is just play-acting). He settled that question very quickly upon taking office. Before the election, I felt that the similarities were pretty obvious, but that the political charge was largely pointless: those who understood the history of fascism were already opposed to Trump (aside from a tiny faction of proud fascists), while the word was nothing more than a vague expletive for almost everyone else (as was obvious from their efforts to call leftists "fascist"). But now that Trump is on the warpath, both domestically and abroad, there are few (if any) historical analogies other than fascism that come close to helping us understand what he is doing. I have no idea how many articles I will find explaining this, but let's start with a quote from Robert Paxton, author of Anatomy of Fascism, with this definition (from 2004):

Fascism may be defind as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, of victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.

I read Paxton's book long ago, and have long felt that his definition was excessively tailored to separate Hitler and Mussolini from virtually every right-wing killer (e.g., Franco). I tend to agree with the 1930s "premature anti-fascists" who intuitively understood that the fascists are the people who wanted to kill us, regardless of how they rationalized their murderous intentions. But with his Iran War, Trump has managed to tick off literally every box on Paxton's inventory.

Eric Swalwell: Democratic congressman from California, ran for president in 2020, not coming remotely close but at least got a bit of name recognition, which this year he's tried to build on by running for governor. He was leading in the polls, but now has suspended his candidacy, and facing an expulsion vote in the House has announced his plans to resign. The charges have to do with sexual misconduct.

• Benjy Sarlin [04-13]: Eric Swalwell's downfall, explained: "The accusations that forced out the frontrunner in California's governor race — and could push him from Congress next."

Major Threads

War on Iran: While the US has arguably waged war against Iran's Islamic Republic starting with the "Carter Doctrine" in 1979, and Israel has spurred America on at least since the 1990s, the belligerence accelerated after Trump became president in 2017 and terminated the Obama-negotiated JCPOA agreement, daring Iran to build a nuclear deterrent against US and Israeli attacks. This came to a head with the socalled Twelve-Day War of June 13-24, 2025, when Israel and the US bombed sites in Iran believed to be involved in developing materials that could be used to build nuclear warheads. Iran responded by launching missiles at Israel and US bases, hoping to establish a deterrence against further attacks, but measuring their response (as they had done following previous "targeted assassinations" to avoid provoking a broader war). Trump, at Netanyahu's urging, took this response as a sign of weakness, and started plotting another round of attacks, aimed at Iran's missiles, navy, air force, and political leadership. Trump used the period to build up offensive forces in the Persian Gulf, and on Feb. 28 unleashed a massive wave of airstrikes against Iran, starting with the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of the upper echelon of Iran's security state. Within a day, Trump declared himself the winner, and promised to wrap it up in a couple days or weeks. Iran, once again, responded by firing missiles and drones against Israel and US bases, but also by blocking passage through the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off major exports of oil, gas, and petrochemicals (most critically fertilizer) from the region. While Iranian arms development has never deterred Israel and America — it has actually played large in the reasons given for US & Israeli aggression — control over the Strait has finally proven to be real leverage. Of course, sensible leaders would have understood that before testing the hypothesis, and decent leader wouldn't have thought of this war in the first place. Trump is neither. Netanyahu may be more complicated, but that hardly matters.

The following pieces are roughly chronological by date, but events have moved quickly. In particular, there is one section on Trump's April 1 "speech to the nation," where he suggested a willingness to not contest control over the Strait of Hormuz. Then on April 5 (Easter Sunday), Trump issued an ultimatum to open the Strait, otherwise he would order the destruction of Iran's civilian infrastructure:

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be livingin Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

On April 7, Trump reiterated his ultimatum, in even more apocalyptic terms:

A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran.

Then, just before his April 7 deadline, Trump called the attack off and accepted a ceasefire based on Iran's 10-point proposal. I've seen conflicting information about what's in that plan (including some points I can't imagine Iran prevailing on, and others that will be extremely difficult for Trump to swallow — Netanyahu is a different case, because his interests are even more personal-political than Trump's, and even more divorced from Israel's actual needs — but the suggestion that the ceasefire should include Lebanon is clearly not being heeded by Israel. These points, and much more, are reiterated in the stories below.

• Mitchell Plitnick:

  • [03-20]: Anger in the GCC spreads as Iran retaliates over US-Israeli strikes: "These are signs of the growing impatience of Iran's Arab neighbors with Iran's tactic of striking at them in response to Israeli or American attacks. But the anger of the Gulf states isn't only reserved for Iran." I expect this will become an increasingly large and decisive part of the story. Iran wants the US to leave the region, but can't insist on that as long as the GCC states look to Washington for defense. On the other hand, the US isn't a very reliable defense for them, and given Israel quite possibly puts them at greater risk than having no US bases and negotiating separate peace deals with Iran. If/when the GCC states split with Washington, the bases will have to go, and Iran will feel much more secure.

  • [03-26]: The US and Israel's diverging interests will prolong the war, but Iran will determine its outcome: "A month into the Iran war, it is clear that Israel aims to disrupt any possible off-ramp the Trump administration and Iran may be looking for to end the fighting, and that Iran, not the US, is the key actor that will determine how the war ends."

    • Julian E Barnes/Tyler Pager/Eric Schmitt [03-24]: Saudi leader is said to push Trump to continue Iran war in recent calls: "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees a 'historic opportunity' to remake the region, according to people briefed by US officials on the conversations." This doesn't seem to be very reliably sourced, so one suspects that it is meant to plant the idea that it isn't just Israel that is pushing the US to war. (This sort of thing has been a regular occurrence, as we've been regularly assured that the Saudis and other Persian Gulf states are every bit as alarmed by Iran as Israel is. That in turn has been the rationale for US arms sales to the region, which Israel would veto if they didn't buy the argument about Iran.) On the other hand, this makes MBS look like a blathering idiot. I've long felt that he is a deranged megalomaniac, but nowhere near this stupid. The most likely outcomes of the war are a failed state that sows chaos in the region and a retrenched, hardened central regime which will continue to threaten its neighbors (as it, not without reason, feels threatened by them). Given this scenario, what the Saudis and the Gulf states should be doing is attempting to mediate, not to escalate the conflict. If they don't find a peaceful way out, and are viewed as mere tools of Israel and America, they risk not just Iran taking pot shots at their infrastructure but revolt from within their own ranks.

    • Matzav [03-16]: Saudi Arabia denies report claiming Crown Prince urged US to continue war with Iran.

  • [04-03]: Trump has no good options to resolve the disaster he created in Iran: "Trump faces a disaster of his own making in Iran. He had no plan to address Iran's predictable retaliation, including closing the Strait of Hormuz, but even if he did, he faces another problem: Israel, his disastrous choice for a partner in crime."

  • [04-09]: The Iran war will end only when the US finally decides to rein in Israel: "As the shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran holds, only Israel has an incentive to continue fighting, as Netanyahu is widely seen as having lost the war. If there is to be a durable end to this war, the U.S. will be forced to rein in Israel." I think he's right, but that this will be very difficult for Trump, who can't stand the idea that he has to back down on anything, especially with Netanyahu doing everything he can to keep the war going. The only real hope is that someone will get in Trump's ear and convince him that Netanyahu has steered him wrong. If he chooses to use it, I believe that he does have the power to rein in Netanyahu, or simply knock the legs out from under him. (Other Israeli politicians are already lining up to follow Trump into a peace agreement, but that's going to take a signal from Trump.)

• Ali Abunimah [03-21]: The war on Iran is making it stronger. I'm skeptical, not just because I don't know how you measure such things, or whether "stronger" is even a good thing, but the war has allowed Iran to flex muscles that had long been kept dormant, and that's caught some people by surprise who expected them to cower under America's "shock and awe" attack and fold like a house of cards.

• Harrison Mann [03-25]: 3 things Trump needs to do to end the Iran war: While admitting that "Trump couldn't end his war tomorrow, even if he wanted to," Mann's suggests are pretty basic:

  1. Unilateral de-escalation: "stop openly trying to destroy and take over Iran."
  2. Acknowledge Iran's demands: Put them on the agenda, and negotiate over them seriously.
  3. Rein in Netanyahu: If the US cannot control Israel, the US cannot be trusted to negotiate an end to the war (as Israel can, and probably will, open it up again).

  The problem is, it's going to be very hard for Trump to back out of this war without admitting that it was a mistake, especially if he can't blame the mistake on Netanyahu. Similarly, it's going to be hard for Netanyahu to back down without admitting his own colossal error. Moreover, even if he did so, he'd still have to deal with a Palestinian problem he's only made worse, and he doesn't have the political capital within Israel to get beyond that. Mann also wrote:

  • [03-10]: I was a US intelligence analyst. Here's what a ground invasion of Iran could look like: Actually, he only considers three scenarios, none of which have any chance of forcing an Iranian surrender, or even of triggering a regime change:

    1. Commando raid on nuclear sites to secure Iran's uranium: That may seem like a doable limited objective, but the sites are deep within Iran and are likely to be well defended, some known sites are deeply buried which will slow down the operation, and some materials have probably been moved to unknown sites.
    2. Seize Kharg Island to hold Iran's oil exports hostage: This isn't worth much unless you can ship the captured oil out of the Gulf, which right now you can't. You could blow it up to keep Iranian oil off the market longer, but so much of Trump's political flak concerns oil prices that he's letting Iran sell its oil at a premium now, rather than further reducing supply.
    3. Occupy Iran's coast to reopen oil shipping lanes: For this to work, you'd have to occupy all of a very rugged coastline, which Iranian troops can access by land. Moreover, Iran doesn't have to be on the coast to launch missiles and drones into the Strait, or to mine it.

    This doesn't discuss scenarios like Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US had proxy armies they could easily supply, and neighboring countries they could mount a land invasion from. No nation adjacent to Iran would allow the US to stage an invasion force. In any case, Iran is 3-4 times larger than Iraq or Afghanistan, making it much more formidable.

• Joshua Keating

  • [03-26]: Trump says the Iran war is over. So why won't he end it? "It may not be possible to TACO out of this one."

  • [04-01]: Is this the beginning of the end of the war in Iran? "Trump signaled that he's ready to wrap up the conflict, but that may not be up to him." Well, it could be up to him, if he were willing to accept the consequences of his mistakes: he needs to cut Iran a deal which assures them that this war will never break out again; and he needs to restrain Israel. If he doesn't do the latter, he can't make a deal, because Israel can break anything he comes up with. And since he launched the attacks, the price of assurance has only gone up, to a level of concession he's bound to find uncomfortable (perhaps even humiliating).

  • [04-07]: "A whole civilization will die tonight": How Trump is threatening war crimes: "Bombing all of Iran's bridges and power plants would be illegal." Oh, by the way, bombing anything else is also illegal, and immoral, and even if you don't care about those things, just plain stupid politics.

  • [04-07]: From threatening a civilization to ceasefire: What we learned from a wild day in the Iran war: "Trump just pulled a Russian-style policy move — and it's not clear it will deliver what he promised." Russian-style? Keating thinks he's referring to the "escalate to de-escalate" tactic, which Russia has never actually used, and denies even considering. (Unlike, say, Nixon scrambling SAC bombers in a mock attack on the Soviet Union. Nixon called his tactic the Madman Theory. Trump's threat fits that model, even if he didn't plan on "ending civilization" with nukes (a detail he remained ambiguous on, but given the size of Iran and the limits of America's conventional weapons, the only credible threat would have been to use nukes).

  • [04-09]: We have no idea if Iran can still build a bomb: "The central goal of the war is nowhere near a resolution." Interview with Jeffrey Lewis ("a professor at the Middlebury Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies"). This doesn't go into a lot of detail, probably because, as the title says, no one knows. The questions of "why would they build a bomb?" and "why should we care?" aren't raised at all. They should be, because nuclear bombs are useless except as deterrence against attack. Given how stupid the US-Israeli attack has proven to be, we would have been better off if Iran had bombs (assuming that would have deterred us; it turns out that their command of the Strait of Hormuz should have been deterrence enough, although even that shouldn't have been necessary).

• Tom Carson [03-26]: Strange Khargo: Donald Trump's Toy Story War: "This is obviously a cool way to behave that only Presidents get to cosplay in what John Le Carre called the theater of the real." And:

  It's said that feeling nostalgia for Trump's first term is a mug's game, and maybe so. But he did show a marked aversion to getting us entangled in mindless foreign wars. For all its sins, the MAGA base shares this antipathy, and that's why they're so puzzled — if not worse — about what's become of their Donald. But maybe he's just never found a war stupid enough to entrance him until now.

• Jack Hunter

  • [03-27]: Putting boots on the ground could kill Trump's presidency: "Every single poll of Americans, including Republicans, shows a hard line against a land war involving US troops in Iran." Polling is fickle, and it's not unusual for support for a war to increase due to a "rally around the flag" effect as the question is transformed to "do you support our troops?" On the other hand, sustaining that level of support is difficult when you're losing and don't have anything to show for it. And Trump is uniquely polarizing, so much so that many Democrats who might have rallied behind Israel didn't give Trump a moment's credibility.

    1. Iran is too big, and too distant, and too estranged, for the US to mount a successful ground invasion, at least one aimed at occupying the whole country and installing a puppet regime.
    2. Trump will make no effort at nation buiding, so the purpose of a ground invasion will be simply to obliterate and kill more precisely than is possible from the air (cf. Israel in Gaza).
    3. The political (and for that matter economic) costs of a prolonged ground war will be unbearable for Trump personally and for America as a whole.

    Ergo, it's not going to happen. Still doesn't hurt to explain what a bad idea it is, especially given that the dead ender war mongers are sure to bring it up (if only to blame peaceniks for their own failures). I might also add that if Trump's presidency is already doomed, he's unstable enough that he might take that as reason for desperate measures.

  • [04-11]: Mark Levin seems upset we haven't nuked Iran: "The neoconservative talk host tried to normalize the use of nuclear weapons and now appears irate that the president hasn't taken his advice." The right-wing idiot chorus dropping hints for Trump.

• Oliver Holmes, et al. [03-31]: 'Get your own oil': Trump launches tirade against Europe for not joining Iran war.

• Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [04-01]: Trump's April Fools' address to the nation: "Expectations reached a fever pitch Wednesday, but he neither called for an end of the war nor announced a ground invasion. Bottom line: We're not finished." In anticipation of the speech, oil prices dropped and the stock market rose. The speech itself was so full of nothing that financial manipulation may have been its sole purpose. In 19 minutes, Trump laid out the case for going to war, or not going to war; declared victory, while vowing to fight on; gave up on opening the Strait of Hormuz, or expected it to happen magically. For more on the speech:

  • Harold Meyerson [04-02]: 4 questions Trump's Iran war speech didn't answer: "Including 'Why did he start it?' and 'When will he end it?'"

  • Paul Street [04-03]: "Back to the stone ages": Donald Trump's vicious Fools' Day speeches.

  Also by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos:

  • [04-06]: Trump hails rescue of airmen as proof Iran is losing: "Hegseth says Iran is 'humiliated' after Tehran shot down an F-15 and forced the American military engage in operation under fire, losing multiple assets."

  • [04-08]: Grief, anger, disbelief: War proponents lose it over ceasefire: "It's hard to bodyslam the two-week pause with Iran without taking direct shots at the guy who announced it. But they are trying their best."

  • [04-12]: Trump: US to block Hormuz, shooting ourselves & allies in foot: "Washington is clearly trying to process its failure at the negotiating table in Islamabad."

• Timothy Snyder

  • [04-01]: Wars fought for fun cannot be won: "The attack on Iran is wrong in countless ways: morally, legally, politically. But set all of that aside momentarily and stay within the logic of war planning. The war cannot be won because it was the result of a whim, not a plan." Leaving aside whether any war can be won, and his six-point rationalization of the process (do "national interests" even exist, or are they just class interests?), the point about "whim" is well taken, as is his assertion that Trump just enjoys blowing things up (the "two-minute sizzle reels" he is shown daily proves that point). But the "capabilities" goes a bit deeper: the US is doing what it is capable of doing — mostly blowing things up, but also kidnapping Maduro, bribing allies, threatening everyone else, spreading lies — but is anyone asking whether what they can do actually helps to achieve any sensible goals? Not Trump, nor his cronies, nor the rational but narrow-minded specialists tasked with devising weapons and tactics for using them, nor the Clausewitz fanboys who decided that if politics was just war by other means, we could dispose of diplomacy and put all our eggs in the military's basket. But turning this into "fun" takes something else: a lack of concern for other people, and a shallowness of character that amounts to sociopathy.

    This is the pleasure principle. If war feels good, do it. Trump and Hegseth take satisfaction in killing or dominating other people.

    That, however, has nothing to do with a national interest.

    There is no evidence of anything beyond the pleasure principle. With good intentions and bad, commentators seek to force some policy around the whimsy. But it is whimsy all the way down. And a war for fun cannot be won.

    And now that we have started with the pleasure principle, Trump is trapped, at least for a while, like an amateur gambler, in the behaviorist logic of intermittent pleasure and pain. It felt good at first. But then it didn't feel good when Iran didn't surrender, when Iran destroyed US systems, when Iran blocked the Straits of Hormuz. So now we must "double down" (consider how often that gambling jargon appears!) so that Trump can get another hit of pleasure. Each one will be more elusive than the last.

    And he who follows the pleasure principle into war cannot understand the other side. He cannot understand any action that is based upon other grounds than his own. If the other side is not having "fun" (again, Trump's own term) it should surrender. If it does not, this is, according to Trump, "unfair."

  • [04-07]: The president speaks genocide. Deciphering Trump's "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," while maligning various known "bad guys" who never themselves issued such sweeping and nihilistic threats, and not just because unlike Trump they never had to power to make such threats credible.

• Zak Cheney-Rice [04-02]: How to ignore a war: "Trump is hoping confusing timelines and mixed messages of victory will make the conflict fade away."

• David Dayen [04-02]: The opening of Trump's box: "Iran has put a tollgate across the Strait of Hormuz. This fundamentally changes the global economy."

• Stephen Semler [04-02]: The war on Iran is more expensive than you think: "In the first two weeks of its war on Iran, the US spent an estimated $2.1 billion a day. It's no wonder Donald Trump is saying that the cost of war means the federal government can't afford to spend money to help Americans meet their basic needs." It's more expensive than Semler thinks, too.

• Brahma Chellaney [04-03]: Why Iran is beating America: "The 'asymmetric cost' model — a war the US starts will ultimately cost the other side far more — has proven vital to sustain the illusion of American invincibility and to limit domestic political resistance to US military adventurism. Now, Iran has broken it." Explanation follows the paywall. I got a summary from google, and found the full article here, as How Iran is able to beat the US in its war. "Beat" has two meanings: to win, or just to hurt. The former is nonsensical in this context, as (despite common beliefs) both sides stand to lose much and/or gain little. The latter cuts both ways, but the question there isn't which side gets beat the worse, but how much each side can afford to be beaten. There is little doubt that the US can hurt Iran much worse than Iran can hurt the US, but can the US (and its "allies") take it? That may turn out to be the greater asymmetry.

• Jonathan Swan/Maggie Haberman [04-07]: How Trump took the US to war with Iran: "In a series of Situation Room meetings, President Trump weighed his instincts against the deep concerns of his vice president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment. Here's the insure story of how he made the fateful decision." Pretty much as I expected, although the reporters' inside sources are already making sure to register their reservations, which Trump didn't hear or didn't give any credence to (e.g., on Hormuz, uprisings in Iran).

• Andrew Prokop [04-08]: Does Trump really always chicken out? "Iran offers a fresh window into when Trump chickens out — and why his threats matter anyway." The problem with "chicken" is that it's a schoolyard taunt, meant to shame someone who backs away from a fight, or better still to provoke them into fighting. For a guy who fancies himself as tough, and who as president has almost arbitrary access to weapons of mass destruction, that's a dangerous accusation. The phrase caught on when Trump backed away from extreme tariff threats, which will foolish fell well short of acts of war. Iran, however, is an act of war, and there are many reasons to back away from that other than being chicken. The thing to understand is that Trump's wildest threats are nothing short of insane. When he realizes this, in some rare (for him) moment of sanity, we should welcome his backing off, and not taunt him for not doing something awful. Still, that's hard to do, largely because he so relishes making the insane threats in the first place, especially as doing so offers maximum publicity. But it also exposes him as thoughtless and dangerous, and utterly untrustworthy. It's rarely clear whether he does it just for effect, planning on "chickening out," or he just flies off the handle, and someone saner has to chill him down. Either way, it's not only not effective, like the "boy who cried wolf" it's likely to produce diminishing returns, and possibly end by doing him in. With Iran, I'm not sure that hasn't already happened.

• James K Galbraith [04-08]: The ceasefire just showed the world that US military power is obsolete: "With the illusion shattered, now is the chance for the US to liberate itself from a broken imperial model." I see this more as a tactical retreat, perhaps based on the military finally acknowledging that they don't have the firepower to deliver on Trump's apocalyptic promises, nor do they have the defensive armor to protect against the inevitable reprisals. You could characterize that as weakness, or as pointlessness. But the ceasefire didn't shatter any illusions. It protected them from further distress. Still, why not hope for more?

  In my dreams, this defeat could liberate the US from a broken imperial model. The US could demilitarize, mothball its nuclear weapons, decommission its aircraft carriers, and close bases, even beyond those now abandoned in the Middle East. It could shrink its financial sector and devote its real resources to domestic physical, social and industrial renewal. It could revive, retrain and reenergize its worn-down population, with useful jobs doing worthwhile tasks. It could join the concert of great powers on equal terms, accepting the fact that none of the other powers — not China, not Russia, and not Iran — has any interest in taking over the world. And that therefore,for effective management of the world commonwealth, cooperative solutions must be found.

  Won't happen, but it is true that most Americans would be happier if we didn't have to carry the dead weight of empire. And that's really all it is.

• Ishaan Tharoor [04-08]: A US-Iran ceasefire is here, but Trump's stone age mentality endures: "A temporary truce can't erase the chaos of a war that the White House started and never fully understood."

• L Ali Khan [04-08]: The fragility of Gulf States: Some useful information here on the significance of migrant workers and foreign capital in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. The population of migrant workers in Qatar and the UAE is around 88%; 67-70% in Kuwait; 52% in Bahrain. While migrant workers are kept powerless, those are huge numbers. While the economies are based on oil and gas, they've accumulated a lot of foreign investment, and run huge sovereign wealth funds. In Abu Dhabi, foreigners own 78% of total property value. This is all based on the appearance of stability, but could easily prove fragile.

• Robert Pape [04-09]: "The war is turning Iran into a major world power": Interview with Pape, who's long been a skeptic of the use of air power only in war. He has a Substack called Escalation Trap, but mostly just briefing points there. As I understand "escalation trap," it's that when you commit escalation, you make it harder to try any other approach. Trump, for instance, had a range of negotiation options back in February, but in choosing to escalate by killing Khamenei, he discarded many of his options, committing to a path that pointed only toward more escalation. Pape explains it this way: "The Escalation Trap equips you with the frameworks to recognize when conflicts are shifting phases, anticipate the pressures driving escalation, and make clearer decisions before volatility hardens into irreversible commitments."

  Pape also wrote a NYT op-ed on this theme:

  • [04-06]: The war is turning Iran into a major world power. I don't much like this formulation, possibly because it seems like an unnecessary escalation: Iran clearly has some ability to frustrate and limit the US, but I'd beware of making a false equivalence. The ability to break something does not make one a craftsman, although it may negate the value of anyone else being a craftsman.

• Ariana Aspuru/Sean Rameswaram [04-09]: Pete Hegseth preaches "maximum lethality." What has that meant in Iran? Interview with Benjamin Wallace-Wells. I'll note that all this talk about "warrior ethos" goes back to Robert D Kaplan, who in the 2000s wrote a couple books using that terminology. Actually, he concept goes back even further, as researchers discovered that draftees rarely fired their guns at enemy soldiers. A major push in the Vietnam War was to increase their firing efficiency, which was partly accomplished by dehumanizing their opponents. The next advance was getting rid of draftees, allowing better selection of "warriors," although the effect there was blunted by officers becoming less wasteful of their soldiers' lives. Still, it's hard to say that US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan weren't lethal enough. McChrystall's counterinsurgency program failed in Afghanistan because US soldiers were unwilling to build better relationships with Afghans if that meant restraint (and more risk). What's new with Trump and Hegseth is that you're never going to hear the phrase "hearts and minds" again. Given how hypocritical that's always been (at least since Vietnam), that may be for the better, but is a "pure warrior" military something that we want? Or can even use? Granted, sociopathic sadists like Hegseth and Trump get off on the idea, but are we going to look back on Trump's use of the military and find anything worth carrying forward? I doubt it.

• James R Webb [04-09]: For peace with Iran to work a reckoning with Israel is in order: "Trump must get back to basics, and his promises to the American people. In order to do that he must put this relationship in its proper place." This is true, and more people should say so, but it is also a big ask for Trump, as his alignment with Israel is based not just on mutual donors and graft but on a deeply held faith in power and violence. Webb notes that "killing leadership makes it more difficult to negotiate." But Trump and Netanyahu have convinced themselves that negotiating is for losers, and in the process consider the elimination of potential negotiators as good policy. Good luck convincing them otherwise.

• Matthew Cunningham-Cook [04-10]: Marcus Foundation bankrolls pro-Iran War group: "A foundation associated with Home Depot has been the biggest funder of one of the loudest voices for war against Iran." The group is Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which Bernie Marcus has donated $19 million to.

• Cameron Peters [04-13]: The new Hormuz blockade, briefly explained: Not really. I wonder where this subhed came from: "Trump tries Iran's playbook." It's not really the same tactic at all, although as a short-term negotiation ploy it may make some sense.

• TRTWorld [04-13]: Iran offers 5 years enrichment freeze as US pushes for 20 in Islamabad talks: I find these time frameworks very revealing. Twenty years is long enough that current leaders can conveniently forget about the problem, continuing to treat Iran with callous contempt, figuring that the consequences will be someone else's problem. Five years is soon enough one should start planning straight away. Enrichment itself is only a hypothetical problem. While the US and Israel prefers prohibiting any HEU, the other way of neutralizing the "threat" is to normalize relations and forge bonds of trade and aid that would lead Iranians to viewing the US and Israel not as foes but as friends. Five years should be enough time to make substantial progress, if that's something the US is willing to consider. (And we're mostly talking the US here, which harbors the sharpest grudges from 1979. Israel and Saudi Arabia have found that an easy way to cozy up to the US, and to neutralize their own antagonism, is to posit Iran as a joint enemy threat. That no longer works if the US makes peace with Iran.) Another report:

  • Barak Ravid [04-13]: US asked Iran to freeze uranium enrichment for 20 years, sources say.

• Rajan Menon [04-16]: Behind the bluster, Donald Trump desperately needs a peace deal with Iran. Here's a solution. I'm not especially impressed with these proposals, but anything mutually agreeable would have my blessing. The key to a solution is not just that both sides must compromise, but that both sides need to recognize the other's legitimate fears, and seek to alleviate them in ways that are minimally disruptive and demeaning. This would, of course, be much easier if Israel would negotiate a modus vivendi with the Palestinians, but they are miles away from even considering such a thing.

Israel: Shortly after Israel and the US killed the Ayatollah, kicking off major war with Iran, Hezbollah lobbed a few rockets at northern Israel from Lebanon, so Israel responded as they always do, by escalating. Then when Trump canceled the apocalypse and agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, most people expected Lebanon to chill out, but Israel escalated once again, suggesting they were even madder about the ceasefire than about Hezbollah's initial attacks (or "self-defense" or whatever). Evidently, while Israel can drag Trump into their wars, Trump can't (or won't) attempt to control Israel, so whatever ceasefire promises he makes have no credibility.

• Dave Reed

  • [03-15]: Trump and Netanyahu miscalculated, and now they're going to find out: "Three weeks in, the Iranian government has not collapsed, the region has not stabilized, and the costs are mounting. The architects of this war were wrong about nearly everything."

  • [03-22]: Most Americans don't understand how extreme Israeli society has become: "Ninety-three percent of Israeli Jews support the war on Iran." I got my first inkling of this when I read Max Blumenthal's 2013 book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.

• Jonathan Ofir [03-22]: 'Forever live by the sword': Understanding Israelis' massive support for Iran war: "A recent poll registered Israeli support for the war on Iran at a whopping 93%. Between the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, and the annexations, Israelis think this is how it's meant to be. Constant war to sustain our constant expansion." The prevalence of right-wingers in Israel seems to be the result of so many years of psychodrama — the existential fear that has been drummed into every Israeli, combined with the seeming reprieve of incredible military victories — although this is aided by the insulation of having nearly all of the violence take place outside their own communities. (For similar reasons, Americans fell in love with WWII, and generally tolerated later wars until their utter pointlessness became too obvious to ignore.) What troubles me more is how the nominal left has fallen for the same mythology. Here's an earlier piece that makes the same point:

  • Orly Noy [03-01]: We are at war, therefore we are: "Months after proclaiming a 'historic victory,' Israel embarks on another offensive against Iran — and the ritual erasure of political dissent begins anew."

    For these three men — Lapid, Golan, and Bennett — no task is supposedly more urgent than replacing Netanyahu's blood-soaked, Kahanist government, which has led the country to unprecedented depths. They understand how dangerous he is. They know the devastation another term would bring.

    Yet the moment the smell of war fills the air, all these insights evaporate, replaced by automatic reverence to the Israeli war machine. It is as if the very idea that a war can be opposed simply does not exist within their cognitive framework.

    No one understands this mechanism better than Netanyahu. However precarious his political position may be, he knows that uniting even his fiercest rivals across the Zionist spectrum is only a click away. If "in wartime there is no coalition or opposition," then perpetual war becomes his most reliable political strategy — and he has learned to deploy it with increasing frequency.

    Netanyahu is a cynical and dangerous war criminal. But one thing cannot be denied: No Israeli leader has so deeply understood the collective psyche of Jewish Israeli society. A society that seems capable of feeling its own pulse only in war and destruction; that, if it is not attacking, destroying, and killing, is not entirely certain that it exists. In that sense, Netanyahu fits it like a glove.

• Esther Sperber [03-26]: Settler violence is the symptom, not the disease: "As rabbis and generals rush to denounce West Bank attacks, we must ask: what kind of political system makes such brutality not just possible, but predictable?"

• Qassam Muaddi:

  • [03-25]: What it's like to be a family caught in the crosshairs of Israel's 'de-Palestinization' of Jerusalem: "The Hamdia family spent all of their life savings on building a home, but Israeli bulldozers destroyed it in a single day. They are one example of Israel's surging policy of home demolitions in the West Bank."

  • [03-31]: Israeli policies pose an existential threat to Palestinians in the West Bank. Why isn't there more resistance? "Israeli settler pogroms, annexation, and economic strangulation are eroding Palestinian life in the West Bank." The answer seems so obvious that it's almost irresponsible to even raise the question: resistance, either through legal channels or as a violent uprising, is hopeless, with the latter exactly what the Israelis are hoping for, an excuse to do to what's left of the Palestinian West Bank what they've done to Gaza. All that really leaves is making some kind of moral appeal to the world to chastise Israel, and good luck with that. For an example:

    • Salman Abu Sitta [04-01]: Israel may dominate through violence, but Palestinians hold a force more powerful: "Israel has overwhelming military power, but moral power rooted in peace and justice is completely absent from Zionism. This is the power that has inspired millions to shout 'Free Palestine' in cities around the world like never before." Easy to say for some kind of organizer based in London. I'm choking on "powerful" in the title. That's really not the right word — "compelling," maybe? or "inspiring"? — and what about "shouting"? Isn't that what you do when no one is listening?

    Still, I wouldn't discount resistance just because it isn't working to the satisfaction of activists (especially outsiders). People resist in their own ways, given their own situations, and the limits of hope and action. Slavery existed in America from 1619 to 1865, punctuated by a few inconsequential revolts, but I wouldn't say there were long periods of no resistance.

  • [03-31]: Global condemnation as Israeli ministers celebrate death penalty law targeting Palestinian prisoners: "Human rights groups condemned a new Israeli law targeting Palestinian prisoners with the death penalty as a possible war crime and 'deeply discriminatory.' Meanwhile, Israeli ministers celebrated the law's passage with champagne on the Knesset floor."

  • [04-04]: Israel is implementing its Gaza strategy in Lebanon: turning 'buffer zones' into permanent borders: "Israel has stated it does not plan to leave Lebanon even if the current 'war' ends. If the Gaza model is any guide, Israel appears to be moving toward expanding its border into Lebanon." Israel has long (as far back as Ben-Gurion) wanted to annex southern Lebanon up to the Litani River. The problem, as in Palestine, has always been disposing of the people who live there. But while there is renewed talk of annexation, their immediate plans are only slightly less ambitious:

    Now, as Israel escalates its war on Lebanon, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz has made Israel's plans clear: implement the Gaza model of total destruction and ethnic cleansing. He said on Tuesday that "the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun" will be implemented in Lebanon.

    This means that Netanyahu's orders to the Israeli army to create a buffer zone 10 kilometers deep into Lebanon is more than a military strategy. It is a statement of reshaping an area of approximately 10,000 square kilometers, making it uninhabitable for its Lebanese residents, and putting it under Israeli military control. In Syria, Israel hasn't conducted the same kind of destruction, but it has announced that it will remain in the new territories it occupied after the fall of the al-Assad regime in December 2024. Together, in Lebanon and Syria, Israel seeks to maintain permanent control of some 14,000 square kilometers, all to create a so-called "buffer zone."

  • [04-08]: As US and Iran agree to a temporary ceasefire, Israel launches 'massacre' in Lebanon, threatening entire deal: "Hours after Iran and the US reached a two-week ceasefire agreement, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign across Lebanon, killing hundreds of people and threatening to derail the US-Iranian ceasefire before it even begins."

• Jamal Abdi [04-09]: The forever spoiler: Netanyahu has been blowing up diplomacy with Iran for decades.

• Jonathan Ofir [04-10]: Israelis are finally revolting against Netanyahu — for agreeing to the US ceasefire with Iran: "The entire Israeli political spectrum is united in blasting Netanyahu for not continuing to attack Iran, and Israeli society agrees. The reason, to put it simply, is that Israelis are war junkies." That's easy to say, not just because "Israelis are war junkies," but because the war rhetoric is so seductive to people who are sheltered from the costs and risks.

Israel-American-World Relations: I used to try to separate out Israel-related pieces into several bins. The Iran war has its own section, with most of the Lebanon front included under Israel above, as well as operations in the West Bank and Gaza, and internal Israeli politics. But here we will break out stories relating to Israeli propaganda, and the growing opposition to Israeli apartheid, war, and genocide in America and around the world.

• Peter Beinart

  • [02-16]: The closing of the establishment Jewish mind: "What a letter claiming that accusations of genocide against Israel constitute a 'blood libel' says about pro-Israel discourse." I don't recall whether I cited this before, but the tab was still open. You can skip over the housekeeping up top and go straight to the "video transcript, where he makes his point. I'll add that "blood libel" seems to have become some kind of shorthand for any baseless accusation against Jews. Even in that very generic interpretation, it's impossible to argue that the charge of genocide is baseless. There is considerable evidence on both critical fronts: intent, and effect. You may try to argue that either or both don't quite reach the level of the legal term, but you can't pretend there's no evidence to be weighed.

• Theia Chatelle [03-10]: With world's eyes on Iran, Israel locks down the West Bank: "The Israeli military has closed checkpoints around the West Bank, restricting Palestinians' movement as settler violence ramps up."

• Michael Arria

  • [03-12]: Lindsey Graham helped push Trump to war: "As the war on Iran unfolds, it's clear that most Americans, including many on the right, don't support it. Nevertheless, warmonger Republican Senator Lindsey Graham continues to boast about his role in helping Israel push the US into war." There's also a section here on "Samantha Power and genocide," which includes a transcript of her response to a question of why she didn't quit her USAID post so she could speak out about the genocide unfolding in Gaza. Her rationalization isn't very compelling, making me wonder if the real problem wasn't just that she didn't take the problem seriously enough, probably because the political currents within the Biden administration were hostile to any such circumspection.

  • [03-26]: Newsom flip-flops on Israeli apartheid comments: The lobby strikes back, and by backing down, Newsom further discredits himself. One might quibble about the term "apartheid," but that's mostly because Israel's system of discrimination and separation is more extreme than South Africa's. Democrats need to find a way to talk about Israel without falling into hasbara clichés which ultimately justify war and other abuses of human rights. You don't have to say "apartheid" or "genocide" (although anyone who does is well justified). You could just say that you believe that everyone should have full and equal civil and political rights wherever they live, under whatever government is operating there. Then, when asked to clarify whether that includes Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, all you have to say is "yes." When asked about "Israel's right to self-defense," you can say, "sure, but not at the expense of anyone's rights to equal civil and political rights." Back during the 2024 campaign, Kamala Harris answered every question by first asserting Israel's "right to self-defense," after which nobody listened to anything else she had to say. Any time you write Israel a blank check like that, expect to be morally bankrupted.

  • [04-09]: Military aid to Israel emerges as the latest political litmus test for Democrats: "Last week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she would vote against any military aid to Israel, even weapons deemed 'defensive.' As support for Israel craters across the US, the issue of military aid has become the latest litmus test for Democrats." This is still a long ways from becoming a majority view, let alone a litmus test. The more realistic test is whether to oppose Trump's war against Iran, and blame Netanyahu for putting the idea into his tiny brain, and then using the leverage of the purse to rein both of them in and negotiate some kind of peace. Still, that's going to be hard for Democrats to do, especially the pro-Israel ones who would rather attack Trump for failing to win an unimaginable victory than to admit that their loyalty to Israel was (and always has been) misguided. Mainstream Democrats must finally realize that the only way they can function — the only way they can build any degree of voter trust — in the modern world is to become the party of peace. Failing that, they have no alternative when Trump flies off the handle and plunges America into a hopeless war.

• James North [03-26]: The US media is ignoring Israel's efforts to torpedo Trump's talks with Iran: "Why won't the mainstream US media report on Israel's efforts to sabotage Trump's efforts to end the war with Iran?"

• Yonathan Touval [03-29]: Is it 1914 in America? Filed here because the author is an Israeli "foreign-policy analyst," complains about leaders who "remain strikingly obtuse about human beings — their pride, shame, convictions and historical memory"; about his dangerous it is to place war "in the hands of people untrained in irony, contingency and the darker constants of human nature." Corey Robin complained about this piece, and he's probably right, but it seems to me pretty orthogonal to whatever it is that drives the core question, which is whether to go to war or not. A simpler first approximation is "not."

• Nathan Thompson [04-03]: Democratic leader shift away from Israel: "Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez's announcement that she will not vote for any Israeli military aid is part of an emerging trend." I'd be more impressed if Hakeem Jeffries said that.

• Rawan Abhari [04-04]: Stop asking if Israel has a right to exist: "The question . . . isn't a real inquiry about the rights of nations. It's a manipulation of discourse, a litmus test that forces Palestinians to offer theoretical assurances before their real political grievances can even be heard."

• James Zogby [04-14]: A major taboo was broken at the DNC last weekend: "An AIPAC-specific resolution didn't make it through the party's meeting. But I've never seen such an open debate about the role of pro-Israel money before."

• Bernie Sanders [04-15]: No more US military aid to Israel: "The time is long overdue for members of Congress to listen to the American people and end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government."

Around the World: The Ukraine War is still with us, and beyond that states around the world try to navigate around the neuroses and pathologies of Trump and Netanyahu. It is worth noting that people who are routinely slandered as mad tyrants in America often appear as much saner than those two.

• Anatol Lieven [03-31]: Is the Iran War breaking NATO forever? "Trump is lashing out at allies as European partners increasingly turn away from his war — all signs that this is more than just a situational divide."

• Karthik Sankaran/Sarang Shidore [03-24]: Iran war could cripple the 'Yuxi Circle' or 55% of world population: "This includes the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, the Koreas, and all the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN."

• Wenjing Wang [03-26]: On energy, China can sit this crisis out. Here's why. "'Green energy' here isn't a slogan or abstract aspiration. It's economic and geopolitical survival."

• James Park [04-10]: Kim Jong Un waiting for Trump, but there's a path right in front of him: Relations between North and South Korea have thawed a bit since Lee Jae-myung followed Yoon Suk-yeol's "imprudent hawkishness," although Kim remains more focused on the US, even as Trump continues playing hard-to-get:

  From Pyongyang's perspective, engagement with Seoul has little strategic value. One takeaway Kim may have drawn from his failed 2018-19 negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump — mediated by South Korea — is that Seoul lacks either the diplomatic leverage to move U.S. policy or the agency to advance inter-Korean relations without U.S. consent. In practice, Washington exerts decisive influence over key issues of concern to Pyongyang, including potential nuclear talks, U.S.-South Korea joint military drills, sanctions, and a permanent end to the Korean War.

  Another lesson, this from the Iran War but already learned from Libya, is that giving up nuclear weapons would be stupid and perhaps suicidal. It occurs to me that Trump could make partial amends for his blunder in Iran by negotiating a normalization deal with North Korea. I doubt he has the skills or imagination to do so, and I doubt North Korea will give him the win on nuclear disarmament he mostly wants (not least to pair it with whatever he gets out of Iran; neither will be complete, but perhaps within spin distance). But it's doable if he can overcome the internal resistance that has kept the US at odds with North Korea since 1953.

Trump's World War III: I initially set this section up to deal with Trump's threats of war. We're obviously beyond that now, as Iran has its own section now. I've also opened a temporary news slot for Cuba. That leaves other fronts here, as well as broader issues of American militarism, including the logic that has led to the Iran War.

• Leah Schroeder [02-04]: Hegseth to take control of Stars & Stripes for 'warfighter' makeover: "Critics, including veterans and First Amendment advocates, say the proposed overhaul would usurp the storied military newspaper's independence."

• Joseph Bouchard [03-03]: How Maduro overthrow was key node in US-Israeli war on Iran: "It is important not to see them as separate operations: Venezuela was very much a precursor to regime change in Tehran." Several quotes here as how "the Israeli government has long viewed Venezuela as a strategic satellite of the Islamic Republic of Iran" make you wonder whether Israel had lobbied for the Venezuela coup. What is certain is that it served as a confidence-builder for Trump to go up against Iran — a point that Netanyahu and other skillfully exploited.

• Daniel Immerwahr [03-16]: What' behind Trump's new world disorder? "A foreign policy freed of liberal pretenses and imperial ambitions could lead to restraint — or, as the Iran attack shows, simply license hit-and-run belligerence."

• Alex Thurston [03-23]: Trump's Sahel reset banks on 'sovereignty,' guns + minerals deals. The art of dealing with Trump is the kickback.

• Nick Turse: Selected articles (more here).

  • [03-30]: Trump's secret wars on the world keep expanding: "An analysis by The Intercept reveals that the 'peace' president has embroiled the US in more than 20 military interventions, armed conflicts, and wars."

  • [04-01]: "Casualty cover-up": The Pentagon is hiding US losses under Trump in the Middle East: "The Pentagon has sent outdated statements on the number of US troops killed or wounded during the Iran war, resulting in undercounts."

  • [04-09]: Iran shoots down F-15 fighter jet after Trump b ragged they had no capability: "'We are unstoppable as a military force,' Trump boasted before Iran shot down one US plane and another crashed near the Strait of Hormuz."

  • [04-13]: State Department tells Human Rights watchdog to ignore Trump's extrajudicial killings: "The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 'lacks the competence' to review Trump's campaign of deadly boat strikes, a State Department spokesperson said."

  • [04-14]: The US is still routinely killing civilians in boats: "The Trump administration has hit a grim milestone with its 50th strike on a civilian boat in the waters off Latin America."

• Robert Kagan [03-30]: America is now a rogue superpower: "Washington's conduct in the Iran war is accelerating global chaos and deepening America's dangerous isolation." Sounds like the author's dream come true. So why isn't he happy now?

• Garrett Graff:

  • [04-02]: The mythology of Pete Hegseth: "The Iran War cheerleader-in-chief embraces a dangerous alternate history of the 21st century."

  • [04-06]: Is Trump about to nuke Iran? "The fact we can't say 'no' for sure should terrify us."

  • [2025-08-25]: America tips into fascism: "Today is different than before." Old, but still on the top of the author's "featured posts." Still, it wasn't immediately clear what had happened on that August 25, 2025, so I asked Google to look it up, and got this: "deadly Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza killing five journalists, the approach of powerful Typhoon Kajiki in Vietnam triggering evacuations, and US political developments involving National Guard deployments and administration cabinet changes." The latter was what the reference was to, but his subject was the whole anomalous drive of the then-eight-month-old Trump administration.

• Francesca Fiorentini [04-03]: Finally, an anti-woke war: "America refuses a prolonged DEI quagmire." This is a bit too tongue-in-cheek, taking Hegseth at his word that the Bush wars failed because the military was too woke, but as he's fixing that, Trump should have any problems.

• Simon Tisdall [04-04]: As Team Trump wage unceasing war on Iran, evangelical nationalists are destroying any moral world order we once had. Illustrated with pictures of Hegseth's Crusader tattoos, as if the text itself wasn't disturbing enough:

  Exploitation of Christian belief for political and military ends is a long-established, shabby US practice. . . . For most practising Christians, the misappropriation, distortion and weaponisation of faith to justify death and destruction, sow divisions, excuse war crimes and bomb Iran "back to the stone ages" is deeply saddening. Christians — who celebrate Easter on Sunday — believe Jesus was crucified for the sake of all mankind, for the forgiveness of sins, not for vindictive vengeance, pride and domination.

• Charles Homans [04-04]: America is used to hiding its wars. Trump is doing the opposite. This seems to be largely based on the assumption that Americans have no risk in war any more: they can blow things up, kill people, make life difficult or impossible, and nothing can touch them, least of all conscience. Trump was quick to grasp this, perhaps because he has no conscience.

• Abdaljawad Omar [04-06]: How the neoconservative influence over US war-making paved the way for Trump's war crimes in Iran: "Donald Trump's naked threats to target Iran's civilian infrastructure are the culmination of a strand of neoconservative thought that has defined U.S. war-making over three decades, from the Iraq war to Obama's drone campaigns to the Gaza genocide."

• Bill Scher [04-08]: Trump believes in "madman theory." But he's actually a madman: "After six weeks of insane behavior, the ceasefire should not lead us to believe Trump has regained his facilities." The Madman Theory was one of Nixon's dumber ideas: in order to work, you not only have to convince the other side you're insane, but you are depending on their sanity to save you from yourself. But if the other side is sane, why don't you just try to reason with them. Sure, you have different interests, and you may have to compromise to get the best possible mix of gains and losses, but isn't that what sane people do? And I suspect that it's usually possible to reason your way to some kind of net positive — especially compared to the massive net-negative of war. The only reason for engaging in this sort of game is because you have goals that cannot be supported by reason, where one's only hope is to impose by power (e.g., Nixon on Vietnam).

  I don't know whether Trump is insane, or just plays at insanity on TV, but he's pretty convincing at it, at least in terms of his narcissism and sociopathy. What I do know is that he is reckless and insincere: he compulsively says crazy things he may or may not mean, but you can never trust to know the difference (he probably doesn't himself). I also believe that he only cares about himself, and can only engage the world in terms of what's in it for him. Thus people who want something from him have to go the circuitous route of flattery and apparent obeissance, which is to say they have to humiliate themselves to gain favors from someone they neither respect nor can trust. That's more opportunity than problem for weasels like Netanyahu and Lindsey Graham, but is a huge challenge for anyone who wants to reason toward sensible goals. When confronted with someone who is probably insane, the normal reaction is to look away and disengage. Unfortunately, if that person is also president, that's hard to do, and fraught with its own risks. (That's probably why the media work so hard to respect and rationalize Trump, because they don't feel like they can afford disengaging from the subject they're supposed to cover. Of course, the humiliation builds up, and sometimes even they snap.)

  It's also worth noting that the Madman Theory has never worked, even with leaders who are genuinely mad. At some point, pretty much everyone decides they've had enough, and have to fight back, even if the odds aren't good. Otherwise, you're just acquiescing to arrogance. By the way, Trump himself has embraced the Madman Theory:

  • Nancy LeTourneau [2017-10-02]: The Trump Doctrine: 'I'm a madman': "The president purposefully projects an image of someone who is unpredictable, and therefore, can't be trusted."

  • Nancy LeTourneau [2017-10-13]: Trump employs his 'I am a madman' approach with Iran: "The president is effective at being destructive, and completely incapable of being constructive."

• Christian Paz:

  • [04-10]: Did the Trump administration threaten the pope? "Avignon-gate, the scandal blowing up MAGA-Catholic relations, explained." I'm tempted to quote James Baker about "not having a dog in that fight," but the piece is rather fascinating even if you understand that it's just about other people. I've found it interesting when right-winger protestants convert to Catholicism, presumably because they want a more ornate, more hierarchical religion (I've also heard of Catholics concerting to Eastern Orthodoxy for the same reason), only to find a mix of things they like (anti-abortion) and dislike (opposition to real killing, like capital punishment, and especially war).

  • [02-10]: Is MAGA pushing the Catholic Church to the left? "Progressive Catholics are ready to fight back." Interview with Christopher Hale, who publishes a newsletter called Letters from Leon, where he asserts that "the pontiff's effort to moderate the church and act as a bulwark against creeping authoritarianism in the Trump 2.0 era."

  • [04-13]: Donald Trump's pivot to blasphemy: "Attacking the pope and posing as Jesus — even religious conservatives are mad this time." I got over Christianity by the time I turned 20, but in my teens I was pretty well schooled in the intricacies of Christian sectarianism, at a time when the distinctions between the dozens of Protestant sects still meant something. In those days, a fraudulent poseur like Trump would have been called out from all quarters. These days, I'm not sure that most nominal Christians believe anything drawn from religious traditions. Rather, they believe in secular philosophies (liberalism, conservatism, fascism, some even socialism) and use selective readings of scripture and other authorities to buttress those beliefs. If I still cared, I would find this aspect of Trump very upsetting. Now, I'll just note that I doubt the sincerity of any professed Christian who isn't upset and disgusted by Trump's religious posturing.

• Harold Meyerson [04-13]: Re-enacting the Crusades: "Pete Hegseth's Christianity — tribal, with plenty of enemies who deserve the sword — is central to the MAGA worldview."

• Martin Di Caro [04-14]: Lacing up LBJ's shoes, Trump is walking willingly into a trap: "Choosing War author Fredrik Logevall on how the Democratic president went from bombing in 1964 to sending 500,000 ground troops into Vietnam in 1967." Interview. One thing I'm struck by here was the 1965 prediction by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that to win would take 500,000 troops and give years. That prediction was tested, and proved overly optimistic. Also by the Humphrey prediction that such a war would destroy the political unity Johnson built up in his 1964 landslide election.

• Blaise Malley [04-14]: US strikes on alleged drug boats have killed more than 160 people: "With eyes on Middle East, military continues campaigns of deadly strikes at sea."

• Jim Lobe [04-14]: Think the Iran war is a disaster? Blame these DC thin tanks first. "We asked AI to find the conflict's biggest boosters in Washington. Surprise: many are connected to Israel and pushed for the invasion of Iraq too." Don't let "AI" distract you here. Any systematic survey would have identified these same "usual suspects."

Trump vs. Law: This section has moved beyond the stormtroopers of ICE, and might as well include the whole US Courts system, as well as the increasingly oxymoronic Department of Justice. The firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi is one story here, but doesn't merit its own section.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [03-26]: The Supreme Court is scared it's going to break the internet.

  • [03-27]: The sneaky way Trump's lawyers are supercharging ICE: "A court just gave awful news to victims of ICE's occupation of Minneapolis."

  • [03-31]: Why an 8-1 Supreme Court just ruled in favor of anti-LGBTQ+ "conversion therapy": "Sadly, the Court's decision in Chiles v. Salazar is correct."

  • [04-01]: Even this Supreme Court seems unwilling to end birthright citizenship: "At least seven justices appear to believe that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it says."

  • [04-02]: Pam Bondi's ouster makes Trump's Justice Department even more dangerous: "The best thing about Bondi was her incompetence." Cites Benjamin Wittes on Trump's first administration: "malevolence tempered by incompetence." Worries that Trump could use Bondi's ouster as "a chance to place a competent loyalist in charge of DOJ," but there's little evidence that Trump either wants or can recognize competence.

  • [04-08]: Democrats just locked down control of one of the most important courts in America: "Dems won a swing-state election in a 20-point blowout." Wisconsin.

  • [04-08]: It should be much easier to remove the president from office: "The 25th Amendment chatter is pointless — but it shouldn't be."

• Rachel Monroe [03-26]: How the Trump administration has turned left-wing activism into terrorism: "The trial of supposed Anifa members after a shooting at an ICE facility is part of a disturbing strategy."

• Elle Honig

  • [03-27]: Why is Pam Bondi ducking Epstein questions? "Congress wants to hear more from her. She seems ready to disappoint them."

  • [04-02]: Pam Bondi's many, many, many failures: "She was in office only a year, but she left permanent damage at the Justice Department."

  • [04-10]: Why any Attorney General pick is doomed to fail Trump: "The president is still going to expect impossible victories against his enemies."

• David Armstrong/Ken B Morales [04-01]: Trump's Justice Department dropped 23,000 criminal investigations in shift to immigration.

Trump's Administration: Trump can't remake America in his own image (i.e., destroy the country, culture, and civilization) just by himself. He needs help, and having largely purged the government of civil servants and replaced them with his own minions, this is what they are doing (whether he's paying attention or not):

• Dylan Gyauch-Lewis [04-02]: Dispatches from Trump's war on information: "Inside the administration's mishandling of economic data and erosion of trust in federal statistics." The risks of How to Lie with Statistics have been well known, at least since 1954 when Darrell Huff wrote the book. What's new with Trump isn't the techniques. It's turning responsibility for them over to partisan liars.

• Soumya Karlamangla/Heaher Knight [04-03]: Trump seeks $152 million to begin to turn Alcatraz back into a prison. One of the Trumpiest things imaginable. The prison was closed in 1963, and currently draws 1.4 million visitors per year. The $152 million only covers the first year costs. "The full cost of restoring and reopening Alcatraz would be far higher." Speaking of higher, Trump's proposal is part of "$5 billion for the Bureau of Prisons."

• Binyamin Appelbaum [04-04]: Trump killed the one thing that made filing taxes easier: This was a Biden program called Direct File. "Why? Because tax preparation companies and Republican lawmakers have a shared interest in torturing taxpayers."

• Jeffrey Marlow [04-05]: How to poison an ocean: "Trump envisions a new era of offshore drilling. Scientists know all too well how that story ends."

• Bryce Covert [04-14]: The EEOC is no longer protecting federal workers from gender identity discrimination.

• Moira Donegan [04-14]: Trump has turned Title X upside down: from a contraception program into a pronatalist machine.

• KJ Boyle [04-15]: Trump's NLRB doesn't want to investigate worker complaints: "The agency tasked with protecting workers is making it harder for them to submit complaints and letting employers break the law."

Trump Himself:

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [03-25]: Melania welcomes you to the robot apocalypse: "The First Lady introduced a walking, talking humanoid robot at the White House and breezily suggested it will replace human teachers."

  • [04-01]: Highs and lows of Trump's AI-slop presidential library: "Renderings of the Miami skyscraper show two gold Trump statues, replicas of Trump's dumbest White House additions, and lots of AI-generated weirdness."

  • [04-06]: Trump's wildest Iran remarks from the Easter Egg Roll: "Sure, you've seen Trump say incoherent, totally bonkers things about Iran. But have you seen him say them in front of the Easter Bunny?"

  • [04-07]: Trump's new Truth Social threat to Iran is insane even for him: "He casually announced 'a whole civilization will die tonight' if Iran doesn't meet his deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz."

  • [04-09]: Trump is keeping Kristi Noem's luxury jet as a souvenir.

  • [04-10]: What's up with Melania's surprise Epstein denial: 3 theories.

  • [04-13]: Trump insults the pope, doesn't seem to know what his job is.

  • [04-13]: Correction: Trump says AI 'Jesus' post was "me as a doctor'.

  • [04-15]: Trump addresses Jesus post backlash with more bad Jesus art.

• Liz Crampton [03-28]: 'He's lied about everything': Iran war puts Trump on shaky ground with young MAGA men: "Their frustrations and anger with the conflict were on full display at CPAC this week."

• CK Smith [04-05]: Paula White likens Trump's troubles to Jesus Christ at Easter lunch: White is "Trump's chief spiritual adviser," which evidently means that it's her job to assure Trump that whatever he does is God's will. I'm not sure whether any previous president ever employed such an adviser, but Trump is exceptionally needy of reassurance, and given his baser instincts, such reassurance is especially treacherous.

• Tom Carson:

  • [04-07]: Terminatic: After running on about Adlai Stevenson as only a novelist would, then offering a back-handed compliment to JFK:

    Sixty-plus years later, is the performance of Mar-A-Khargo's throne-sitter in chief in the same league? In every way but one, no way. It must gall Trump to his bone spurs that the Kennedys outdo him even as narcissists, and he can't stand Serious Pretending anyhow. Besides being profoundly unserious, he's actually lousy at pretending: just watch him whenever he's got to act solemnly concerned about anyone's welfare but his own, something Kennedy could pull off even right after someone shot him in the head. As anyone who's ever been in a bar fight can tell you, what Trump's good at isn't pretending but bullshitting, not the same thing at all. Too bad a ton of bullshit can kill people every bit as dead as a bazooka.

  • [04-14]: No King of Kings: "Trump does Jesus the way Debbie did Dallas."

    Trump still has no idea why his Ramadan message didn't go over well in the ungrateful Muslim world. He thought "God bless Allah" had a benign, even generous ring to it. Only the fake news persists in the slander that he doesn't have a gooey side he can trot out like bubble gum scraped off his heel.

    I mean, Jesus, am I wrong? It's not as if he represented himself as Allah, something he's been told is a sacrilege in their religion. He thinks that's a stupid rule, but guesses it takes all kinds to make a world. Not counting everyone he wants to obliterate, but that goes without saying. Or would if he ever stopped saying it.

    One difficulty of writing about Trump 2.0 is you can never be sure whether you're making crazy shit up or just guessing right a few hours ahead of the news cycle. Unless the real clickbait here is the scoop that everybody's just fucking fed up with him, I wouldn't have bet on the President of All the Peepholes sharing an utterly endearing AI image of himself dressed up an ever-succoring Messiah to raise this hue and cry. In happier days when the redcap horde was feeling more MAGAminous, it wouldn't have.

• Zack Beauchamp [04-13]: New data suggests Trump's assault on democracy may be stalling out: "Three new reports give some surprising reasons for optimism."

Republicans:

• Shawn McCreesh [03-31]: In South Dakota, neighbors feel sorry for Kristi Noem's husband.

• Zack Beauchamp [04-13]: JD Vance had a vision for the world. Trump is wrecking it. "The vice president's disastrous week reveals that he's in a trap of his own making." First he went to Hungary to campaign for Orbán. (As I've been asking everyone this week: how is that supposed to work for anyone?) Then he went to Pakistan to head the negotiations with Iran, and walked out with nothing after 21 hours. "In effect, the most promising avatar of postliberal politics in America has been saddled with a record that betrays some of his movement's core principles. And it's not clear how he'll ever escape the baggage." Actually, it looks like it's very hard for a sitting vice president to get elected: aside from Adams and Jefferson, which was under a very different system (the VP was the runner-up, not just a ticket mate), the only ones I can think of was GHW Bush, following Reagan, who had won his second term in a landslide, and Martin Van Buren, after Jackson (again, very popular, and like Bush a loser running for a second term). On the other hand, Harris, Gore, Humphrey, and Nixon all lost (Nixon and Biden did win after an interval). Harris and Humphrey were really hurt by their inability to break with the wars of unpopular presidents. Of course, Vance's prospects would look up if Trump dies (resigns, is impeached, etc.). After a shaky start (John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur) promoted VPs have won their own terms (Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson).

• Raquel Coronell Uribe [04-14]: Vance warns the pope should 'be careful' when talking about theology: "Vance, who [says he] is Catholic, said the pope was wrong in saying Jesus wasn't on the side of those who wield the sword, pointing to the US helping defeat the Nazis in World War II."

Democrats:

• David W Chen [03-31]: A Democratic electrician nabs a state senate seat in Republican Florida: "With Brian Nathan's victory certified, Democrats won two of three state legislative races in this month's special elections, all in Republican-leaning districts." Democrats have flipped 30 seats since the 2024 election.

• Astead Herndon [04-04]: How one Democratic senator is tackling Trump's corruption: "Sen. Chris Murphy explains how blatant corruption is undermining faith in democracy."

• Ed Kilgore [04-15]: Finally, Democrats are a unitd antiwar party: "Conflicts with Vietnam and Iraq deeply divided the party. But now nearly all Democrats oppose Trump's dangerous and unjust Iran war." Aside from Fetterman, who voted against limiting Trump's assumed warmaking powers, I still think many others in the Democratic caucus come up short of being antiwar. If they were, they would vote against funding for Israel, which is the driving force (and supposed beneficiary, but that may just be Netanyahu) behind Trump's war. Still, it's a movement that has to happen if Democrats are ever able to regain and maintain a hold on the presidency.

The Economy (and Economists):

• John Cassidy:

  • [03-13]: Trump's inexcusable unpreparedness for the Iranian oil crisis: "In the President's first term, Iran demonstrated what tactics it would use in a confrontation with the US. Yet the Administration seems to have no game plan."

  • [03-23]: How Trump's Iran war could torch the global economy: "A conflict that was supposed to be brief has sent oil prices soaring and raised the risk of a worldwide recession."

  • [03-20]: Who struck it rich in the markets when Trump postponed bombing Iran? "A series of uncannily timed bets on the price of oil and stocks deserves a proper investigation."

• Jonquilyn Hill [04-05]: The high price of everything, explained: "What the cost of gas, coffee, and milk tells us about why everything feels more expensive right now." Actually, the author just explains three cases, with three different explanations: gas prices are directly attributable to Trump's war on Iran, which has disrupted supplies; coffee production has also been disrupted, but by climate change; milk is less obvious, but a combined effect of rising costs elsewhere (including oil, which affects all of agriculture). But the author doesn't get to "everything," or even try. That's partly because the answers aren't simple — other than inflating the money supply, which may have seeded the wave of price rises that started around 2021 but doesn't explain much of what's happening recently. My own theory is that most of the initial price rises were caused by supply disruptions, then escalated by companies that found they had enough market power to raise prices, after which "inflation" snowballed into a psychology, where most businesses wanted to get in on the action, or at least not be left out. Trump is making this worse with his wars and tariffs (a consumption tax disguised as ordinary price gouging), and possibly by his deficit spending (limited as the tax cuts mostly went to the rich). On the other hand, he's dragging the economy down, not unlike the Volcker recession that broke the inflationary mindset of the 1970s.

• Ryan Cooper [04-07]: A retrospective on Bidenomics: "Joe Biden listened to the left on full employment. But the lasting effects were wanting, and the politics were brutal." I don't have time to unpack this pretty good summary of how Biden's policies affected the economy, mostly for the better, not that he got much credit for that, not just from his enemies but from his own incoherence. I should also stress once again that what killed Harris wasn't the economy but the wars. (True that Harris wasn't much more articulate about the economy than Biden was, and especially that she failed to identify the villains — largely because she spent more time sucking up to donors than campaigning for votes.)

• Eric Levitz

  • [04-08]: The war is on hold. But the economy is still in danger. "The best-case scenario for the Iran crisis is still pretty bad." Interview with Rory Johnston (newsletter Commodity Context, who "has long argued the investors are underpricing the risks of the US-Iran conflict").

  • [04-09]: The political transformation of college grads is weirder than you think: "The laptop class is moving left — but not out of economic desperation." Reviews a recent book by Noam Scheiber: Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, which argues that increasing numbers of people coming out of college with degrees and massive debt have been proletarianized, driven down into the working class, whether they like it or not. Levitz quibbles a lot, without really countering the thesis.

  • [04-13]: OpenAI's oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda: "The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There's just one small problem."

• Robert Kuttner [04-14]: The faltering war economy: "Trump's war craters the economy in multiple ways, even if it somehow ends soon."

Technology (Including AI):

• Eric Levitz [03-26]: 4 reasons why AI (probably) won't take your job: "What the AI jobs panic is missing."

• Ergosphere [03-30]: The machines are fine. I'm worried about us. An astrophysics story, or parable perhaps.

• Janet Abou-Elias/William D Hartung [04-07]: The Pentagon is going "AI first": "The US military is placing the technology at the center of its mission,and the human costs promise to be staggering." "Human costs" are nothing new at the Pentagon, where the best remedy would be slowing down and down-sizing, both of which could support much-needed overview. AI's promise of a faster, sloppier control system does just the opposite. But we should also be concerned about the literal costs. One deal cited here is a 10-year, $5.6 billion contract to the start up Salesforce. Only the Pentagon could blow that kind of money on a nebulous fantasy sketch.

• David Futrelle [04-13]: How a New York Times puff piece missed the toxic creed of the tech oligarchy: "A profile of an AI healthcare start-up overlooked the creaky business model behind it, as well as the tech sector's worship of 'high agency.'" About Michael Gallagher, of Medvi.

  According to Gallagher, the company is on track to do $1.8 billion in sales this year, with a staff of only two (Gallagher and his younger brother).

  Too good to be true? Well, yes. Almost immediately, critics online filled in what the Times had left out: a warning letter the FDA sent to Medvi over alleged deceptive marketing practices; a RICO lawsuit against Medvi's fulfillment partner over a weight-loss compound that hasn't been proven to work; a slew of AI-generated fake doctors shilling for Medvi in thousands of spammy ads.

  After the online outcry over the article, the Times added a few paragraphs describing some of the ways that "Medvi's aggressive advertising has led to legal and regulatory issues" — which is putting it a little gingerly. But the story remains largely unchanged on the Times website. I say let it stand. Because every age gets the heroes it deserves, and Gallagher is in many ways a perfect representative of our current Gilded Age 2.0.

• Dani Rodrik [04-13]: To work for us, AI must not think for us. Alternate (slightly better) title, at Mint: "Artificial intelligence was meant to assist human work, not replace our thinking."

Regular Columnists

Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough that it makes sense to collect their work in one place, rather than scatter it about.

Paul Krugman:

• [04-07]: MAGA is winning its war against US science: "When a political movement believes that ignorance is strength."

• [04-13]: The Axis of Autocracy loses a wheel: "Hungarians stand up for democracy."

• [04-14]: Chinese electrotech is the big winner in the Iran War: "An energy-hungry world is being pushed away by America and into China's arms."

• [04-15]: Autocracy = corruption: "What the US resistance can learn from Hungary." It's worth recalling here that Trump's presidential wins came when he was (improbably but relentlessly) able to paint his opponent as the corrupt one. He never acknowledged, much less normalize, his own corruption.

  The good news from Hungary is that blatant corruption doesn't have to be normalized. In fact, public perceptions of runaway corruption can become a weapon in defense of democracy. The public understands corruption, hates it, and can be mobilized to vote en masse against it.

Nathan J Robinson and Current Affairs:

• Alex Skopic [2025-10-09]: This is why you don't let libertarians run your country: "In Argentina, President Javier Milei has screwed the economy up so badly he needs a $20 billion bailout. That's because his 'free market' economics don't actually work."

• [03-26]: "We're all just open targets now": Rania Khalek on expanding war in Lebanon.

• Alex Skopic [04-02]: Israel's new lynching law is its most heinous yet: "A new Israeli law requires the hanging of Palestinians and almost exclusively Palestinians. We have seen this before, in the American South, and it has to be stopped." Some mixed metaphors here, in that lynching in America has generally been regarded as extrajudicial killing, which has effectively been unpunished in Israel for quite some time now. Of course, capital punishment in the US has often been just a more deliberate version of lynching. In Israel, that will also be true, and more explicitly so.

• Brooke Adams [04-03]: Gavin Newsom is a hollow man in a hurry: "In his new memoir, the California governor tries desperately to seem down-to-earth. Instead, he reveals himself as a shallow, inauthentic son of privilege who'll say anything to get ahead."

• [04-06]: "The cruelty is staggering": Jasper Nathaniel on reporting from the West Bank: An interview with an American reporter who has spent considerable time reporting from the West Bank in Israel. You can find more reporting on his newsletter, Infinite Jaz, including:

  • [01-19]: You don't understand how bad it is here: "On trying to capture the staggering cruelty of Israel's occupation of the West Bank."

  • [01-30]: Kristallnacht in the West Bank on Holocaust Remembrance Day: "Settlers stage pogroms in the West Bank, Israel flirts with Nazis, Jewish leaders and institutions look away."

  • [03-15]: The most predictable place on earth: "A historic settler killing spree unfolds in the West Bank. Who could have seen it coming?"

• Brian McLoone [04-07]: Ross Douthat's shoddy arguments for religion: "In Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, the New York Times columnist tries to reverse the trend of a more secular society." He explains that "part of his job at the Times is 'to make religious belief intelligible to irreligious readers.'" That strikes me as tall order, because loss of belief starts with doubting the credibility of given religion, and once you've done that, there is little chance of going back. Maybe you can go elsewhere, but not back. On the other hand, if proselytizing is just a job (or even a calling), he may find the exercise fulfilling, even if we see it as pointless.

• [04-10]: The death of book world and why criticism still matters: "Becca Rothfeld reflects on her layoff from The Washington Post, and what's at stake in a world without readers." Interview. Pieces mentioned herein:

  • Becca Rothfeld [02-10]: The death of book world: "What the closing of the Washington Post's books section means for readers."

  • Becca Rothfeld [03-05]: You don't have to use AI.

• [04-13]: Amy Goodman on telling the stories power wants buried: Interview with the host of Democracy Now!, and filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, who have a documentary about Goodman called Steal This Story, Please!

• Nathan J Robinson [04-14]: Meanwhile, Zohran is just getting things done: "As Trump creates economic havoc and commits war crimes, the socialist mayor of New York City demonstrates what serious, responsible government looks like."

Jeffrey St Clair:

• [03-27]: Roaming Charges: Eyes open, minds wide shut: I've recently started following St Clair on Facebook, so I'm starting to see many of these items in real time.

• [04-03]: "Avenues to control human behavior:" When the CIA made humans glow.

• [04-08]: Burning Persia: Alexander and Trump.

• [04-10]: Roaming Charges: Mad mouth, bad man; mad man, bad mouth:

  JD Vance saying the quiet part out loud about the US imposing its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz: "What they have done is engage in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world. As the President showed, two can play at that game." Vance well knows that economic terrorism has always been the US's most efficient way of killing. As Cockburn wrote of Robert McNamara: "After McNamara contributed more than most to the slaughter of 3.4 million Vietnamese (his own estimate), he went on to run the World Bank, where he presided over the impoverishment, eviction from their lands and death of many millions more around the world."

Robert Wright:

• [04-11]: The future arrived this week. "And boy are we not ready for it!" Author has a new book coming out in June, with the very unfortunate title of The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. I recently read his 1999 book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, which was pretty good but would have been better had he excised all his references to "God" and "destiny." I suspect the new book will also have much real value, but once again way too much about "God" and "Cosmic Reckoning." He does write here:

  One of the book's central points is that if we're going to successfully navigate the AI revolution — avoid traumas and catastrophes that range from social chaos to planet-wide authoritarian rule to nuclear war to complete annihilation — we'll have to cross the threshold to true global community. The world's nations have to confront this challenge collectively — build new international rules and norms — or else watch in dismay and intermittent terror as a technology that accelerates without constraint or guidance strips us of agency.

  Given that "true global community" is a pretty extreme pipe dream, I wonder if something more practicable might work. To some extent, this depends on what the real threat of AI is, and how it interacts with other problems (or perhaps I should say comorbidities?). If you want to take nuclear war off the table, maybe the best way to tackle that problem isn't through AI but through nuclear weapons. I'm all for some "new international rules and norms," but caution that they have to be mutually agreed upon, without the coercion of power. It isn't beyond imagination that the ten or so states that possess nuclear weapons could agree to safeguards that would effectively end their threat, and that every other nation could agree, as nearly all have already done in signing the NPT, not to build their own. With no nuclear weapons, there can be no nuclear war, regardless of how funky AI gets.

  "Social chaos" and "authoritarian rule," tough less clearly defined, can also be dealt with without reference to AI. As for AI itself, I think most people understand that it promises some benefits but also poses some challenges, possibly including a few that may prove insurmountable. If we take nation-states as atoms, each free and autonomous — i.e., living in anarchy, with no overarching "world order," just a set of "international rules and norms" that are freely agreed upon, I doubt that any will want to not enjoy the benefits of AI, although they may have legitimate concerns about how others might abuse it, so they may seek to formulate some rules and norms to regulate its use, maybe even its development. Wright isn't arguing against me here, but he's imagining some kind of enforcement mechanism that I reject at an invitation to abuse. All I want to do here is question why we need to go to such (unworkable) extremes?

  Which gets us back to "what God has to do with it"? On the one hand, I find the concept bewildering (what could it possibly mean?), and on the other I find it ominous (who wants to be God? and why?). I don't know much about AI, but I suspect that the notion that whoever controls AI is going to be able to run the world is just megalomaniacal nonsense. Admittedly, if you look at the capitalization of AI companies, it's profitable nonsense, as it seems to be the basis of such ridiculous valuations. But aside from trying to set up a system of tribute-rents, which is ultimately equivalent to a tax on breathing (or life), where is the natural profit? Conversely, take away the patents and rents, and where is the problem?

  The piece goes on to offer valuable insights about Trump and Iran, before cycling back to his book, wherein he writes:

  These kinds of dangers — AI-abetted biological virus, AI-abetted computer virus, AI-infused cyberweapon, rampantly destructive AI agent — and various others make it harder for any nation to feel safe unless it has some confidence that things are under control in other nations. And it's hard to get that kind of confidence without international agreements that qualify, in at least some sense, for the term "international governance."

  To which he quotes Tom Friedman, saying virtually the same thing, but couched in more conventional realpolitik:

  The solution — this may shock people — must begin with the two AI superpowers, the US and China. It is now urgent that they learn to collaborate to prevent bad actors from gaining access to this next level of cyber capability. Such a powerful tool would threaten them both, leaving them exposed to criminal actors inside their countries and terrorist groups and other adversaries outside. It could easily become a greater threat to each country than the two countries are to each other.

  I suppose I find it hopeful that such great powers might fear the future more than each other and/or their own people, but I'm sure a sampling of AI executives would love nothing more than to see an arms race develop to control AI, as that would make themselves the most important (and potentially most powerful) people in the world. As it is, they're playing up the potential use of AI in weapons systems, because they know that's where the sweet spot between fear and money is. Take that money away, and the mighty motivation of greed will melt away. That won't cause AI not to be developed, but will slow it down, and straighten it out, with the much better motivation of altruism.

Miscellaneous Pieces

The following articles are more/less in order published, although some authors have collected pieces, and some entries have related articles underneath.

Gabrielle Gurley [03-30]: Ending sports owner blackmail: "A new bill would prohibit the money grabs that billionaire team owners unleash to pit states and cities against each other in bidding wars over potential moves." The bill is the Home Team Act, sponsored by Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). They cite the Green Bay Packers as an exception to the billionaire-owner rule, as the team is owned by fans, none of whom can exceed a 4% ownership share.

Caitlin Dewey [04-01]: America is going back to the moon: "Artemis II and the new space race, explained."

John Semley [04-14]: The fanfare around the band Geese actually was a psyop: "The Brooklyn band Geese was labeled an 'industry plant' by those who questioned its sudden ubiquity. Maybe it was." Paywalled ("You've read your last free article"; when did I ever read my first?), so I'm short on details, but as a non-fan this caught my eye. Zachary Carter tweeted: "Give me a break. They had a digital marketing team for their fourth record, and it worked. Music has always been promoted via inorganic methods." The Geese album, Getting Killed, wound up in first place in my 2025 EOY Aggregate, by a slim margin over Rosalía's Lux (247-230; AOTY put Lux ahead, 413-404, an order I might have wound up with had I surveyed my usual large number of lists, but I fell far short). I'm not a fan of either album, but had five A- albums in AOTY's top ten: Wednesday, CMAT, Lily Allen, Clipse, and Billy Woods. That's if anything above average for me, so I'm used to albums I don't much care for ranking well. Publicity has something to do with this, but more to do with ranked vs. unranked. Records that are noticed by enough people to get reviewed usually scatter not by degrees of PR but by more basic taste considerations. That said, I have even less idea why other people like Geese than I do with other ranked albums I don't care for (FKA Twigs and Turnstile from both our lists; I had Bad Bunny at ***, which qualifies as an album I like; Oklou and Hayley Williams, both ** for me, made the AOTY list, displacing Allen and Woods — sure, my list is skewed slightly in my direction).

• Wren Graves [04-14]: No, Geese is not a "psy-op": "And a marketing budget doesn't make someone an industry plant."

• Stuart Dredge [04-15]: Arguments rage over Chaotic Good, Geese and 'trend simulation'. Chaotic Good Projects seems to be a music marketing company, with home page links for: UGC, Fanpage, and Brands & Media campaigns. But when I search for "chaotic good" on Google, I get a 3x3 table of character types ("9 moral alignments"), where "chaotic good represents a willingness to challenge authority and break rules to achieve positive change."

Books:

• Tom Carson [03-28]: Charlie is my darling: "The Little Drummer Girl, 43 years later."

• Robert Kuttner [04-03]: Capital ideas: "Two books on the history of capitalism provide lessons for how to tame it." Reviews of Sven Beckert: Capitalism: A Global History, and John Cassidy: Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI.

• Ishan Desai-Geller [04-10]: The enduring lessons of the Jewish bund: "A conversation with Molly Crabapple about Here Where We Live Is Our Country, her capacious history of Bundism and what we can learn from their socialist and anti-Zionist example."

Some Notable Deaths: I've been using the New York Times, but it's giving me aggravation these days, so I'll switch over to Wikipedia (April, also March), which is probably better anyway. Roughly speaking, since my last report on March 22:

• Dan Wall, 72 [04-14]: jazz organ player, notably worked with John Abercrombie and Jerry Bergonzi.

• Asha Bhosle, 92 [04-12]: Indian singer.

• Phil Garner, 76 [04-11], baseball player and manager.

• Mike Westbrook, 90 [04-11]: English pianist, composer, band leader; a Penguin Guide favorite.

• Afrika Bambaataa, 68 [04-09]: DJ and rapper, "Looking for the Perfect Beat" was one of the founding classics of hip-hop.

• Davey Lopes, 80 [04-08], baseball player and manager.

• Tracy Kidder, 80 [03-24], journalist. I read his books: The Soul of a New Machine (1982, which won a Pulitzer), and House (1985).

• Chip Taylor, 86 [03-23], singer-songwriter ("Wild Thing").

• Keith Ingham, 88 [03-12], English pianist.

Tweets: I've usually used this section for highlighting clever responses and/or interesting ideas.

• Kevin M Kruse [04-02]:

  I think the reason AI propagandists are so flustered by the fact that no real writer wants to use their idiotic tools is that they themselves don't enjoy writing. They see it as a boring arduous chore to be avoided, while real writers actually enjoy writing and actually care about the quality of it.

  It's like approaching a chef who really loves making new dishes, watching other people enjoy them, enjoying the taste himself and saying, look, this cooking thing takes a lot of time and energy, wouldn't you rather just get your nutritional needs from this brand new Gruel Bar we're selling?

• Tom Carson [04-02]:

  It fascinates me how totally indequate the NYT is -- its methods, its strictures, its preconceptions, its reason for being -- the dealing with Trump's insanity. This brand of delirium is outside their wheelhouse and that's why they're pretending it doesn't exist. I say this with some sympathy, like your grandma losing the ability to proper her wheelchair in any direction at all.

  A comment: "Compared to all the other national and international reporting outfits that are doing such a bang-up job?" Carson responded citing "the mystique of invaluability and authoritativeness the NYT has projected all my life." At least he admits that the reputation may not be deserved.

• Jon Lovett [04-03]: "In a surprise twist, the Epstein files released the attorney general."

• Emily DiVito [04-15]:

  Annual Tax Day reminder that Trump killed Direct File and now taxpayers have no choice but to shell out millions a year to TurboTax.

• Dean Baker [04-15]: "Trump means that when Netanyahu gave him the orders, he was prepared to ignore the consequences." After quoting Aaron Rupar:

  Trump on high oil prices: "They're not up -- I thought, I mean, honestly -- I thought they're be much -- and I was willing to do that, to stop a nuclear weapon to be used against this country or the Middle East, to stop that it was certainly worthwhile being much higher than it is.

  Uh, but there was no nuclear weapon, nor even a program to develop a nuclear weapon, a lie Netanyahu has been pushing since the 1990s, when his estimates of achievement had already been discredited. Even if Iran had nuclear weapons, there is no reason to think that Iran would use it against Israel, much less against the US. Since the end of WWII, no nation with nuclear weapons has used them against another nation. Nor have any used them for "nuclear blackmail" (unless you read Trump's ultimatum to Iran that way). They've all posed them as deterrence against foreign attack, only to be used in response to such an attack. So why should Trump, or Netanyahu, worry about Iran developing nukes, other than that they hoped to attack Iran before it had any sort of nuclear deterrent? For what it's worth, I don't think that Netanyahu is in a position to give Trump orders. But he's a conniving sort, and persuaded Trump to launch the war by exploiting Trump's ignorance and playing on his vanity. How long Trump will allow himself to be so manipulated is an open question, as is what he will do about it. While I don't see Trump as someone easily ordered about, he is one of those rich guys who depends on other people to do anything, and he's surrounded himself with a mix of sycophantic morons and Israel agents that won't give him many options.

Current count: 270 links, 18395 words (22665 total)

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

April archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45771 [45738] rated (+33), 29 [21] unrated (+8).

I've written answers to two recent questions. I don't get many, which sometimes excuses my slow responses, but I'm generally game. You can ask a question here.

Main thing I worked on last week was a two-part Substack post on Trump's Iran War:

• April 3: Iran War: The Three Questions: Why is this happening?
• April 5: Iran War: The Big Question: How does it end? Or does it end at all? These followed up from my earlier post:
• March 13: Days of Infamy: "Franklin Roosevelt knew how to sell a war." Donald Trump doesn't. He only knows how to start one.

The New York Times has a new piece, How Trump took the US to war with Iran, which reports on the war council meetings. It has more details like who sat where, but the outlines are exactly as I speculated in these posts. The only news seems to be that the insiders feeding the reporters these details are making sure to register their reservations, which if made obviously had no effect on Trump. It's the first draft of history, and already people want an edit.

What I didn't particularly anticipate was that Trump would reverse course and issue an apocalyptic ultimatum on Easter Sunday, then back off today and agree to a two-week ceasefire. As the New York Times reports: US and Iran agree to cease-fire, avoiding (or postponing) Trump's threats of imminent devastation. I haven't figured out what's going on yet, although the "TACO Tuesday" joke occurred to me before I heard it on Kimmel. Given that Trump wound up accepting an Iranian proposal as the "basis for talks" suggests that he blinked first, and that Iran expects to gain more diplomatic leverage in two weeks than the military advantage they lose as the US and Israel rearms. But how it might make sense isn't immediately clear.

I'll collect more on this during the week, and try to release a new Loose Tabs before next week. It should be shorter than the last couple, partly because I'm taking less time, and partly because I don't expect to have a lot of time this week. On the other hand, things are moving too fast to hold back just to pile up another TL;DR post. Meanwhile, you can read what I have so far in my draft file.

Music Week was delayed a day this week because a friend broke her hip and shoulder, and we helped get her settled back home from the hospital. As usual, they dump people out long before they're really ready to go. Some very interesting records below, including several that don't quite work for me but might be up your alley (Raye, Chalk, Jill Scott). I've been playing old favorites to start off most days, and I paid little attention to the demo queue this week (pretty much everything I have is still in advance of release, so it didn't seem urgent.

I have dinner plans for Saturday, and lots of house work to do. I'm not sure about the latter given how sore I still am from crawling around the attic last week.

New records reviewed this week:

Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman: Miami Lice: Season Four (2026, Rhymesayers Entertainment): Underground rappers Ian Bavitz and Angelo Del Villar II, both with long and notable solo careers, fourth EP/album together as Lice, getting closer to album length with 8 songs, 27:11. B+(***) [sp]

Ali & Charif Megarbane: Tirakat (2026, Habibi Funk): Ali (140 on Discogs) is a Jakarta-based trio, with a couple of previous albums. Megarbane is a Lebanese composer-producer of somewhat longer standing, including aliases like Cosmic Analog Ensemble, The Free Association Syndicate, The Submarine Chronicles, and Trans-Mara Express. B+(*) [sp]

Elles Bailey: Can't Take My Story Away (2026, Cooking Vinyl): English singer-songwriter, slotted over there as Americana, draws more on blues than country, eighth album since 2017. Strong singer, sounds good. B+(**) [sp]

Chalk: Crystalpunk (2026, Alter Music): Industrial dance-punk band from Belfast, first album, Ross Cullen the vocalist, Benedict Goddard multi-instrumentalist, they seem to also have some accomplishments in film. Starts out sounding like what I think metal should sound like, but they're more varied, and ultimately not much more hardcore than, say, the Fall (or some other 1980s band I can't recall but can almost picture). That seems about right, though I still haven't plumbed much depth here. B+(***) [sp]

Stew Cutler & Friends: Under Cover (Mostly) (2025 [2026], self-released): Guitarist, also plays harmonica, has several albums going back to 2000, mostly jazz side-credits (Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz), although I'm seeing this filed under blues (which works best when the friend is vocalist Bobby Harden; less so with the organ). Some nifty guitar in spots (but "Summer Breeze" is a bit too saccharine). B+(*) [sp]

The Delines: The Set Up (2026, Decor/El Cortez/Jealous Butcher): Retro country-soul band from Portland, led by reputable novelist Willy Vlautin, Amy Boone the vocalist, seventh album since 2014. B+(***) [sp]

Elucid & Sebb Bash: I Guess U Had to Be There (2026, Backwoodz Studioz): Rapper Chaz Hall, has a dozen or so albums on his own since 2007, aside from his work in Armand Hammer. With Swiss producer Sebastian Bashmolean. Pretty dense. B+(**) [sp]

Avalon Emerson & the Charm: Written Into Changes (2026, Dead Oceans): Singer-songwriter from Arizona, has a reputation as a Berlin DJ and electronic music producer, but at least here sings on what I'd call electropop (or synth-pop), keeping as group name the title of her 2023 debut. A- [sp]

Girl Scout: Brink (2026, Human Garbage): Swedish indie-pop group, Emma Jansson the singer, multiple songwriters, first album after two EPs. B+(*) [sp]

Irreversible Entanglements: Future Present Past (2026, Impulse!): DC-based free jazz collective, fifth studio album since 2017, with Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother, vocals), Aquiles Navarro (trumpet), Keir Neuringer (saxes/keyboards), Luke Stewart (bass), and Tcheser Holmes (drums). Impressive as ever. A- [sp]

DoYeon Kim: Wellspring (2026, TAO Forms): Korean, based in New York, plays gayageum (12- and 25-string), sings some, backed by Mat Maneri (viola), Henry Fraser (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums). Interesting and fairly unique record, but not one I find myself particularly enjoying. B+(*) [cd] [05-01]

Erica von Kleist: Picc Pocket (2025 [2026], self-released): Flute player and saxophonist, born in Connecticut, several albums since 2005, this one focuses on the piccolo (which "has spent most of jazz history on the sidelines," not without reason). Backed by piano-bass-drums, with some trombone and tenor sax. B [cd] [04-23]

Kronos Quartet: Glorious Mahalia (2026, Smithsonian Folkways): Classical string quartet, founded by David Harrington (violin) in 1973, based in San Francisco, group was stable from 1978-99, with John Sherba and Hank Dutt retiring in 2024. Early albums included works of Terry Riley and Steve Reich, as well as modernists, but they've branched out widely, with Piazzolla and Partch, Dylan and Seeger, and lots of world music — Pieces of Africa (1992) a personal favorite. This tribute to the gospel great incorporates some of her singing, but is mostly built around spoken word samples, with Clarence Jones as well as Jackson, often focused on Martin Luther King Jr. A- [sp]

Buck Meek: The Mirror (2026, 4AD): Guitarist in Big Thief, was married to lead singer Adrianne Lenker when they founded the band, divorced in 2018, but remains in band, while both also record solo albums. This is his fourth. B+(**) [sp]

Fabiano do Nascimento & Vittor Santos E Orquestra: Vila (2026, Far Out): Brazilian guitarist, has a dozen-plus albums since 2011. Santos I know as a trombonist, but here he leads a large and rather lush orchestra: not my favorite thing, but lovely, for sure. B+(*) [sp]

Nubiyan Twist: Chasing Shadows (2026, Strut): British jazz-funk group, sixth album since 2015, much depends on their funk quotient. B [sp]

Bill Orcutt: Music in Continuous Motion (2026, Palilalia): Guitarist, has a noise-rock background starting in the group Harry Pussy, has quite a few instrumental albums, of late some with four guitars (including this one, but apparently here they're all him). B+(**) [sp]

Puma Blue: Croak Dream (2026, PIAS): British electronica producer Jacob Allen, singles since 2016 and albums since 2019, languid beats and dusky atmospherics roughly fit the genre of trip-hop. B+(**) [sp]

Raye: This Music May Contain Hope (2026, Human Re Sources): British pop/r&b singer-songwriter Rachel Keen, second album, has co-written songs for Beyoncé and Charli XCX. This is major, 17 songs for 73 minutes, with a dollop of Al Green in the middle. Too much, but half of this is as impressive as anything I've heard this year. B+(***) [sp]

Jill Scott: To Whom It May Concern (2026, Human Re Sources/Blues Babe): Soul singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, debut 2000, sixth studio album (last was 2015). A pretty major effort. B+(***) [sp]

Aktu el Shabazz: As Seen on TV (2026, 766303 DK): Underground hip-hop, Brooklyn-born, Vancouver-based MC, first album. B+(**) [sp]

Snail Mail: Ricochet (2026, Matador): Indie-pop group from Baltimore, Lindsey Jordan the singer-songwriter, third album since 2018. B+(*) [sp]

Tyshawn Sorey: Monochromatic Life (Afterlife) (2023 [2026], Dacamera): Jazz drummer, MacArthur Genius, just composer and conductor of this single 74:52 piece, played by Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano/celeste), and Steven Schick (percussion), featuring the many voices of the Houston Chamber Choir: not that this sounds like a big vocal production — I'd file it under ambient, and forget it. B [sp]

Stu Bangas & Wordsworth: Chemistry (2026, 1332): Hip-hop producer Stuart Hudgins, from Boston, has put his name on 33+ albums since 2012, mostly as second bill to some rapper, including a previous album with rapper Vinson Johnson, whose first album appeared in 2002. Title is true, as words and beats mesh into continuous pleasure. A- [sp]

Thundercat: Distracted (2026, Brainfeeder): Neo-soul singer-songwriter Stephen Bruner, mostly plays bass, has a rep as a producer, fifth album since 2011. B+(*) [sp]

Mark Turner: Patternmaster (2024 [2026], ECM): Tenor saxophonist, impressive debut in 1995, recorded for majors through 2001 then fell off, but has been busy since 2018. Quartet with Jason Palmer (trumpet), Joe Martin (bass), and Jonathan Pinson (drums), whose names appear on the over, under the title. B+(*) [sp]

Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 26: Antonio Carlos & Jocafi (2026, Jazz Is Dead): Brazilian duo, Antonio Carlos Marques Pinto and José Carlos Figueiredo, who brought Bahia folk into MPB, recorded at least 13 albums 1971-96, fitting the producers' focus on 1970s artists who are still kicking (now in their 80s). I'm not familiar with their old work, but this seems like it should work as a fine introductory sampler. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Eddie Condon: Surprise! Eddie Condon at Town Hall, c. April 1944 (1944 [2026], Jazz Lives): Early swing pianist (1905-73), known more as a bandleader than as a soloist, LPs start in 1956 but recordings go back to 1928. This live set is presented as having been discovered by Michael Steinman in 1988, from the collection of J. David Goldin, and recently cleaned up, running 57:07, with a long list of notable players, identified as we go by announcer Alistair Cooke (including Sidney Catlett [or Cozy Cole], Joe Bushkin [or Art Hodes], Buster Bailey, Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole, Billy Butterfield, and Max Kaminsky). This material has probably appeared on CD before: Jazzology released 11 volumes of Condon's The Town Hall Concerts from 1944-45. I copied them all down from Penguin Guide, which singled out Volumes 3 & 7 for 4 stars. Before this, I've only heard one later excerpt, so it's impossible to weigh this out, but I'm enjoying this almost as much as Steinman promised. Still, without an actual CD, cover, etc., one shouldn't get carried away. [Link] B+(***) [yt]

Serengeti: Ajai 2 the Reimagine (2025, self-released): Chicago underground rapper David Cohn, lots of albums since 2006, one called Ajai in 2020, Agai II in 2023, previously graded (**) and (*), this one similar to one on Bandcamp called Ajai 2 Remix Album, which came out about the same time. Probably no better or worse than any other version. B+(*) [sp]

Serengeti: Universe (2022 [2025], CC King): Seems to be a 2022 LP release (50 copies), followed by a digital reissue, but whereas the former had five titles on the A-side, just 1 on the B, this only shows a "side one" and "side two" (which is mostly ambient). B [sp]

Old music:

Kronos Quartet: Howl, U.S.A. (1996, Nonesuch): A lot of back catalog to explore. This seemed like such a obvious item for me: not only does Allen Ginsberg read his epic poem, but we also get I.F. Stone reading "Cold War Suite From How It Happens," Harry Partch's "Barstow," and an opening piece called "Sing Sing: J. Edgar Hoover." Howl was a big part of my late teen years. (I had a poster of Ginsberg glued to the ceiling over the staircase, which my mother hated, and eventually painted over; and I was a subscriber to I.F. Stone's Weekly; my interest in Partch came a bit later.) Not quite sure the music fits, nor are the readers ideal, but Ginsberg's words often overcome all that. B+(***) [sp]

Kronos Quartet: Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger (2020, Smithsonian Folkways): Friends are singers (Aoife O'Donovan, Brian Carpenter, Lee Knight, Maria Arnal, Meklit Hadero, Sam Amidon), preserving but reshaping folk songs, many classics, most original but some older, a couple surprises (I somehow missed that "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" was his song, as was "Turn Turn Turn"). An interesting and thoughtful reframing of a powerful legacy. A- [sp]

Soda Stereo: Canción Animal (1990, Sony): Rock group from Argentina, seven studio albums 1984-95, this fifth album "considered to be one of the best albums of all time of the Latin Rock genre" (per Wikipedia; Google also recommended it; I only asked because I have a reader lobbying for Argentinian rock in general — I had no idea where to start until this group came up, probably from the same reader). If I could follow the words, I might be able to figure out whether they're as good or bad or whatever as, to pull a couple not-dissimilar bands off the top of my head, Guns 'N Roses or Manic Street Preachers. But I can't, so I'm going off rhythm and sonics. B+(*) [sp]

Wordsworth and Stu Bangas: Two Kings (2024, Brutal Music): Rapper, goes back to 2002, and producer. I'm working back from their new one, Chemistry, and finding the same attraction here, in their first collaboration, although "the alliance of two giants" line isn't quite as interesting. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Bobby Broom: Notes of Thanks (Steele) [05-01]
• Marie-Paule Franke: Through the Cracks, the Light Is Born (MariPosa) [06-26]
• Phil Haynes/Ben Monder/Peyton Pleninger: Terra (Corner Store Jazz) [05-01]
• Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance, 2CD) [04-18]
• Ahmad Jamal: At the Jazz Showcaswe: Live in Chicago (1976, Resonance) [04-18]
• Tomas Janzon: Jazz Diary (Changes Music) [04-10]
• Paul Kahn: Willingness (Carl Cat) [06-19]
• Jason Kruk: Beyond the Veil (SunGoose) [05-01]
• Yusef Lateef: Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance, 3CD) [04-18]
• Mal Waldron: Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (1979, Resonance) [04-18]

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Tuesday, March 31, 2026

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45738 [45700] rated (+38), 21 [26] unrated (-5).

I didn't give any thought to posting this on Monday. I was preoccupied with writing the follow up to my March 13 Iran war post, Days of Infamy. The new one attempts to explain the war through four questions: three factual, one calling for speculation. I've written quite a bit of this (you can peek at my draft file), but I wasn't happy with the final section, and still have some tidying up to do.

I don't get much done these days, especially on ones where my prime time gets interrupted by other exigencies. Yesterday, we had to go deal with taxes. Today I had to take the car in for service. When I got back, Laura told me that Trump had called off the war. While I would welcome that, if true it would mean that much of the thinking behind my fourth answer was wrong. I'm not saying that at some point Trump won't want to simply call off the war, but I doubt he's come close to that point yet, and it's really not just up to him anymore. So I've done some checking, and need to do some more. The net effect is that I'm more than a few hours away from wrapping the Substack piece up.

So I'm not getting that piece out today. Which means that once again I've limped through another month with only one Substack post to my credit. Given that I've yet to hit 100 subscribers, I'm feeling pretty bummed about the whole enterprise. But if I can't get that done today (and possibly not even this week), I reckon I can print out what I have for Music Week, so that follows.

I don't have much more to say about this week's music. Which I suppose is fitting given how many albums below I graded without offering any further explanation. I've been focusing more on the war writing this week, and that's taking a lot out of me. It may well mean I've missed a bunch of stuff. Of course, that's always true, but this week has been exceptionally distracting.

I've done the bare minimum of bookkeeping to go from March to April. I despair of ever catching up, but this coming week should be more distracted than usual, as I try to get some house work done while the weather is still relatively decent. (We've had what is probably a record number of 90+°F days for March.)

One correction/explanation: Last week I included the Docteur Nico album cover, but omitted the review. I fixed that, but rather than referring you back, I've duplicated both this week.

By the way, I continue to add minor bits to the March 22 Loose Tabs, but most new stuff is going into the draft file.

New records reviewed this week:

Joshua Abrams: Music for Pulse Meridian Foliation (2026, Drag City): Chicago bassist, debut 2002, in 2010 released a mostly electronics album called Natural Information, and has followed that with seven Natural Information Society albums. He composed to run non-stop for Lisa Alvarado's art exhibition, using two cellos, harmonium, and electronics, and mixed it down to a single 35:42 piece. Functional ambient music, and just interesting enough. B+(**) [sp]

Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit (2026, Mom + Pop/Fiction): Australian singer-songwriter, pretty good guitarist, fourth album since 2015. A nice little rock record, a consistent pleasure. A- [sp]

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: We Are Together Again (2026, No Quarter/Domino): Singer-songwriter Will Oldham, started as Palace Brothers in 1993, then Palace Music, recorded a solo album under his own name in 1997, then started using this moniker in 1999, now up to 27 albums. I've always been rather put off by the name, for reasons I've never examined. B+(*) [sp]

Asher Brinson: Midnight Hurricane (2026, AsherBrin): Bluegrass singer-songwriter from North Carolina, first album, quite young but gets some veteran help and makes the most of it, padding eight original songs out with one cover and two instrumental tracks. Songs are solid-plus, set in some mighty fine picking. A- [cd] [04-03]

Owen Chen: Eternal Wind: The Ghibli Collection (2025 [2026], OA2): Guitarist, based in New York, first album, joined here by a second guitarist, Andrew Cheng, playing pieces written by Joe Hisaishi for Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. Backed by piano-bass-drums, with harmonica and/or tenor sax on five (of 9) tracks. B+(*) [cd] [04-03]

Cyger & Butterworth: Plaid Pants (2024 [2026], Outrageous8): Saxophonist Ron Cyger (also plays flute) and bassist Brent Butterworth (also guitar, ukulele, and percussion), each writing four (of eight) songs, backed by various percussionists. Nice groove. B+(**) [cd]

Flying Lotus: Big Mama (Brainfeeder, EP): Electronica producer Steven Ellison, eight albums since 2006, seven tracks (13:19), also comes with a 13:21 continuous mix. B+(*) [sp]

Tigran Hamasyan: Manifeste (2023-25 [2026], Naïve): Armenian pianist, lives in Yerevan after some time in Los Angeles, over a dozen albums since 2006, most on major labels (Verve, ECM, Nonesuch), draws on a wide array of styles, using electronics and voices (including the Yerevan State Chamber Choir). Impressive moves, just not a mix I particularly enjoy. B [sp]

Joshua Idehen: I Know You're Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got to Try (2026, Heavenly): British poet, teacher, musician, sings, raps, sometimes just utters philosophical epigrams; third album since 2023. Good advice: "do not bend to fascism." While the words impress, the beats put this over. A- [sp]

Grace Ives: Girlfriend (2026, True Panther/Capitol): Synth-pop singer-songwriter, third album since 2019. B+(***) [sp]

Jamile/Vinicius Gomes: Boundless Species (2024 [2026], La Reserve): Brazilians in New York, vocals and guitar, along with Joe Martin on bass. B+(***) [cd] [04-03]

Robert Jospé Quartet: The Night Sky (2025 [2026], self-released): American drummer, has several previous albums, going back to the 1990s (hype sheet says this is his ninth). Quartet with Daniel Clarke (keyboards), Chris Whiteman (guitar), and Paul Langosch (bass). Mostly originals (including one by Clarke), with two standards. B+(*) [cd]

The Paul Keller Orchestra: Thank You Notes: The Music of Gregg Hill (2025 [2026], Cold Plunge): Hill, based in Lansing, has few if any performance credits to speak of, but tributes to his compositions have become a cottage industry in recent years. As he turns 80, bassist Keller, whose own big band is marking its 40th anniversary, gives him the royal treatment. B+(**) [cd]

Steve Kovalcheck: Buckshot Blues (2025 [2026], OA2): Guitarist, several records since 2009, trio with Jeff Hamilton (bass) and Jon Hamar (drums) &mdash Kovalchek was on 2025's Jeff Hamilton Organ Trio album. Mostly originals, with Hamar contributing one, the covers including "Skylark" and "I've Been Everywhere." The latter and the title cut, in particular, have a nice bounciness. B+(***) [cd] [04-03]

Scott Lee: Greetings From Florida: Postcards From Paradise (2024 [2026], Sunnyside): Composer, website shows one previous album (Through the Mangrove Tunnels, 2020 on New Focus), so evidently not Discogs' Scott Lee (5), a bassist with several albums on SteepleChase. This is music written for chamber ensemble and singer Camila Meza, drawing built around lyrics from Cuban American poet Carolina Hospital. The lyrics "balance ambiguity with clarity of message in a way that makes them perfect for setting to music." I didn't warm to the music, but the depth and art is clear. B+(*) [cd] [04-16]

Roc Marciano: 656 (2026, self-released): Rapper Rakeem Calief Myer, has a dozen solo or collaborative studio albums since 2010. B+(**) [sp]

Kristen Mather de Andrade: Sim Fin (2022-24 [2026], Ansonica): Clarinet player and singer from Youngstown, Ohio; based in New York, has at least one previous album; plays Brazilian music, backed here by string quartet and other notables, including Vinicius Gomes (guitar) and Vitor Gonçalves (piano/accordion). B+(*) [cd]

Mitski: Nothing's About to Happen to Me (2026, Dead Oceans): Japanese-American singer-songwriter, mother Japanese, born there, but father was a US State Department official who dragged her all over before ending up in New York. Eighth studio album since 2012, popular breakthrough in 2012. One of the year's top-rated albums (so far), but once again she mostly slips past me. B+(*) [sp]

Model/Actriz: Swan Songs (2026, True Panther/Dirty Hit, EP): Industrial/dance-punk band, originally from Boston, now in Brooklyn, two albums, this just 3 songs, 14:01. B+(**) [sp]

Beto Paciello: The Stoic Suite (2023 [2026], Moons Arts): Brazilian pianist/composer, seems to have been around, with several albums, recorded this in New York with Eric Harland (drums), John Patitucci (bass), John Ellis (tenor/soprano sax, flute, bass clarinet), Rogerio Boccato (percussion), and Anne Boccato (voice). As is often the case, I lose this with the vocals. B [cd] [04-17]

RJD2 & Supastition: According To (2026, RJ's Electrical Connections): Hip-hop producer Jon Krohn, appeared on a Def Jux Presents volume in 2001, and led his first joint in 2002. With rapper Kamaarphial Moye, from North Carolina, who goes back as far but only has one other album since 2007. Vintage beats, underground takes, clever enough even to mitigate my initial discomfort with "Bittersweet." A- [sp]

Robyn: Sexistential (2026, Konichiwa/Young): Swedish dance-pop singer-songwriter, debut 1995, started to break into US market 2005-10, only her second album since, and a fairly short one at that (nine songs, 29:30). A- [sp]

Marta Sanchez: For the Space You Left (2024 [2026], Out of Your Head): Spanish pianist, "(2)" on Discogs, several albums since 2008, some remarkable, including this one, solo, prepared piano but only occasionally does this move into a distorted range. A- [cd] [04-17]

Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Agua Con Gas (2025 [2026], Cubeye Music): Baritone saxophonist, albums go back to 1993, second Cubeye album, with a mixed bag of Latin jazz musicians (notably pianists Manuel Valera and Silvano Monasterios, who contribute songs/arrangements). Three Schumacher originals, and two covers from Ronnie Cuber, who somehow figures into the motif. B [cd] [04-17]

Aaron Shaw: And So It Is (2025 [2026], Leaving): Saxophonist from Los Angeles, also plays bass clarinte and alto flute, first album, has some side credits with rappers (Tyler the Creator, Billy Woods), but mostly with Carlos Niño, who co-produced here. Shaw has a horrific health story which may contribute to the focus on what's called "spiritual jazz," or he may just dig Coltrane. B+(*) [sp]

Sideshow: Tigray Funk (2026, 10k): Los Angeles rapper (13 on Discogs, no Wikipedia), has a couple previous albums, trap beats, 32 short pieces. B+(**) [sp]

Kevin Sun: Lofi at Lowlands 三 (2024 [2026], Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, made a big impression with his 2018 Trio debut, another trio here — with Walter Stinson (bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums) — third in a series of live albums from Lowlands Bar in Brooklyn. B+(**) [sp]

Tinariwen: Hoggar (2026, Wedge): Tuareg group, formed in Algeria by exiles from Mali, spent some time in Libya before returning to Mali and getting caught up in political struggles there. Recorded an album in Ibidjan in 1991, but their breakthrough didn't come until 2001, when they started touring Europe and releasing albums there. Tenth album since 2001, all are pretty good but not very distinct. This strikes me as a bit slower and moodier than usual, which diminishes excitement but still sustains interest. B+(**) [sp]

Gregory Uhlmann: Extra Stars (2026, International Anthem): Guitarist, based in Los Angeles, has several albums, notably two by the group SML, which includes most of the guests who appear on spots here — the rest, presumably, is solo, with Uhlmann credited for guitar, bass, synths, recorder, percussion, and piano. Has sort of a "fourth world" vibe. B+(*) [sp]

Underscores: U (2026, self-released): Experimental electropop by April Harper Grey, based in San Francisco, third album. Bounces hard, glitches some. B+(**) [sp]

Johannes Wallmann: Not Tired (2024 [2025], Shifting Paradigm): German pianist, based in New York, dozen or so albums since 2004, this one with Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Dayna Stephens (tenor sax), Nick Moran (bass), and Adam Nussbaum (drums), originals including two by co-producer Moran. B+(**) [bc]

Ben Wendel: BaRcoDe (2025 [2026], Edition): Tenor saxophonist, from Canada, a dozen or so albums since 2009, accompanied here by four vibraphonists (Joel Ross, Simon Moullier, Patricia Brennan, Juan Diego Villalobos), some also on marimba or balafon, most adding EFX. B+(**) [sp]

Xaviersobased: Xavier (2026, 1C/Surf Gang/Atlantic): Rapper/producer Xavier Lopez. Another one of those glitchy micro-genre joints. B+(**) [sp]

Zel: Still Right Here (2026, self-released): Maryland rapper and/or producer, got a rave Pitchfork review I can't read, doesn't have a Discogs I can find, or a Bandcamp; AOTY says the genre is "plugg," or maybe "ambient plugg" and/or "jerk," which Wikipedia describes as sub- or micro-genres of trap, itself a concept I have only the vaguest sense of. First take: sound is interesting, words escape me (18 tracks, 32:07). B+(***) [yt]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Docteur Nico: Presents African Fiesta Sukisa 1966-1974 (1966-74 [2025], Planet Ilunga): Congolese guitarist and bandleader Nico Kassanda (1939-85), joined Grand Kalle et l'African Jazz at age 14, left with Tabu Ley Rochereau to form L'Orchestra African Fiesta, discography has always been spotty, but this rounds up a prime period slice from his Sukisa label, available on 3-LP or with bonus songs for digital. A- [bc]

Bennie Green: Back on the Scene (1958 [2026], Blue Note): Trombonist (1923-77), from Chicago, started in the big bands of Earl Hines and Charlie Ventura, work in hard bop circles 1955-64 while keeping a fine sense of swing, later settled in Las Vegas, working in hotel bands. Fine quintet session here with Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Joe Knight (piano), George Tucker (bass), and Louis Hayes (drums), playing six tunes, including a self-penned blues and two by Melba Liston. B+(***) [sp]

The Lawrence Marable Quartet: Tenorman (1956 [2026], Blue Note): Drummer (1929-2012), from Los Angeles, associated with West Coast jazz starting with Hampton Hawes, Wardell Gray, and Herb Geller, extending to Charlie Haden's Quartet West. Discogs counts 246 albums he played on, but this is the only one with his name up top, and even here the title is a nod to the featured saxophonist, James Clay. He's terrific throughout, well supported by Sonny Clark (piano) and Jimmy Bond (bass). A- [sp]

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (2025 [2026], Jazz Life): New Orleans country punk duo. Second or third label this has been picked up on. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Paulo Almeida: Love in Motion (Dox) [04-24]
• Abate Berihun & the Addis Ken Project: Addis Ken (Origin) [04-17]
• Barry Greene: Giants (Origin) [04-17]
• Jared Hall: Hometown (Origin) [04-17]
• Kristen Mather de Andrade: Sim Fin (Ansonica) [03-01]
• Jim Robitaille Trio: Sonic (Whaling City Sound) [04-01]
• Yvonne Rogers: The Button Jar (Pyroclastic) [05-08]
• Fie Schouten/Vincent Courtois/Sofia Borges/Pierre Baux: Open Space (Relative Pitch) [03-27]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, March 23, 2026

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45700 [45655] rated (+45), 26 [39] unrated (-13).

After last week's Music Week, I decided I really should publish a new Loose Tabs before the week was out. I had published my previous one on February 27, just hours before Trump started bombing Iran. I've been running about one Loose Tabs post per month, but the war news was coming so fast and furious I didn't want to wait a whole month. (Even so, the gap this time stretched out to 23 days.)

In the meantime I wrote about the war in my Substack feed, Notes on Everyday Life, in a piece called Days of Infamy. Since then, I've decided to follow up with a second piece, which will try to reduce all the complexity and nuance of the war to four questions:

1. Why did Netanyahu want to attack Iran?
2. Why did Trump go along with the attack?
3. Why didn't Iran surrender once it was attacked?
4. And how and when and under what conditions is this war likely to end?

I'll probably take a more serious tone, but it's tempting to answer the first three flippantly:

1. Because he's a hammer looking for a nail (he's been obsessed with crippling Iran for 44 years, and with a gullible blowhard as president of the US, this is his best chance ever).
2. Because he was given an opportunity to kill a devil (or so he was told), and it made him feel awesome. (What's the point of being president if you can't kill whomsoever you want?)
3. Because, well, would you surrender to these megalomaniacs when you still had even the slightest power to fight back and make them feel at least some of the pain they're senselessly causing you?

Actually, each of those three could get very long and involved if I got into the history and how it has influenced what passes for thinking in these conservative/crypto-fascist political and military leaders and their coterie of advisers and operatives. (I should perhaps be more tentative in my views of the Iranians, both because I don't follow them as closely, and because I have less feel for their history and philosophical views, but it's a pretty safe bet I understand them better than Trump and Netanyahu do.)

While I meant to post last night, the time got away from me, and I decided to wait until this afternoon: not to collect more links, but simply to add my table of contents, flesh out the section introductions a bit, and correct whatever typos I could find. But when I got up, my wife told me that Trump had called a pause in the bombing, citing productive diplomatic talks. That turned out to be not half what it was cracked up to be, but Trump did shelve his threat to start bombing Iranian power plants, causing blackouts and widespread damage and hardship. His hesitation probably saves retaliation against vulnerable infrastructure in the Persian Gulf states. Or it may signal a final recognition on Trump's part that Iran isn't going to be moved by ultimatums, no matter how deranged. I'm skeptical that Iran is going to "win" this war (to the extent that any war can be "won"), but the US is much more vulnerable, and more fragile, on many fronts than Trump was led to believe. And as these stresses interact and multiple, one shouldn't assume that the previous world order will hold. In my "Days of Infamy" piece, I spent a whole section on what I called "worser case scenarios." A week later, I find myself coming up with even worser cases.

My plan is to come up with a set of equations, each modeling a key consideration. One needs to look at what concessions Iran can and cannot make, and figure out what among the former might satisfy Trump. What Trump did was as inexcusable as, say, Putin in Ukraine (or Bush in Iraq), yet still as long as he's the guy, savvy diplomats need to figure out how to save him some face, even as they pressure him into unwanted compromises. Accordingly, a big part of the question is what sort of pressures can be brought to bear on Trump. (I have various ideas there, but Arab money is one that seems to particularly appeal to him, or at least to his craven son-in-law.) Still, I don't need to figure this out, as I'll be way out of the inner circle. Some rough sketches should suffice.

I wasn't only thinking about Iran last week. A while back, I went to the library, to return a couple books I hadn't found interesting enough to read, and see if I can pick up anything more appealing. I didn't really find anything other than Laura Field's Furious Minds, which I had just finished, but I checked out a couple of cookbooks for the hell of it. One was The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, which seemed to have definitive recipes for pretty much anything one might want to cook. I've never watched their shows, but I have a bunch of their cookbooks, and I especially use them for baking. I figured I might look it over, but would wind up ordering a copy, and using it as a fallback reference. Glancing through it today, I see some of what looks like excess complication: their matzo brei recipe calls for sauteeing onions, which I've never considered; the dumplings in their chicken & dumplings look right (I've always used shortening, but I could see using schmaltz if I had it handy), but their stock is basically chicken pot pie filler, lots of extras that detract from the dumplings. I just boil a chicken, strip off the meat, cook the dumplings in the stock, fold the chicken back in, check the seasoning.

The other book I picked up was Pyet DeSpain's Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking. I've barely dabbled in Mexican — I have a Diana Kennedy guide, but found it much less helpful than ATK's The Best Mexican Recipes — and know nothing of Native American cooking other than corn-beans-squash plus the latter-day addition of fry bread. But a couple recipes piqued my interest, so I figured I'd check it out, and make a dinner. After I got my "Days of Infamy" piece up, I figured I was due some fun, so I went shopping. We have some pretty good Mexican grocers here, but I still had a tough time coming up with ingredients (especially on the salad front, which called for dandelion greens, purslane, and/or water cress), as well as things like maple sugar and prickly pear syrup (which I've now found on Amazon). You can find a pic and brief write up here.

DeSpain is Potawatomi, living in northeast Kansas, and was "Winner of Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Chef season one," so the aim here is less authenticity than roots-inspired fusion. Unlike my ventures into national cuisines like Burmese or Cuban or Moroccan, where I could run through a broad range of traditional dishes, I doubt there is any single Native American cuisine, nor that this even captures one facet of it, but it is an interesting concept, and none of these were dishes I had ever attempted before. The menu is long enough for a birthday dinner:

1. Deer chili: I had a pound of ground venison in the freezer, just waiting for this; add two cans of pinto beans, and a cup of corn; in general I cut the chile quantities in half.
2. Steamed white fish in corn husks: I had a pound of rainbow trout filets in the freezer; this included a tomato-based salsa, but I made a couple extra salsa batches below.
3. Raspberry mezcal BBQ quail: I couldn't find quail, so I substituted cornish game hens, which I quartered; they are marinated, sauteed, marinated again, then roasted.
4. Tomatillo salad: With jicama, red onion, corn, apple, mango, and cilantro-lime dressing; I didn't get this done in time, but made it later.
5. Dandelion greens and pickled berry salad: I didn't get this done in time either, but had pickled the blueberries, so served them on the side; I made the salad later, using arugula, with julienned jicama, my leftover berries, and sunflower seeds.
6. Honey and habanero roasted butternut squash: I used a milder Indian dried chili.
7. Cilantro, honey, and lime grilled corn.
8. Roasted sage and maple sweet potatoes.
9. Fry bread.
10. Strawberry salsa.
11. Charred pineapple salsa.
12. Mezcal and Mexican chocolate cake: topped with a ganache made with coconut cream; served with vanila ice cream on the side.

I bought more stuff than I used, including big chunk of bison (the book has three bison recipes: jerky, meatballs, braised), and various greens thinking I might substitute for use in the salads. I ran late, but a guest rescued the grill dishes while I fried the bread. I wound up using pre-shredded cheddar instead of shredding a block of cotijo I had ready. By the time I served dinner, the kitchen was as messed up as it had ever been. I was so exhausted I took a rare nap afterwards. Cleaned up in the middle of the night, and found more the next day.

I thought everything came out very good. I should write some of the recipes down, but I might as well just buy the book. Not a lot more in the book I want to try. And although Laura has suggested a couple of these dishes should be in my "rotation," I don't really have such a thing. A quick check at Amazon shows several dozen other Native American cookbooks. As I suspected, there is a good deal of regional variation.

A lot of records below. I've made a significant dent in the demo queue, picking them off in release date order until I moved well into next week. The reissues are old items that Blue Note recently reissued in their Tone Poet vinyl series. All of them are streamed, but I counted them as 2026 reissues, having initially listed them as such in my tracking file. I've cut back on tracking new releases quite a bit this year: aside from tracking my own reviews, I'm only adding things that come to me with specific recommendations. I may have to open this up later if/when we get into jazz critics polling, but I don't need to get into that now.

New records reviewed this week:

David Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (2024 [2026], Giant Step Arts): Trumpet player, first album, side-credits since 2020, label touts this "modern masters and new horizons series," offering him a live venue and major league support: Joel Ross (vibes), Linda May Han Oh (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). He's off to a strong start? B+(***) [cd] [03-27]

Tyrone Allen II: Upward (2024 [2026], Dreams and Fears): Bassist, based in Brooklyn, first album, a dozen side-credits back to 2018, with several notable younger players: Neta Raanan (tenor sax), Lex Korten (keys), Samantha Feliciano (harp), Aidan Lombard (trumpet), Kayvon Gordon (drums), Abe Nouri (live effects). B+(*) [cd]

Aymeric Avice/Luke Stewart/Chad Taylor: Deep in the Earth High in the Sky (2025 [2026], RogueArt): I've seen every permutation of artist credit order for this, with my CD listing the Taylor (drums) first above the title, then last under the title, while Bandcamp lists Stewart (bass) first, with a cover scan that seems to favor Avice (trumpet). Discogs, with the same cover scan (I just got a CD with no packaging) credits Stewart first. I initially listed Taylor, but on second thought, let's give it to the French trumpeter (evidently his first album). Free jazz bash, with mbiras. B+(***) [cdr]

Anthony Branker & Other Ways of Knowing: Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit (2025 [2026], Origin): Composer and arranger, eleventh album since 2004, previous groups called Ascent and Imagine, this one well stocked with name talent: Steve Wilson (alto/soprano sax, flute), Pete McCann (guitars), Simona Premazzi (piano), John Hébert (bass), Rudy Royston (drums), and Aimée Allen (vocals). [cd]

Carl Clements and the Real Jazz Trio: Retrospective (2024 [2026], Greydisc): Saxophonist (tenor/soprano, also bansuri), based in Massachusetts, half-dozen albums since 2004, all original pieces, backed by a European trio: piano (Jean-Yves Jung), bass (Johannes Schaedlich), and drums (Jes Biehl). B+(**) [cd]

Daphni: Butterfly (2026, Jiaolong): British house producer Daniel Snaith, fourth album, label named for his 2012 debut. Nice bounce to it. B+(***) [sp]

Dave Douglas: Four Freedoms (2025 [2026], Greenleaf Music): Trumpet player, many albums since 1993, live set from the Getxo Kultura Jazz Festival in Spain, quartet with Marta Warelis (piano), Nick Dunston (bass), and Joey Baron (drums). Tricky music. B+(**) [sp]

Matt Dwonszyk: Live at the Sidedoor (2024 [2026], self-released): Bassist, third release as leader, eight originals, two covers, no musician credits on the packaging but per hype sheet: Josh Bruneau (trumpet), Matt Knoegel (tenor sax), Taber Gable (piano), Jonathan Barber (drums). The venue is located in Old Lyme, CT, and the musicians evidently have some kind of relationship to Jackie McLean. It comes through, and maybe a bit of Mingus too. B+(***) [cd]

Kim Gordon: Play Me (2026, Matador): Sonic Youth's better half, third solo studio album, "relies primarily on Gordon's trap vocals, [producer Justin] Raisen's industrial textures, and trip hop beats." Short (29:55) and rather cryptic. B+(***) [sp]

Simon Hanes: Gargantua (2024 [2026], Pyroclastic): California-born, Brooklyn-based composer/arranger, has a couple previous albums, draws inspiration from Rabelais for this "audacious new album," featuring three soprano voices, backed by three each on French horns, trombones, basses, and drum sets. The voices are the sticking point with me. B+(**) [cd] [03-27]

Alexander Hawkins/Taylor Ho Bynum: A Near Permanent State of Wonder (2024 [2025], RogueArt): Piano and trumpet (well, actually cornet and flugelhorn) duo, free jazz players of repute, and considerable rapport. B+(***) [cdr]

Steven Husted and Friends: Two Nights - "Live!" (2025 [2026], self-released): Bassist, worked in Bay Area before moving to Austin, website has two previous albums but none in Discogs. With sax (Grant Teeple) on the first half, guitar (Matt Berger) picking up the slack on the second, backed by keys (Milo Hehmsoth), and drums (Israel Yanez), playing eight originals plus standards by Irving Berlin, Clifford Brown, and Hank Mobley. Nice mainstream jazz. Runs over 77 minutes. B+(*) [cd]

The Interplay Jazz Orchestra: Bite Your Tongue (2025 [2026], Bigtime): Big band, directed by Joey Devassy (trombone) and Gary Henderson (trumpet), formed in 2013 but this is the only album I've found, three Devassy originals plus six standards, some sharp solo work, especially in the saxophone section. B+(***) [cd]

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan (2025 [2026], Solid Jackson/Palmetto): Tenor saxophonist, has done impressive work since his 1991 debut, but hasn't always made the best choices. Plays ten Bob Dylan tunes here (after an original intro), backed by keyboards (Jeremy Manasia), bass, and drums, with two guest vocalists (Lisa Fischer and Nicole Zuraitis), singing the two canon songs I least want to ever hear the lyrics to ever again. I've heard a lot of Dylan over the years, and almost never want to hear him again these days. I've often been out of sync with other critics, which may have led to some bad feelings. But I was surprised by the three Jewels & Binoculars albums, where his melodies proved fruitful for a purely instrumental jazz trio. But this isn't that. B+(*) [cd] [03-27]

Anna Kolchina: Reach for Tomorrow (2021-25 [2026], OA2): Standards singer from "the Soviet Union about 18 hours from Moscow" (an odd measurement that could mean dozens or thousands of miles, but evidently someplace with horses), moved to New York City in 2017, "a place where you can become friends with your heroes." At least one previous album, as well as a connection to Sheila Jordan. Twelve songs recorded over several years, each backed by a sole guitarist: Paul Bollenback, Peter Bernstein, Ilya Lushtak, Romero Lubambo, Russell Malone, Yotam Silberstein. I couldn't sort out the guitarists, but they might make an interesting blindfold test. They are all fine, and the singer shines with such minimal support. A- [cd]

Ladytron: Paradises (2026, Nettwerk): English electropop band, eighth studio album since 2001, a long one with 16 songs running 71:31, Daniel Hunt the composer, Helen Marnie the lead vocalist. B+(*) [sp]

Julian Lage: Scenes From Above (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Well-regarded guitarist, debut 2009, sixth Blue Note album, featuring credits for John Medeski (organ/piano), Jorge Roeder (bass), and Kenny Wolleson (drums), with a couple credits for Patrick Waren (dulcitone, strings). He often strikes me as a bit languid, but on occasion, Medeski kicks this up a notch. B+(*) [sp]

Brian Landrus: Just When You Think You Know (2025 [2026], BlueLand/Palmetto): Baritone saxophonist, albums since 2007, also plays some tenor, bass clarinet, and flutes (down to bass flute), along with Zaccai Curtis (keyboards), Dave Stryker (guitars), Lonnie Plaxico (basses), and Rudy Royston (drums). Veers a bit toward easy listening. B+(*) [cd]

Tom Lippincott: Ode to the Possible (2025 [2026], self-released): Guitarist, plays an 8-string model with electronics, first album under his own name although he has scattered credits back to 1990. Qfuartet with David Fernandez (strong tenor/soprano sax), bass, and drums, plus a Camila Meza vocal on one track. B+(**) [cd]

Lisanne Lyons: May I Come In (2022-24 [2026], OA2): Standards singer, started in the Air Force, has sung in ghost bands (Harry James, Maynard Ferguson), first album, backed by a big band plus strings, produced by Mike Lewis. B+(**) [cd]

Luke Norris: Moment From the Past (2023 [2026], self-released): Saxophonist, also plays clarinet and synths, has a previous album from 2020, here with Dabin Ryu (keyboards), Tyrone Allen (basses), and Kayvon Gordon (drums), with Abe Nouri adding some "wildly inventive post-production." B+(***) [cd]

Adam O'Farrill: Elephant (2024 [2025], Out of Your Head): Trumpet player, son of Afro-Cuban Jazz majordomo Arturo O'Farrill (himself the son of famed Cuban bandleader Chico O'Farrill), has the chops to ply the family trade but on his own plays uninflected but often brilliant postbop. Quartet with Yvonne Rogers (piano), Walter Stinson (bass), and Russell Holzman (drums), with some electronics. A- [cd]

Meg Okura/Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble: Isaiah (2022 [2026], Adhyâropa): Violinist, born in Japan, makes a point in the notes of being an outsider ("an immigrant, a Jew by choice in an interracial marriage, and as a musician moving from classical to jazz"), but finding "solace" in composing, and in leading this twenty-year group with prominent names that don't strike me as conspicuously Asian. It's a terrific group, augmented by guests like Randy Brecker and Sam Newsome, playing scores that come from and go to pretty much everywhere. A- [cd]

Chenxi Pan: This Very Moment (2025 [2026], Origin): Jazz singer-songwriter, from China, moved to New York 2021, debut album, with tenor sax/clarinet, piano, guitar, bass, drums, violin, and cello. Matt Wilson produced. B [cd]

Poppy: Empty Hands (2026, Sumerian): Singer-songwriter Moriah Rose Pereira, tenth album since 2016, opens in pop mode, but follows up with metal thrash, which I'm surprised to enjoy more. B+(*) [sp]

Benjie Porecki: Faster Than We Know (2026, Funklove Productions): Pianist, also plays organ and other keyboards, from the DC area, eighth album sice 1996, eight original pieces plus a cover of "Superstar" (which I'm told was "famously covered by the Carpenters," but I associate with songwriters Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell). I prefer the piano to the organ. B+(*) [cd]

Reverso: Between Two Silences (2024 [2026], Alternate Side): Trombonist Ryan Keberle, his name no longer up front in this chamber jazz trio, with Frank Woeste (piano) and Vincent Courtois (cello), in what is at least their fifth album together (back to a Ravel-inspired 2017 album), this one original material from all three (3-5-2), this time inspired by Satie. B+(***) [cd] [03-27]

Joel Ross: Gospel Music (2026, Blue Note): Vibraphonist, grew up in Chicago, based in Brooklyn, fifth Blue Note album since 2019 (or 7th if you cound Out Of/Into, the "supergroup" I file under his name). Mostly original pieces (two exceptions), mostly quintet with Josh Johnson (alto sax), Maria Grand (tenor sax), Jeremy Corren (piano), Kanoa Mendenhall (bass), and Jeremy Dutton (drums), with a couple of guest spots for vocals and others (like Brandee Younger on harp). B+(**) [sp]

Harvie S: Bright Dawn (2024 [2026], Origin): Bassist, originally Swartz, shortened his name because so many people (including me) misspelled it, side-credit since 1973, has a couple dozen albums as leader or in duos (notably with Sheila Jordan). Quartet here with Peter Bernstein (guitar), Miki Hayama (piano), and Matt Wilson (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Walter Smith III: Twio Vol. 2 (2026, Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, from Houston, studied at Berklee and now chairs the woodwind department there, debut 2006, third album on Blue Note, revisits the concept of his 2018 album Twio, with a trio playing standards supplemented by two "eminent elders" (this time Ron Carter and Branford Marsalis; the bassist and drummer are also new this time, Joe Sanders and Kendrick Scott). B+(***) [sp]

Yuyo Sotashe & Chris Pattishall: Invocation (2022 [2026], self-released, EP): Singer and piano (or synths or sound design), four songs, 20:35, makes an impression. B+(**) [cd]

Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow: Electrical Field of Love (2026, Pi): Avant-fusion trio of Brandon Ross (guitar/banjo), Melvin Gibbs (electric bass), and JT Lewis (drums), sixth album since 1998, with Muldrow added for vocals and keyboards (more than a dozen albums on her own since 2006). Heavy. B+(***) [cd] [03-27]

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 1 (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Alto saxophonist, became an instant star when Blue Note released his Omega in 2020, has made the rounds as well as keynoting the Out Of/Into label all-star group. First live album, with Micah Thomas (piano), Ryoma Takenaga (bass), and Kweku Sumbry (drums); is being rolled out in bits, with this on CD and LP, and later digital-only releases for Vol. 2 (April 17) and Vol. 3 (May 15). I imagine that at some point I'll have to treat the combination as a single album, at least for polling purposes. I'm underwhelmed so far, but I've upgraded him in the past. B+(**) [sp]

Winged Wheel: Desert So Green (2025 [2026], 12XU): Discogs calls then "an indie supergroup," although I recognize just one name (Steve Shelley, from Sonic Youth), and two more bands (Circuit des Yeux, Tyvek), and never ran across their two previous albums. Does have a little Sonic Youth background sound. B+(**) [sp]

Jack Wood: For Every Man There's a Woman (2026, Jazz Hang): Standards crooner, "long a fixture in Southern California," has connections to Las Vegas and Utah (where most of this was recorded, cover cites special guests: The Lenore Raphael Trio with guitarist Doug MacDonald. Also strings. I have something of a soft spot for this sort of thing. B+(***) [cd] [03-24]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Docteur Nico: Presents African Fiesta Sukisa 1966-1974 (1966-74 [2025], Planet Ilunga): Congolese guitarist and bandleader Nico Kassanda (1939-85), joined Grand Kalle et l'African Jazz at age 14, left with Tabu Ley Rochereau to form L'Orchestra African Fiesta, discography has always been spotty, but this rounds up a prime period slice from his Sukisa label, available on 3-LP or with bonus songs for digital. A- [bc]

Hank Mobley Sextet: Hank (1957 [2026], Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, Leonard Feather called him the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone," which suggested that he couldn't compete with Coltrane and Rollins, but was masterful under any other light. This is pretty early, but one of seven albums from 1957 that Wikipedia lists, most with redundant or unimaginative titles, some tied to his membership in the Jazz Messengers. With John Jenkins (alto sax), Donald Byrd (trumpet), Bobby Timmons (piano), Wilbur Ware (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). Reissued in Blue Note's Tone Poet series. B+(***) [yt]

Lee Morgan: City Lights (1957 [2026], Blue Note): Trumpet player, a key player in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, off to a very solid solo career. With George Coleman (tenor/alto sax), Ray Bryant (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Art Taylor (drums). Superb when he goes in hot, less so with a ballad. B+(**) [sp]

Tyrone Washington: Natural Essence (1967 [2026], Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, b. 1944, recorded three albums 1968-74, leaving music for religious reasons, and eventually becoming a Sunni Muslim minister (as Mohammad Bilal Abdullah). He joined Horace Silver for The Jody Grind in 1966, and Larry Young for Contrasts in 1967. This was his first as leader, with Woody Shaw (trumpet), James Spaulding (alto sax/flute), Kenny Barron (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Joe Chambers (drums). This is pretty exciting, especially Shaw. Evidently a second Blue Note session was recorded but never released. A- [sp]

Old music:

Hank Mobley: With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan (1956 [1957], Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, one of seven albums he released in 1957, a four-song hard bop blowing session with the two trumpet players, piano (Horace Silver), bass (Paul Chambers), and drums (Charlie Persip). B+(**) [sp]

Hank Mobley: A Caddy for Daddy (1965 [1966], Blue Note): One of the few 1960s albums I missed by the tenor saxophonist, a sextet with Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), McCoy Tyner (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums), playing four originals and one Wayne Shorter piece. B+(*) [sp]

Barbara Rosene With Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks: Deep Night (2000-01 [2001], Stomp Off): Trad/swing jazz singer, Michael Steinman raved about a recent performance so I thought I'd look her up. Nothing new since 2013's Nice & Naughty, but I had missed this first album, and I felt like a break from the new stuff. Discogs doesn't list musicians, but Giordano plays tuba and bass, and his band recorded from 1984-2006 (also backing Loudon Wainwright III on his 2020 I'd Rather Lead a Band). AI suggests Conal Fowkes (piano), Dan Levinson (sax/clarinet), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), and Andy Stein (violin). B+(**) [sp]

Barbara Rosene & Her New Yorkers: Ev'rything's Made for Love (2003, Stomp Off): Another generous batch of old-timey songs (25, 73:40), backed by a nine-piece band where Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet) and John Gill (drums) are probably the best known, with notable contributions by Conal Fowkes (piano), Matt Munisteri (guitar/banjo), and Meg Okura (violin). B+(***) [sp]

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Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Atlantic Road Trip: Watch as the Echo Falls (Calligram) [04-03]
• Ryan Blotnick: The Woods (Fishkill) [04-17]
• Chicago Soul Jazz Collective: No Wind & No Rain (Calligram) [04-10]
• Paul Citro: Keep Moving (Home) (Calligram) [05-01]
• Caleb Wheeler Curtis: Ritual (Chill Tone) [04-10]
• Cyger & Butterworth: Plaid Pants (Outrageous8) [03-11]
• Bill Evans: At the BBC (1965, Elemental Music) [04-18]
• Robert Jospé Quartet: The Night Sky (self-released) [01-11]
• The Paul Keller Orchestra: Thank You Notes: The Music of Gregg Hill (Cold Plunge) [03-27]
• Freddie King: Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert (Elemental Music, 2CD) [04-18]
• Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa (1987, Elemental Music, 2CD) [04-18]
• Ted Rosenthal Trio: The Good Old Days (TMR Music) [05-01]
• Paul Silbergleit Trio: The Stillness of July (Calligram) [05-01]
• Alister Spence: Always Ever (Alister Spence Music) [04-24]
• Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music, 2CD) [04-18]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, March 22, 2026

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Loose Tabs

After I posted my initial take on Trump's Iran war in my Days of Infamy Substack piece, and followed that with a Music Week, I figured I should go ahead and publish whatever I had in Loose Tabs before the next Music Week comes around. So I set the date for Sunday, March 22, and, well, this is it: very incomplete, with several usual sections completely missing, but pretty long nonetheless. I could work the rest of the night on it, then tomorrow, then the rest of next week. I probably will make some adds when I do get around to Music Week. I'm also thinking I should do a synopsis on Substack, possibly before I do my planned follow-up piece where I try to cut through all the noise and explain the Iran war by answering four basic questions:

1. Why did Netanyahu want to attack Iran?
2. Why did Trump go along with the attack?
3. Why didn't Iran surrender once it was attacked?
4. And how and when and under what conditions is this war likely to end?

You can probably find answers to these questions in the previous piece, and scattered here and there below, but I think it will help to organize them thusly. Of course, the first three answers are pretty simple, at least if I don't go into much historical detail. I don't know the precise answer to the fourth, but the basic point is simple enough: when Trump (or one of his successors) decides he's had enough, and is willing to negotiate a deal. This will depend on variables, including how much Iran is willing to concede, how little Trump is willing to settle for, and how long Israel will be able to muck up any possible deal. Those factors will vary over time, so the best we can do is to lay out a model. That will take some thought, but the factors aren't too complicated.

Meanwhile, there is nothing below on Cuba, which is heating up, and dominating my X feed tonight. Trump has said that Cuba's next, and it's not like he has the patience to do things in considered order. Most leaders dread two-front (never mind multi-front) wars, but for Trump each one distracts from the other. The conditions in Cuba are different, as are the motives — other than the absolute supremacy of American power, which seems to have become an obsession with Trump.

PS: I added a few more links on [03-25]. I'm not really trying to keep up with the news, although some creeps in. Most are actually tabs I had open but hadn't picked up. I use Firefox as a browser, running under Xbuntu with six workspaces to split out my work, with Firefox typically running 6-8 windows with well over 100 tabs, so it's easy to overlook something I meant to circle back to.

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This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically (12 times from April-December 2025). My previous one appeared 23 days ago, on February 27.

I have a little-used option of selecting bits of text highlighted with a background color, for emphasis a bit more subtle than bold or ALL CAPS. (I saw this on Medium. I started with their greenish color [#bbdbba] and lightened it a bit [#dbfbda].) I'll try to use it sparingly.

Table of Contents:

• Trump Bombs Iran
• Epsteinmania
• SAVE America Act
• The Oscars
• Israel
• Elsewhere Around the World
• Trump Threatens the World
• Trump Attacks America: Law, lawlessness, and the courts.
• Trump Administration: What they're doing while you're worried about the news flak.
• Donald Trump, Himself
• Economists and the Economy
• Dean Baker
• Jeet Heer
• Paul Krugman
• Heather Digby Parton
• Jeffrey St Clair
• Nick Turse
• Joel Gouveia: The death of Spotify.
• John Herrman: On betting on war.
• Chris Dalla Riva: On a documentary about Robert Christgau.
• Harold Meyerson: On Cesar Chavez.
• Some Notable Deaths
• Tweets

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Topical Stories

Sometimes stuff happens, and it dominates the news/opinion cycle for a few days or possibly several weeks. We might as well lead with it, because it's where attention is most concentrated. But eventually these stories will fold into the broader, more persistent themes of the following section.

Last time: Epsteinmania, Melania, Washington Post, Super Bowl LX, DHS shutdown, Tariffs at the Supreme Court.

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Trump Bombs Iran: On Feb. 28, Trump and Netanyahu launched a massive wave of airstrikes against Iran, opening what Wikipedia is calling 2026 Iran war. The bombing appears to have been originally designed to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and thus to decapitate the Islamic Republic of Iran, but it was expanded to attack the whole nation's security structure. The bombing has continued. Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks aimed at Israel, US bases in the region, and other infrastructure related to the US and its allies. Israel has ramped up its war in Lebanon, nominally targeting Hezbollah. The following are various pieces collected on the fly, including several that I added to my previous Loose Tabs, which starts on February 19 with a link to a piece by Joshua Keating: It really looks like we're about to bomb Iran again.

PS: On Monday morning (March 23), Trump announced a short pause in the war (or more specifically, a delay in bombing power plants), citing "very strong talks" with unidentified Iranian officials. Iran issued a denial of any such talks. Trump's announcement triggered a drop in oil futures prices and a rally in the stock market, although both were muted. It's worth noting that Israel has often agreed to ceasefires (including two notable times in their 1948-49 War of Independence) which turned out to be nothing more than stalls while they rebuilt their weapons stockpiles. Israel and the US have been burning through their anti-missile defense rockets at a furious pace, so that is probably a big part of the story. I'm skeptical that either side is anywhere near willing to make the necessary concessions, especially with Israel acting as a very wild card, but a Korea-style armistice, with allowance for Iran to collect tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, could hold for long enough to allow Iran to broaden its diplomacy, organize its defenses, and develop a more effective deterrent against further attacks (possibly, like North Korea, including its own nukes — again, as with North Korea, a development which can only be prevented diplomatically).

• Iran War Cost Tracker: "Based on the Pantagon's preliminary estimate of $1 billion per day." Also note: "Independent analyses suggest the true cost may be significantly higher."

• Al Jazeera [2025-06-18]: The history of Netanyahu's rhetoric on Iran's nuclear ambitions: He "has warned of an imminent threat from a Iranian nuclear bomb for more than 30 years."

• Richard Silverstein

  • [02-28]: Iran: Trump's war of annihilation: One key point here, not widely reported elsewhere, is that Ayatollah Khamenei "reportedly prepares leadership plan if killed."

  • [03-03]: Iran's massive retaliation hits targets throughout Middle East.

  • [03-12]: Israeli cultural and environmental genocide in Iran.

  • [03-14]: Beirut: 1,000 dead as Israel threatens Gaza-style genocide.

  • [03-19]: Iran: Trump's fatal miscalculation.

• Andrew O'Hehir:

  • [02-28]: Trump's war on Iran: America's shame, and the world's failure: "Trump's attack on Iran is an act of vanity and desperation, fueled by America's collective moral blindness."

  • [03-08]: Behind Trump's war fever lies profound weakness: "US wages fast-escalating war, with no clear motivation and no realistic plan. It isn't fooling anyone." I'm not sure "weakness" is the right word, but it's the sort of taunt that flies in the faces of people who value power above all else. The US always seemed more powerful when it advanced policies that were best for all, and much weaker when it tried to strong arm others into doing its self-centered will. While it is likely that the US has lost power steadily since peaking at the end of WWII, no US president has tried to flex its power to anywhere near the same degree as Trump. That he comes up short seems inevitable. That he finds this mystifying is no surprise, either.

• Craig Mokhiber [03-01]: Understanding the US and Israel's illegal war on Iran: "The illegal US-Israeli war on Iran continues a rampage that has devastated countries and international institutions to eliminate all obstacles to US hegemony. The US-Israeli Axis has not succeeded yet, and it is up to the world to stop them." The world, on the other hand, is hoping this war just collapses under the dead weight of its instigators' stupidity, as no one else is in a position to do anything significant about it.

• Trita Parsi: Has a long track record of writing about Iran and how Israel and the US have attempted to deal with it, most notably in his books: Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States (2007); A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy With Iran (2012); Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy (2017). The first book I regard as essential, as it makes clear that Israel's alliance with Iran survived the fever days of the 1979 Revolution, when Khomeini solidified control of a much broader-based revolt, to no small extent by building on pent-up resentment against the United States (the hostage crisis was a reflection of this) and by challenging Saudi Arabia's leadership of the Islamic World (given control of Mecca and Medina, and the annual Hajj). The US and Saudi Arabia never got over those affronts, but Israel had no problem with Iran until the 1990s, when Iraq ceased to be a credible existential threat to Israel, and Hezbollah developed in opposition to Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. From that point, it was fairly easy to manipulate American resentment into designating Iran as part of "the axis of evil." Parsi has a critical but nuanced view of Iran that is much more credible than most of the rote (or simply regurgitated) propaganda elsewhere. I haven't read his later books (on Obama and the JCPOA negotiations), which should help update the story. Nor have I read Vali Nasr's 2025 book, Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History, but he seems to have a similar understanding of Iran's political leadership and military strategy.

  • [03-01]: Some observations and comments on Trump and Israel's war on Iran: I scraped this off Facebook, so might best just quote it here:

    1. Tehran is not looking for a ceasefire and has rejected outreach from Trump. The reason is that they believe they committed a mistake by agreeing to the ceasefire in June - it only enabled the US and Israel to restock and remobilize to launch war again. If they agree to a ceasefire now, they will only be attacked again in a few months.

    2. For a ceasefire to be acceptable, it appears difficult for Tehran to agree to it until the cost to the US has become much higher than it currently is. Otherwise, the US will restart the war at a later point, the calculation reads.

    3. Accordingly, Iran has shifted its strategy. It is striking Israel, but very differently from the June war. There is a constant level of attack throughout the day rather than a salvo of 50 missiles at once. Damage will be less, but that isn't a problem because Tehran has concluded that Israel's pain tolerance is very high - as long as the US stays in the war. So the focus shifts to the US.

    4. From the outset, and perhaps surprisingly, Iran has been targeting US bases in the region, including against friendly states. Tehran calculates that the war can only end durably if the cost for the US rises dramatically, including American casualties. After the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran says it has no red lines left and will go all out in seeking the destruction of these bases and high American casualties.

    5. Iran understands that many in the American security establishment had been convinced that Iran's past restraint reflected weakness and an inability or unwillingness to face the US in a direct war. Tehran is now doing everything it can to demonstrate the opposite - despite the massive cost it itself will pay. Ironically, the assassination of Khamenei facilitated this shift.

    6. One aspect of this is that Iran has now also struck bases in Cyprus, which have been used for attacks against Iran. Iran is well aware that this is an attack on a EU state. But that seems to be the point. Tehran appears intent on not only expanding the war into Persian Gulf states but also into Europe. Note the attack on the French base in the UAE. For the war to be able to end, Europe too has to pay a cost, the reasoning appears to be.

    7. There appears to be only limited concern about the internal situation. The announcement of Khamenei's death opened a window for people to pour onto the streets and seek to overthrow the regime. Though expressions of joy were widespread, no real mobilization was seen. That window is now closing, as the theocratic system closes ranks and establishes new formal leadership.

  • [02-20]: No, even a 'small attack' on Iran will lead to war: "The deal Trump wants is a no-go for Tehran, which is resigned to retaliating if bombed again, limited or otherwise." This was written a week before Trump's "decapitation" strike, so nothing here should have caught Trump or his advisers by surprise. The key thing is that after last year's "12 day war" Iran's internal strategic arguments shifted from calculated appeasement to the realization that they would have to fight back to establish any kind of deterrence:

    Third, since the U.S. strategy, according to the WSJ, is to escalate until Tehran caves, and since capitulation is a non-option for Iran, the Iranians are incentivized to strike back right away at the U.S. The only exit Tehran sees is to fight back, inflict as much pain as possible on the U.S., and hope that this causes Trump to back off or accept a more equitable deal.

    In this calculation, Iran would not need to win the war (militarily, it can't); it would only have to get close to destroying Trump's presidency before it loses the war by: 1) closing the Strait of Hormuz and strike oil installations in the region in the hope of driving oil prices to record levels and by that inflation in the U.S.; and 2) strike at U.S. bases, ships, or other regional assets and make Trump choose between compromise or a forever war in the region, rather than the quick glorious victory he is looking for.

    This is an extremely risky option for Iran, but one that Tehran sees as less risky than the capitulation "deal" Trump is seeking to force on Iran.

    By not giving Iran's leaders a choice they can live with, Trump backed them into a corner, from which they had no choice but to fight back. Now the question becomes how painful that war is to Trump, and what sort of resolution can he live with? Trump may hate the idea of backing down in any respect, but Iran isn't threatening America (or even Israel) like the US is threatening Iran. The US will suffer some losses, but nothing remotely existential. Iran is not demanding that the US give up its own ability to defend itself. Iran is not even remotely a threat to the US homeland. So how much is it worth for Americans to "stay the course" just to shore up Trump's battered ego? If anyone other than Trump could make this decision, it wouldn't take a minute's thought. But this egomaniacal moron was made president, and the presidency was vested with the power to wage war without any checks and balances, so we're stuck in this situation which no one (except for Netanyahu and a few diehard hawks like Lindsey Graham) really wanted.

  • [02-28]: How does this war with Iran end? Or does it? "Trump certainly doesn't want this to turn into a civil war, though Israel has different designs." I think anything that attributes forethought and/or concern to Trump is cutting him too much slack, but Israel is another matter (and by Israel I mean Netanyahu, his coalition partners, and upper security echelons).

  • [03-09]: Trump press conference reveals a man who wants out of war: "He may be preparing the ground for a face saving declaration of victory, but I don't think Iran is going to concede that easily without something in return." A change of leader might have been enough of a cosmetic change in Venezuela to save face and avoid further polarizing warfare, the long and cruel build up to war against Iran has foreclosed those options. Trump's ambitions are higher here, Israel has veto power, and at this point the regime in Iran would be jeopardized more by surrender than by fighting back.

  • [03-13]: Trita Parsi on the hidden influences behind the pointless war in Iran: Interview by Nathan J Robinson.

  • [03-17]: Larijani's killing will destroy Iran war off-ramps for Trump: That, of course, is Israel's point: kill off anyone with the temperament and authority to make and sell a deal. Parsi offers three possible explanations, including "opportunity," which was probably decisive, but the idea of making negotiations impossible is so deeply ingrained in Israeli politico-military culture that it was always assumed. If Israel wanted to make a deal with the Palestinians that would allow for peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity, they could have done it 50-60 years ago. The only thing they really needed was credible Palestinian leadership, but they've systematically killed off everyone, all the while whining about having "no partner for peace."

  • [03-17]: Trump's window for face-saving exit may be closing now: "Escalation is only putting him in a lose-lose situation, so negotiating is the only option. However, Iran's growing leverage could prevent an easy off-ramp." Sure, the leverage is reason for searching out an off-ramp. But finding one is going to be hard for Trump to swallow. First he needs to throw Netanyahu under the bus: this was was all his idea, based on faulty intelligence and bad analysis, and to make this credible he needs to radically cut back military aid to Israel, including anything that could give Israel range to attack Iran. And he needs an intermediary to cut a deal with Iran, which the US could then agree to. I initially thought about neutrals like Turkey and India, but better still would be a separate peace with Saudi Arabia and the Perisan Gulf states which ultimately calls for demilitarization of the Persian Gulf (i.e., removal of US bases, in exchange for which Iran will limit rearmament fully normalize relations, and end all sanctions).

  • [03-19]: Facebook post: I won't quote this one in whole, but it starts:

    The developments of the past 24h may prove a turning point in this war: Israel and the US's escalation by striking the Qatari-Iranian Pars field, the strikes against Asaluyeh, Iran's massive retaliation against oil and gas installations in Saudi, Qatar and beyond, which shot up oil prices, the near downing of a F35 by Iran and Secretary Bessent's revelations that the US may unsanction Iranian oil on the waters to bring down oil prices.

    Some grasping at straws here, as it feels more to me like all sides are digging in.

• Joshua Keating: Vox's foreign policy "expert," I've rarely been impressed by him, but I cited his pre-war piece in the introduction, and early on wrote up a comment on his [03-09] piece. I wound up deciding his whole series of articles is worth citing, partly to show evolving thinking from someone who drinks too much of the Kool-Aid but doesn't always swallow it, and because they raise interesting tangents.

  • [02-28]: Why did the US strike Iran? "And five other questions about the latest conflict in the Middle East, answered." Some useful background, but not many answers. One section starts "In fairness to Trump," then notes that he's done stupid things before and gotten away with them, so he may be feeling excessively confident, but then he both sides Iran, concluding "The confidence on both sides may end up getting a lot of people killed." What he fails to note is that over-confidence explains action, which Trump initiated, and not reaction, which is something the aggressor forces you into. Iran may have overestimated their ability to resist and strike back, but once Trump broke off negotiations and ordered the strike, what other option did they have?

  • [03-01]: How Khamenei transformed Iran: "And what could come next." Interview with Alex Vatanka ("a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of the book The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran, which examines how the Islamic Republic's backroom rivalries and leadership struggles have shaped its approach to the world"). MEI is mostly funded by the US and Arab governments. Vatanka offers little here, although this seems peculiar:

    I don't know what to make of Khamenei meeting senior folks in his office. That almost seems like he was asking for death. He had been talking a lot about martyrdom in recent speeches.

  • [03-02]: World leaders are almost never killed in war. Why did it happen to Iran's supreme leader? "The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could usher in a new age of assassination." He ventures that "The nearest precedent for the killing of a head of state may be the KGB assassination of Afghan Communist leader Hafizullah Amin in 1979," although that was more like the US coup that killed their Vietnamese puppet Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963, shortly after the killing of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. More relevant here, Israel has a long history of assassination, going back to the killing of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948, and extending through scores of prominent Palestinians and various others. Also Trump's killing of Qasem Soleimani, not even mentioned here. So his headline is already dated, if ever true. The bigger problem is that the only way to end wars is through negotiation, and for that to work, both sides have to have credible leaders. It would be much easier for Khamenei to sell an unpalatable deal than it will be for some unproven substitute. Even though the US had insisted on Japan's unconditional surrender, MacArthur saw the utility of leaving Hirohito in office.

  • [03-04]: Iran had a plan to fight Israel and the US. It all collapsed after October 7. "The rise and fall of the 'axis of resistance.'" One thing that's always bothered me: if "axis of resistance" really was Iran's masterplan for fighting Israel, why did they give it such a stupid (and inflammatory) name? The whole notion seems like an Israeli psych op. Perhaps Iran should have worked harder to dispel the allegations, but Israel's aggression and intimidation campaign was pushing all of them into common cause and sympathy. And given that Iran was already largely sanctioned by the West, they may have gotten an ego boost by appearing to be the ringleader. But Keating's notion that Iran's own defense was weakened by Israel's wars against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis is imaginary — albeit of the kind that gave Israel and Trump more confidence to attack.

  • [03-09]: The dangerous lesson countries may take from the Iran war: "Having a nuclear weapon has never looked more appealing." The main reason Iran never developed nuclear weapons, despite having all the building blocks, was the conscience and/or shrewd political judgment of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump may have "set back" Iran's nuclear capabilities, but he definitely removed the one real roadblock. The result is that anyone in the regime who advised to go ahead ("just in case") is looking prescient these days, which makes them more likely to accede to power and redouble their efforts. Of course, it may be hard for Iran to progress under the current barrage, but unless the US and Israel relent and can be viewed by Iranians as benign — hard to imagine right now — sooner or later Iranians will regroup and vow to never let this happen again. (Just imagine what we would do under the same circumstances.) But the same lesson, that you actually have to have nuclear weapons ready to fire in order to deter foreign attacks, will also be learned by others, with more leeway to act. (This is, of course, the lesson North Korea drew after the US convinced Iraq and Libya to give up their nuclear programs, then toppled up their regimes.) The surprise here is that the first nation to feel the need to step up its nuclear efforts is France. But others are mentioned here, including Poland, South Korea, and Taiwan. None of those nations are likely to use their weapons against the US, but having them could give them considerable more autonomy, especially the more Trump is viewed as unreliable and unstable.

  • [03-09]: Trump might want "boots on the ground" in Iran. Just not American ones. "An Iranian Kurdish leader says his people are ready to rise up, but need more US support." Easy enough to find some Kurds willing to take American money as mercenaries, but their prospects of success are very slim. Moreover, other countries with Kurdish minorities are likely to take a very dim view of this — especially Turkey, which has intervened against American-armed Kurds in Iraq and Syria. On the other hand, Iran is the one country in the region which has never had a serious Kurdish independence movement (at least as far as I know). Perhaps because Kurdish is more closely related to Persian. Or, more likely, because Iran is a holdover from the era of multi-ethnic empires, and has never had a strong nationalist movement (unlike Turkey and Iraq).

  • [03-11]: The world doesn't have enough ammo for the Iran war: "How long can Iran keep shooting missiles? How long can everyone else keep shooting them down?" That's a good question, but Iran doesn't need a lot of weapons to tie up the Strait and frustrate Trump, nor is the US and Israel likely to compel surrender (if indeed any side has any real idea what that might entail). So this could be a long and pointless war.

  • [03-17]: How Trump's war with Iran is helping Putin: "The spiraling conflict is a lifeline for Russia's leader." I don't think Putin needed a lifeline, but this war gives him a lot of options.

  • [03-20]: Here's how Iran could become a "forever war": "'Mowing the grass,' explained." That's the term Israel has used for its periodic sieges on Gaza, which brutal as they were failed to prevent the uprising of Oct. 7, 2023, but it establishes two salient points: one is that the war never ends; the other is that the approach is fundamentally dehumanizing and sadistic. One should note that this affects both sides: the victims obviously, but also the tormentors, who must continue to live in fear that their crimes will catch up with them. The power of this fear is what ultimately turned Israelis from fear to genocide. As noted here, "the limiting factor of this strategy is the White House's tolerance for war." That's been increasing ever since Bush launched his GWOT (or maybe since WWII), but still is far from Israeli levels. I'm reminded of a story of Ben Gurion talking to DeGaulle, and offering him help with Algeria. DeGaulle replied with something like, "you mean you want us to turn into you?" DeGaulle thought better, and gave up Algeria. Israelis may feel like they're on top of the world right now, but they're up there alone, not just hated by their victims, but increasingly viewed with shame by everyone else. That's not a good way to live.

  • [03-20]: Why the US wants to protect Iran's oil and gas: "The Mideast energy truce is breaking down." Trump has some very deranged ideas about energy, which includes vastly overrating the importance of oil and underrating the fragility of an economic system which he wants to make even more dependent on oil. One weird thing is that his sanction wars (with Russia, Venezuela, and Iran until he blew it up) mostly had the effect of inflating gas prices, which also benefited his Saudi and American donors, without unduly disturbing American voters, who had no idea how cheap gas would be if all the spigots were flowing. Yet having worked so hard to prop up prices, now he's panicking that they're suddenly too high. Plus, he's a greedy bastard, so his ideal solution to Venezuela and Iran is to steal all the oil he thinks is so valuable. Yet, here both his allies and his enemies are busy blowing up the resources he wants to corner — resources that his advisers, no doubt, promised he could capture when they signed him up for the war. This is the only part of the war that's actually funny, not least because it's going to drive everyone else to renewables, while the US turns into a technological backwater.

• Al Jazeera [03-02]: Rubio suggests US strikes on Iran were influenced by Israeli plans: This makes it pretty clear that Israel is directing US foreign policy:

  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that a planned Israeli attack on Iran determined the timing of Washington's assault on the government in Tehran.

  The top diplomat told reporters on Monday that Washington was aware Israel was going to attack Iran, and that Tehran would retaliate against US interests in the region, so US forces struck pre-emptively.

  "We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action," Rubio said after a briefing with congressional leaders.

  "We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties."

• Michael Hudson [03-02]: The US/Israeli attack was to prevent peace, not advance it.

• Jonathan Larsen [03-02]: US troops were told Iran War is for "Armageddon," return of Jesus: "Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military." This story is also reported by:

  • Oscar Rickett [03-03]: US troops were told Iran war 'anointed by Jesus' to bring on Armageddon, watchdog says.

• Vijay Prashad [03-03]: A war that cannot be won: Israel and the United States bomb Iran: Of course, I agree with this conclusion, but that's largely because I subscribe to the broader assertion, that no war can ever be won. The best you can do is to lose a bit less than the other guys, but that does little to redeem your losses. I think this is true even when you downgrade your ambitions: instead of regime destruction and regeneration, which happened in Germany and Japan after WWII, or the occupation and propping up of quisling governments that the US attempted in Afghanistan and Iraq, Trump seems to have adopted Israel's Gaza model which is that of periodically "mowing the grass," hitting Iran repeatedly in a forever war that ultimately points toward genocide.

• Michael Arria:

  • [03-03]: The US media goes to war on Iran: "The US media is predictably spreading government propaganda and ignoring Israel's role as it cheers on the war against Iran and pushes for regime change."

  • [03-05]: War Powers resolution fails in Senate as Democrats scramble to figure out position on Iran war: Vote in favor of establishing some limits was 47-53, with only Rand Paul and John Fetterman breaking party lines.

• Philip Weiss [03-03]: Rubio confirms the heresy: the US went to war in Iran because of Israel: "The heresy of Walt and Mearsheimer's Israel lobby theory was the claim that Israel and its supporters pushed the US into war. Marco Rubio has not confirmed this analysis when he admitted that Trump went to war with Iran because of Israel."

• Zach Beauchamp

  • [03-03]: How does the Iran war end? "Regime change isn't likely. Here's what is." Early speculation, which inevitably leans toward optimism (hence "will end"), although the author eventually mentions "tail risk," which is a subtle way of saying "who fucking knows?"

  • [03-13]: The Iran war is not a video game: "Based memes, real blood." This starts with examples (see the article for links):

    On Wednesday, the New York Times published the preliminary findings of a US investigation into the recent airstrike on Shajarah Tayyebeh, an elementary school for girls in the Iranian city of Minab. The investigation confirmed what all public evidence had pointed to: that an American Tomahawk missile destroyed the school, killing roughly 175 people per Iranian estimates — most of whom were children. . . .

    The day after this damning news report, the White House released a video depicting the Iran war as a Nintendo game.

    The video, set to jaunty childlike music, depicts the United States as a player in various Wii Sports games — tennis, golf, bowling, etc. When the player character hits a hole in one, or bowls a strike, it cuts to real-life footage of a US bomb hitting an Iranian target. "Hole in one!" the Nintendo announcer declares, as we watch human lives being erased. . . .

    Various official X accounts have posted videos intercutting real bombings in Iran with clips from more violent video games, war films like Braveheart, sports highlights, and speeches from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth set to movie-trailer-style epic music.

    War is not hell, for this White House — it is fun.

    Beauchamp goes on to unpack this at some length, even citing Baudrillard, and concluding:

    The wartime sizzle reels are another manifestation of this ethos. Built not to persuade a neutral audience, but rather to appeal to those already-bought in, their primary service is thought-deadening: replacing any serious consideration of consequences with collective reveling in memes. "When you didn't want the US involved with Iran but the submarine kill videos are sick," one popular right-wing X account tweeted, with a GIF of an ambivalent Larry David posted below the text.

    It thus is not just collective self-deception at work for the administration and its very online supporters: It is collective exculpation. The crimes at Minab, and anywhere else, pale in comparison to sick kills.

  • [03-17]: A top Trump aide resigned over Iran. Liberals should stay away from him. "Antiwar antisemitism is still antisemitism." Well sure, don't pretend that he's a great guy — I mean, he was working for Trump, and got that job out of some kind of ideological loyalty to Trump — but why not except his gift for what it is: even Joe Kent says that Trump had no grounds for going to war, and lied when he said he did. How hard is that?

    • Philip Weiss [03-20]: Instead of taking Joe Kent's claims seriously, the media is disregarding him as an antisemite.

• Mitchell Plitnick:

  • [03-04]: Debunking the lies of the Iran War. Lies include: "Iran nuclear weapons program"; "imminent threat"; "underground missiles"; Pahlavi ("a marker for the general lack of any vision of what happens as a result of this criminal attack").

  • [03-06]: The war on Iran is forcing Gulf states to reconsider regional strategy as the US and Israel lead the region into uncertainty: "Iran's retaliatory attacks on its neighbors, and the US failure to plan for them, are forcing the Gulf Cooperation Council states to reconsider their regional strategies and their relationship with Washington." The Gulf states are by far the most vulnerable targets for Iranian retaliation, which can be justified by their allowance of US bases and other military and economic ties. They have to start wondering whether their alliance is worth the costs — especially given that they have no control or influence over what the US and Israel do.

  • [03-14]: How aligned are the US and Israel's goals in Iran? That's a good question, and I suspect the answer is not very close. Israel realizes that Iran has never been a serious threat, although the token support they've provided for Hizbullah and Hamas has been good for propaganda, especially with the Americans. They'd like nothing more than for the US to fight Iran, while they focus on Lebanon and the Palestinians (especially in the West Bank). The US, on the other hand, does have interests, especially around the Persian Gulf, that are threatened, and which will make it hard to sustain a long war, or even tolerate a short one. The US also has interests in Europe and Asia, perhaps elsewhere, that will be stressed by this war. And Trump, even more than Netanyahu, is starting off with little popular support, even for war. Trump never expected a long, debilitating war. He was told this would be quick and clean, that Iran would topple, and that he'd be seen as a great liberator. He was conned by people with ulterior motives, and those aren't Trump's motives (which mostly are to make money, which means keeping his Arab allies happy, and inflating his tortured ego). It remains to be seen whether he can figure out a way to act on his doubts, but he did corner Netanyahu into a ceasefire in Gaza.

• Robert Malley/Stephen Wertheim [03-05]: Of course Trump bombed Iran. They rightly accuse Trump, then let him off the hook:

  President Trump's attack on Iran is astonishing in its audacity, aggression and lawlessness. Mr. Trump ordered strikes in the midst of negotiations with a nation that posed no remotely imminent threat to the United States. He did nothing to prepare his country for war. Now he's offering a dizzying array of rationales and objectives, caught in a maelstrom of his own making.

  Beyond breaking with precedent, Mr. Trump also broke with himself. In three straight presidential campaigns, he criticized American military adventures in the Middle East, relying on this stance to distinguish his "America First" mantra from rival Republicans and Democrats alike. "I'm not going to start wars," he vowed on election night in 2024. "I'm going to stop wars."

  Yet for all its Trumpian characteristics, this war is the logical conclusion of how the United States has long dealt with Iran. For decades, presidents have depicted the Islamic Republic not just as a pernicious presence in the Middle East but also as an intolerable danger to the United States that no diplomatic deal could redress. When politicians inflate a threat and stigmatize peaceful means of handling it, an enterprising leader will one day reach for a radical solution.

  Trump could simply have said no, and no one would have criticized him. Attacking Iran was always bad policy, for many reasons. But while his predecessors didn't make that same mistake, they did so little to prevent it from happening that Trump figured he not only had a green light, but attacking Iran would just prove that he's the one president who has the guts to do the deed. Biden could at the very least have revived the JCPOA deal, ending Netanyahu's hysteria about Iranian nukes. Obama could have negotiated a better deal, one that Trump would have found harder to break. Bush and Clinton and/or Bush could simply have buried the hatchet — especially if they had delivered on reasonable peace proposals at the time. Carter and Reagan could have acknowledged that US support for the Shah had harmed most Iranians, and made some amends to keep the situation from deteriorating. War is always the end result of diplomatic failures, and everyone share blame for that aspect of the war on Iran. But only Trump was wacko enough to pull the trigger.

• James North [03-05]: Lies, distortions, and propaganda: how the US mainstream media coverage on Iran hides the truth: "Even those familiar with the biased US mainstream covers of the Middle East are shocked at how bad the reporting on the US-Israel war on Iran has been."

• Peter Beinart [03-06]: Iran is not an existential threat: "Iran poses no significant danger to Israel, let alone [to the] the US." I think that's what he meant in the subhed. The question of whether the US could undermine Israel is a different one, and even more hypothetical. One might as well ask whether Israel could destroy the US. (If so, Trump seems to be their Trojan Horse.)

• Brian Karem:

  • [03-06]: With Iran, confusion is the point: "The Trump administration's jumbled reasoning for war with Iran is part of the strategy."

  • [03-20]: Who still stop Trump on Iran? "As the war escalates and the president digs in, the White House says 'Nobody tells him what to do.'" Much of what I think is based on models of how I have observed people functioning. One thing I've noticed with presidents is that they usually start out cautious and tentative: the job is overwhelming, there is so much they don't understand about it, and they're worried about screwing up, so they look for consensus among their aides, and avoid moves that seem risky. On the other hand, as they settle in, they figure out what they can and cannot get away with, and everyone around them is so flattering they build up ever increasing confidence. Trump fits this model, to a rather extreme degree. Consequently, he has no aides who can question let alone challenge him, and he has many who are full or shit ideas, often ones that he is partial to. So it's hard to imagine anyone in a position to stop him, or even to nudge him into any slightly less self-destructive orbit. It's even becoming hard to see how our damaged democracy stop him. On the other hand, wars tend to impact regardless of how you try to spin them.

• Faris Giacaman [03-06]: Israel is using the 'Gaza doctrine' in Lebanon and Iran: The "old doctrine" was simply an extension of the British version of collective punishment for any transgressions against Israeli power: each and every offense would be met by an overwhelming reprisal, not necessarily directed against whoever was responsible. (During the 2nd Intifade, Israel made a habit of demolishing parts of Arafat's headquarters every time Hamas unleashed a suicide bomber. Needless to say, that wasn't much of a deterrent to Hamas.)

  October 7 changed this equation. "Mowing the lawn" was no longer enough, and neither was keeping the population blockaded in an open-air prison. The new stage of the Dahiya doctrine became the Gaza genocide. After two years of catastrophic civilian punishment, sustained by American financial and military largesse, Israel is now seeking to apply elements of its conduct in Gaza outside of Palestine's borders. We now see this new doctrine, characterized by protracted wholesale annihilation, playing out in Lebanon and Iran.

  Whether this will be recognized as genocide remains to be seen, but the intent is largely the same. While applying the same level of destruction to Iran is probably impossible (at least without resorting to nuclear weapons), Israel sees Iran as a job for the Americans, and for now is focusing on Lebanon.

• Layla Yammine [03-06]: Millions at risk of displacement as Israel bombards Lebanon: "After 15 months of a fragile ceasefire, Lebanon woke up on March 2 to the familiar sounds of Israeli bombs. As the violence escalates and tens of thousands are displaced, Lebanon's social divisions threaten to worsen an already dire situation."

• Umair Irfan [03-06]: The false promise of energy independence: "The Iran war shows yet again that US oil is still vulnerable to foreign shocks."

• Daniel Bush/Olivia Ireland [03-06]: Trump demands 'unconditional surrender' from Iran: The phrase had rarely been used before FDR adopted it as a policy goal in 1943. It was at the time widely noted that conditions were almost always terms of surrender, and were frequently necessary to gain any sort of agreement. In 1945, Japan was allowed the substantial condition of sparing and keeping its emperor. So when Trump says this, he is not only mocking American history, he is exalting himself to a level of power no Iranian leader is likely to recognize:

  Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: "There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!

  "After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.

  "IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!)."

  Trump is saying, "don't even think of trying to negotiate with me." The point was probably unnecessary, not just because he lacked the power to impose his will, but because he had proved that he couldn't be trusted to follow through on anything he agreed to. [PS: The article also reports on a phone call from Putin to Iran's president Pezeshkian, but not much on details.]

• Benjamin Hart [03-06]: A political-risk guru's biggest worry about Iran: Interview with Ian Bremmer ("founder of the Eurasia Group," a consultancy group that "has been helping the corporate and financial worlds understand and integrate political risk into their decision making"). He doesn't strike me as all that bright, or clear — at least I have no idea what he thinks that "biggest risk" is. But he does offer this:

  I think the fundamental challenge here is that Trump really believed that this could be Venezuela redux, and Venezuela went exceptionally well on a bunch of vectors. First of all, they got the guy they were trying to get. They brought him to justice, and they didn't kill him. Now he's going to face a trial. There were no American servicemembers killed. There were Venezuelan civilians killed, but the numbers were comparatively pretty small, especially compared to the numbers the Venezuelans have killed themselves. And it was popular, not just in the U.S. but across the region. Trump has now gotten a whole bunch of support from the Mexicans, more support on going after their narco-terrorists. And the same thing with Ecuador, which we saw in the last 48 hours. The Americans now have a better regime to work with in Venezuela, with the potential for private-sector investment and support from the IMF, and an economy that might actually work for the Venezuelan people. Literally on every front, this went about as well as you could expect. So Trump was like, Great, let's do that again. And this is not going to work that way on any front.

  I think he's way too quick to count Trump wins here. Is it really true that any time Mexico or Ecuador make a move against a drug kingpin, they're doing it at Trump's behest? Or because they were so impressed by Trump's snatching of Maduro? And just because they captured or killed someone, that's a success that will stand the test of time? I don't doubt that Trump's arrogance was boosted by the Maduro escapade — just like I don't doubt that Hitler's resolve to invade Poland got a boost from Chamberlain's cave-in at Munich. But that doesn't mean that Trump, any more than Hitler, drew the right lesson.

• Ted Snider [03-09]: US and Iran were close to a deal before Trump chose war: This story has been fairly widely reported, and makes some sense, but with war plans clearly in the works, one doubts that Trump would have made any concessions to allow Iran to save face, and perhaps also that Israel was so much in control that any agreement would have been rendered impossible. What is certainly true is that an agreement to end Iran's uranium enrichment, which was the essential component for a nuclear weapons, could have been achieved, had the US and Israel shown the slightest interest in a peaceful resolution. But they had other points to make, and frankly weren't worried about uranium in the first place.

• Max Boot [03-09]: There are two winners in Iran. Neither one is America. "Oil disruption benefits Russia, as does less US aid for Ukraine. And Iran distracts from China." The point about Russia and oil prices is pretty obvious. The one about China is mostly neocon fever dream. It is unlikely that China will take advantage of American distraction in Iran to attempt to seize Taiwan, because they probably realize that the real problem there isn't US deterrence but the unreadiness of the people to rejoin the mainland. Perhaps they could force the issue, but as long as reunification remains a future possibility, they have little reason to be impatient. The only thing likely to force their hand is if the US gets overly aggressive in securing independence for Taiwan — which seems to be the goal of the anti-China hawks, spoiling for a fantastical display of American omnipotence, oblivious to the risks of actual war. But note that there is nothing here about Israel as a winner. While the war certainly adds to Netanyahu's reputation as someone who can wrap Trump around his finger, it doesn't objectively help Israel at all. It just plunges them deeper into a wider war, which beyond providing cover for further "ethnic cleansing" creates more risk than reward.

• Douglas J Feith [03-09]: Trump is trying something new in Iran. Hold on tight. "Critics demanding a 'day after' plan are confusing this presidency with that of George W Bush." Cited here in case you want to hear the latest thoughts from the guy Iraq War Gen. Tommy Franks called the "stupidest fucking guy on the planet," and who was later lampooned by Philip Weiss in [2008-07-30]: How did Doug Feith become a ridiculous figure?. Feith actually does a fairly good job of highlighting how Trump is different from Bush, and what the design is of his lose-lose-lost logic. He fails to note what the two have in common, which is a belief that they can kill their way to peace, and that God always smiles on America, so wars just always work out for the best. And he chides Democrats:

  Ironically, critics from the Democratic Party and elsewhere who are demanding to know the "day after" plan are implying that Trump should adopt Bush's outlook.

  That remark might have been clever, but he forgets that Bush didn't have a "day after" plan either. All he had was the "stupidest fucking guy on the planet" assigned to the job.

• Kate McMahon [03-09]: Israel's goal in Iran is not just regime change, but complete collapse: "For Israel, a failed Iranian state fractured by civil war is preferable to any other outcome." That's largely because they can't imagine any better outcome. That's because they don't want peace. They just want an enemy they can strike with impunity.

• Ron Paul [03-10]: Will the dollar be a casualty of the Iran war? I'm always curious about unseen risks of war, and don't doubt that this one will have hitherto unimagined impacts on world finance and trade. I'd be more worried if I thought Paul had the slightest idea how these things work, but he still hasn't gotten past the idea that you need enough gold to match the value of everything else.

• Jonathan Cook [03-10]: Israel planned war on Iran for 40 years. Everything else is a smoke screen: I don't doubt that there are documents supporting this, as well as Netanyahu's testimony of dreaming of war with Iran for over 40 years, but I've long thought that Iran was the smokescreen, and that Israel's real interests scarcely extended beyond the occupied territories, specifically their eternal quest to create "a land without [Palestinian] people" for a people who wants it all."

• Michael T Klare [03-10]: America's Gaza: "The bombing of Tehran." The population of the Tehran metropolitan area is 16.8 million, about 18% of Iran's total population of 93 million.

• Benjamin Hart [03-11]: Israel doesn't want to beat Iran. It wants to break it. Interview with Danny Citrinowicz ("senior researcher in the Iran and Shi'ite Axis Program at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies"), who previously summed up Israel's position as:

  If we can have a coup, great. If we can have people in the streets, great. If we can have a civil war, great. Israel couldn't care less about the future . . . [or] the stability of Iran.

  He also adds, "In Israel, there is no opposition on the Iranian issue. . . . But people think Iran is the country that wants to destroy us, and you can always justify war with Iran regardless of the price we're going to pay." And Netanyahu is loving this:

  He's considering pushing the election a little bit earlier because he thinks he can build on this. You don't hear the opposition leaders talking about the war. Politically, it's a win-win situation from all sides: He's working with the U.S., so there are amazing operational opportunities. Nobody's challenging him, nobody can counter him, and he's not going to trial because there's a war. And none of this will hurt him in a very close and tight election.

  So look, as long as President Trump will continue this war, whether Trump is there a week, a month, a year — it doesn't matter. We will be there.

• Eli Clifton/Ian S Lustick [03-12]: How the Israeli tail wags the American dog: "The US attack on Iran may be less about American security than about the priorities of Israel's government." Objectively that's certainly true. The only real security is in having others have no reason to attack you, which is the opposite of what one would expect after you attack them. Note also that we're not talking about security for Israel here, just interests. Israel's (or Netanyahu's) is to keep American military and financial aid flowing so Israel can keep operating their war machine, and using the threats they generate as cover for dispossessing Palestinians in their occupied lands.

• Sasan Fayazmanesh [03-13]: It's Israel, stupid!:

  As I have written in my academic works, and in CounterPunch, Netanyahu, Israel's chief devil incarnate and the butcher of Gaza, did not take no for an answer and kept pushing every US administration to attack Iran. He had no success, until a deranged man, surrounded by conduits for Israel, including his son-in-law and a real estate friend, took control of the US government.

  A man who to this day, cannot even pronounce the name of the Iranian general he ordered to be assassinated in 2020, or the name of the "supreme leader" of Iran whom he helped to be murdered in 2026, finally did what Netanyahu wanted to be done: attack Iran on behalf of Israel. The first attack, as I wrote in my July 2025 essay for this journal, did not accomplish Netanyahu's goal of a "regime change" and restoration of monarchy in Iran. So, Netanyahu kept up the pressure. He visited the White House multiple times since July 2025 to plan death and destruction in Iran.

• Mike Lofgren [03-14]: Why the Iran was was inevitable: "There were many reasons behind Trump's decision to attack — but none of them were about US national security."

• Deepa Parent [03-14]: 'You are all worse than each other': anti-regime Iranians turn on Trump: "Mood among some in Iran shifts from hope of being rescued to dismay at destruction of infrastructure, culture and lives." I doubt if anyone in Iran ever looked to outsiders for "hope of being rescued. The best thing outsiders can do for the beleaguered people under a regime they despise is to leave them alone, or short of that limit their efforts to peripheral issues, like limiting trade and foreign investments, while reporting on human rights abuses. That is roughly what happened in the ending of the regimes in the Soviet Union and its East European satellites. On the other hand, vigorous sanctions against Cuba and North Korea, and Iraq before the invasion, only strengthened harsh regimes. This piece quotes someone foolish enough to think that Trump's strikes might help topple the regime, but that person's already disillusioned. It shouldn't have taken actual strikes to realize that Trump and Israel have their own reasons for war, and the welfare of the people of Iran has nothing to do with them.

• Alfred W McCoy [03-15]: How the past whispers to the present in Iran: Good historical review of US mishandling of Iran, comparing this new war to the 1956 Suez Crisis, what he calls an instance of "micro-militarism," which is really just a vote for violence without thinking through how much you are risking.

• Bassam Haddad [03-15]: How might the US-Israeli war on Iran fail?: "Every week the US-Israeli war grinds on without a decisive conclusion becomes a lesson in the limits of US power. A campaign initially meant to reinforce US and Israeli supremacy may instead signal its decline." This doesn't go beyond the obvious, other than to stress that the attacks have only consolidated the regime's power in Iran.

• Richard Florida [03-16]: Could this be the end of Dubai?

• Lauren Aratani [03-18]: Trump waives US shipping law for oil and gas in bid to lower prices: "Trump issued a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, a law passed in 1920 as a way to protect the US shipping industry. The law prevents foreign-flagged ships that carry commodities like oil and gas from traveling through US waterways."

• Michelle Goldberg

  • [03-18]: Joe Kent's resignation letter is dangerous because it's half true: Kent was Trump's director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He resigned, admitting that there was no imminent threat from Iran, and blaming Israel for spreading misinformation that led to Trump's decision to attack. Kent is a former Green Beret, who moved into counterterrorism (and politics) after his wife was killed by an ISIS suicide bomber. He could be called a right-wing nut case, but he's also "half-right," which Goldberg admits while worrying that "it taps into old antisemitic tropes about occult Jewish control," and "the more [the war] drags on, the more I worry about a full-blown American 'dolchstoßlegende,' a modern version of the stab-in-the-back myth that German nationalists used to blame Jews for their humiliation in World War I." I'd note that those tropes only persist on the right, where they are outnumbered by neocons and Christian Zionists who envy and/or worship Israeli power. Still, dispelling them will be difficult given how Netanyahu brags about his manipulation of Trump, the obvious dissembling of Israel lobbyists (Jonathan Greenblatt, head of ADL, is quoted here), and their insistence that opposition to Israel's caste system and genocide equates to antisemitism (let's call this the power of suggestion to otherwise naive people). Also that no matter how bad the Iran war goes for the US, it won't result in the degree of defeat Germany suffered in 1918 (or France in 1871, where a similar myth led to the Dreyfuss Affair).

  • [03-16]: Trump is trying to bully America into supporting his war. It won't work.

• Eldar Mamedov [03-18]: Israel's assassination game: Take all the pragmatists off the board: "The killing of Ali Larijani paves the way for more hardliners to fill the void, and conveniently for some, less chance to end the war peacefully."

• Naman Karl-Thomas Habtom [03-18]: Iran war shows perils of America's Mideast bases: "US outposts are sitting targets for Iranian strikes." I imagine they are fairly well protected, but they open their host countries up for attacks against softer targets. Iran is going to be looking for some kind of assurance that they won't be attacked again. The most reassuring proof I can think of would be the the US to remove its bases. This would have to be initiated by the host countries, who should be having second thoughts about allowing aggressive militarists to camp on their lawns. This could be combined with normalized relations and armament limits that would build trust and benefit all. And if this happened, Trump could hardly refuse to leave.

• Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [03-18]: Vast number of Trump voters want him to declare victory and get out: "A new poll showing cracks in MAGA support and no interest in boots on the ground."

• Arron Reza Merat [03-18]: Israel has nuclear weapons. It may use them. Worse, Netanyahu may trick Trump into using them. The prospect I can imagine is that Iran can resist conventional bombing indefinitely, while keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed, inflicting sporadic damage on Gulf targets, while Trump (not Israel) grows frustrated and impatient. Iran tries to hide its arms factories, moving most of them deep underground. This includes its stockpiles of uranium, any centrifuges that have survived, and parts for repairing or making more ones. The US supply of conventional "bunker buster" bombs proves inadequate, but they've developed nuclear warheads specifically as "bunker busters." They may feel that aiming them at remote targets can be justified, and go ahead. Global opinion condemns them, but doesn't stop them from launching another, and another, by which point someone proposes that they threaten a small city if Iran doesn't surrender. (My first thought was the holy city of Qom, but I was surprised to find it has amassed 1.2 million people, so they might want to pick somewhere a bit smaller for a demonstration.) Of course, if/when Iran develops their own nuke, the shoe will be on the other foot, at which point US and/or Israeli panic could very well ensue (and this is where Israeli panic could race ahead of American).

• Robert Kuttner [03-18]: Israel's manipulation of Trump on Iran: "The worse the Iran war goes, the more blame is likely to be directed at Israel, and by association the Jews."

• Blaise Malley [03-19]: Tulsi Gabbard distances US war goals further from Israel's: "In the congressional hot seat Thursday, the DNI and CIA director John Ratcliffe insisted Tel Aviv was focused on regime change but Washington was not."

• Jason Wilson [03-19]: West Point analysis warns that strait of Hormuz blockade will strangle US defense industry: "Report shows how minerals critical to defense readiness have seen 'near total' disruption in seaborne trade." Take sulphur, for instance, which is used to extract copper and cobalt from low-grade ores. "The current sulfur shock is becoming a copper problem, and that copper problem risks quickly becoming a readiness and resilience problem." They call this a "prelogistical crisis," which is to say a crisis which will be ignored until it's too late.

• Alex Shephard [03-19]: This is how forever wars begin: "First, with lies and bombs. Then, with a request for hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars. Will Congress cave to the White House yet again?"

• Ryan Cooper [03-20]: Ol' Donny Trump has really stepped in it this time: "In Iran, he finally created a jam for himself it will not be easy to wriggle out of." There's a reference here to an interesting piece from 2024 called Revisiting the tanker war, which Cooper sums up here:

  The Pentagon has filing cabinets stuffed with war plans dealing with this possibility. The U.S. might take out most of Iran's formal military, but even back in the 1980s during the Tanker War, when Iran was much less developed than it is today, the Navy found it very difficult to stop irregular forces from laying mines at night, or planting limpet bombs, conducting missile attacks from speedboats, and so on. Operation Earnest Will, an escort mission to keep the strait open, required more than two dozen ships operating simultaneously (including support from both the British and the French), went on for more than a year, and saw significant casualties.

  Today, not only do we have drone technology making these types of attacks much more dangerous and effective, but also the U.S. Navy is much smaller than it was at the end of the Cold War. In particular, it has almost none of the frigates and minesweepers that were core to the Tanker War's escort mission.

  Cooper also gets into the "how will this end" question, suggesting that "the easiest and least painful way to end Trump's war is likely just to give up and let Iran seize the strait" — assuming they would be content to collect tolls to allow ships to pass, but he doubts that would satisfy them (and obviously it wouldn't satisfy Trump or Netanyahu).

  Making everything worse is Trump's alliance with Israel, whose government is evidently bent on turning Iran into a stygian nightmare of death and suffering. As noted above, the destruction of Ras Laffan was touched off by an Israeli strike — and it happened after Trump asked Israel not to. Iran struggles to hit back at Israel, but it can hit at the allies of Israel's most important ally, and increase the pressure on the global economy.

  What Trump usually does when one of his dotard plots backfires is to retreat — chicken out, as Wall Street has called it — and pretend it never happened. That sort of works with something like tariffs, where long-term damage takes a long time to appear. But it likely won't be possible here. . . .

  So if Trump tries to cut and run, he will face one of the few things he reacts to — a storm of criticism on television — plus fierce pushback from the D.C. blob. Even if he were to try to do it, Israel almost certainly would bait him back into the conflict by inciting more tit-for-tat bombing.

  If Trump doesn't cut and run, he faces a hole in global energy needs that grows by about 20 million barrels of oil and 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas every day, with steadily increasing damage to the delicate energy infrastructure all around the Persian Gulf that will take months or years to repair, and more and more American soldiers wounded or killed.

  It would be a thorny situation even for the wisest statesmen in world history. Alas, all we have is an elderly idiot whose primary method of diplomacy is posting barely literate screeds on his personal social media site. Folks, it isn't looking good.

• Yumna Patel [03-20]: Anger in the GCC spreads as Iran retaliates over US-Israeli strikes: "These are signs of the growing impatience of Iran's Arab neighbors with Iran's tactic of striking at them in response to Israeli or American attacks. But the anger of the Gulf states isn't only reserved for Iran." A lot of stress here, which could crack up several ways.

• Bryan Walsh [03-20]: The pain from the Strait of Hormuz crisis will be felt far beyond the pump: "Four billion people are fed by fossil fuels. The Iran war is showing just how fragile that is." There's a chart here that argues that about half of the world's current population (8 billion) wouldn't be able to live today without synthetic fertilizers, which are mostly made with oil, with about 30% normally shipped through the now closed Strait of Hormuz. This production and distribution has developed with little thought from political leaders, especially ones as stupid and careless as Trump and Netanyahu, who have now endangered the entire world.

• Caitlin Dewey [03-20]: What everyday life is like for Iranians right now: "Iranians are still trying to work, study, and parent under the constant threat of both airstrikes and regime violence." This is a good question, but to answer it they're interviewing Roya Rastegar, a co-founder of Iranian Diaspora Collective, which is to say someone not in Iran, claiming only to be "in touch with a network of people on the ground in Iran," and even so "the blackout makes it almost impossible to hear about conditions on the ground in real time." So cue to say whatever you think is happening.

• Ian Welsh [03-20]: This is the end of the American empire. Period. Opens with:

  My friends, this is it. America isn't going to win this war, unless they use nukes, but even if I'm wrong and they squeeze out their .01% chance of success, it is over. The army is exhausted and can't be re-armed in less than a decade, with Chinese help. The Middle East will be in ruins. The AI bubble will crash out without money and resources from the Gulf. Everyone's going to turn hard from hydrocarbons to renewables, especially solar, and that means China is going to make absolute bank.

  I'm a little confused when he demotes this to "the second stupidest war decision I've seen in my entire life" ("the first was Ukraine refusing a very generous peace deal," something I somehow missed, but I don't doubt that Ukraine was solvable had Obama, Trump, and Biden shown any actual concern for the country they were arming), and it's probable that his life is a good deal shorter a period of time than mine. I also doubt that "the Israelis almost certainly have video of Trump raping kids," but in the same sentence he hits on a truism: "Americans can't admit they're losing." So caveat lector here, please do your own thinking. My thinking is divided between: yes, the empire may not be finished, but it is bound to be severely diminished; and, well, it wasn't really an empire in the first place, just a network of bases and arms placed at the service of global capitalism, which probably doesn't need them anymore (not least because countries like China and Russia are already part of that global capitalism, and others like Iran and Venezuela want to be, just not on America's terms).

• Brian McGlinchey [03-20]: Jion the US military — kill and die for Israel: This seems like a fair and useful debunking of many of the propaganda points used to indict Iran, turning them into a suitable target for US-Israeli aggression. Whether the US is doing its part for Israel or for its own reasons can be debated.

• Robert Wright [03-21]: War isn't a zero-sum game. I happen to be reading Wright's 2000 book Nonzero, so I'm deep into this sort of logic:

  But, that inconvenience aside, the fact that war is non-zero-sum seems like potentially good news. If nations rationally pursue their self-interest, shouldn't the knowledge that war often makes both sides worse off discourage them from starting wars?

  In theory, maybe. But, back in the real world, there's a massively destructive war going on in the Middle East.

  Well, we might as well put it to good use! I think viewing the Iran War in game theoretical terms can shed light on the question of why humankind seems so bad at respecting the logic of game theory — why nations keep getting into wars that, history tells us, may inflict huge costs on all concerned.

  While I don't want to distract from the very enlightening discussion that follows, I already have two points to make. One is that the weights get distorted when you absolutely don't care for how much harm is done to the other side (or even more if you regard that harm as a positive for your side). This is unfortunately common. Even countries that see themselves as liberators struggle to act in ways that show concern. Then there are countries that are totally self-concerned, like Israel. Second, some countries give themselves a handicap, by assuming that they will be attacked, and counting the losses they could suffer in that event as gains when they attack first.

  Well, I also have a third, which is that hardly anyone thinks to anticipate the long-range costs of seeming to win. Israel's stunning "win" in 1967 led directly to the 1970-71 and 1973 wars, and indirectly to dozens more, including the current war with Iran. Japan's big wins in 1895 and 1905 led to their massive defeat in WWII. Even before such a final reckoning, the arrogance and belligerence took a psychic toll, on the warriors as well as their victims. It's been said that the worst thing that ever happened to the US was "winning" WWII. The US became a very different country after that, much to the woe of the world and to ourselves.

  And maybe there's a fourth point, which is that the people who decide to go to war simply aren't very good at figuring out why. Wright finally gets around to this:

  I listen to a lot of podcasts, and some of them are what you could call foreign policy establishment podcasts — they're produced by, say, the Council on Foreign Relations or some very buttoned up DC think tank, or they feature conversations among the kinds of people who work at such places. And, almost invariably, the people on these podcasts, in gravely assessing the motivations that start and then steer wars, stay at the level of geopolitics and national interest and assiduously avoid the level of domestic politics. To hear them talk you'd think that Trump was Metternich — or at least a dimmer version of Metternich — rather than a former Reality TV star who is just trying to keep his ratings up by staging a new spectacle that's more eye-catching than the last one.

  This kind of credulous discourse is a disservice to the nation. It sustains the myth that the people who steer American foreign policy are by and large worth taking seriously. They're not. The politicians who steer it are for the most part just trying to get re-elected — and will serve whichever cluster of special interests can further that cause. And the "experts" who help steer it, including many of the voices on these podcasts, are people who managed to get hired by think tanks that, for the most part, are funded by the same special interests that are corrupting those politicians.

• Karim Sadjadpour [03-23]: Iran is trying to defeat America in the living room: "The regime knows that its best ally against American power is American public opinion."

  Although opinion polls, oil prices, and the number of projectiles remaining are measurable, the fate of the war will be determined in part by the resolve of both parties, something far more difficult to measure. A democratic president's will to fight is constrained by elections, polls, gas prices, and the news cycle. An authoritarian regime fighting for its survival answers to none of those pressures. Reagan had resolve until Congress didn't. Bush had resolve until six in 10 Americans called his war a mistake. This asymmetry of resolve is Iran's greatest structural advantage. Tehran wins by not losing; Trump loses by not winning.

• Kelly Grieco [03-23]: The "Iran is losing" narrative is tracking the wrong number: "Yes, missile and drone launch rates are down 90%+. But hit rate (or confirmed impacts per projectile fired) has been climbing steadily since Day 1." The thread provides more numbers. "And on the metric that matters (cost imposed per missile fired) Iran may actually be getting more effective as the war goes on, not less."

• Yun Li [03-23]: Volume in stock and oil futures surged minutes before Trump's market-turning post.

  • Paul Krugman [03-24]: Treason in the futures markets: Takes a closer look at this event. I hate the word "treason," and wouldn't use it here, but this sure looks suspicious, even compared to the level of graft we've come to expect. As I recall, back during the Bush admin, some genius wanted to create a futures market on terror attacks, purely as a way to harness the genius of markets as an intelligence source. The idea suffered a crib death, as the prospect of betting on terrorism was hard even for neocons to swallow. New "prediction markets" raise the same concerns about moral hazard, but they're run by the private sector, so nobody asked permission, and this administration won't lift a finger, possibly because ideologically they want rackets unregulated, or perhaps just because they want to use their insider knowledge to play?

    This "sharp and isolated jump in volume" — which you can see for the oil futures market in the chart at the top of this post — was especially bizarre because there were no major news items — no major publicly available news items — to drive sudden big market transactions. The story would be baffling, except that there's an obvious explanation: Somebody close to Trump knew what he was about to do, and exploited that inside information to make huge, instant profits.

    This wasn't the first time something like this has happened under Trump. There were large, suspicious moves in the prediction market Polymarket before previous attacks on Iran and Venezuela. But this front-running of U.S. policy was really large: the Financial Times estimates the sales of oil futures in that magic minute Monday morning at about $580 million, and that doesn't count the purchases of stock futures.

• Katherine Doyle/Courtney Kube/Dan DeLuce [03-25]: Inside Trump's daily video montage briefing on the Iran war: "The montage, which typically runs for about two minutes, has raised concerns among some of the president's allies that he may not be receiving the complete picture of the war."

• Dave DeCamp: He writes short news items for Antiwar.com. These are merely the most recent:

  • [03-25]: Suspected US airstrike kills seven Iraqi soldiers.

  • [03-25]: Iranian official suggests Yemen's Houthis could close Bab el-Mandeb Strait if US launches ground attacks.

Epsteinmania: As Steven Colbert noted right after Trump started the war: "Fun fact: 'Epic Fury' [the name given to the "operation"] is an anagram for 'Forget Epstein.'" This abbreviated section suggests it's working (but I've never pushed the story hard).

• Elie Honig [03-06]: The Clintons have testified about Epstein. Will Trump be next? No. Nor an I sure he should, but I can't blame folks for asking. The Republicans opened up this can of worms, in one of their few efforts at bipartisanship. As noted, Hilary had nothing to offer, and the only reason for subpoenaing her was to put on the record something we already knew: that Bill sometimes operated on his own. As for Bill, after admitting "some truth of Clinton's claim that he 'did nothing wrong,' Honig continues:

  But the "saw nothing" part of his testimony is open to reasonable questioning. Consider, first, that Clinton's friendship with Epstein peaked in the early 2000s — right as Epstein was running his massive international child-sex-trafficking ring, according to the Justice Department's indictment of Epstein, which charged criminal conduct up until 2005. And this wasn't some passing relationship, some casual glad-handing of a potential donor. Clinton flew on Epstein's plane at least 16 times, sent a warm note to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003, and gave a glowing quote to New York Magazine for a 2002 Epstein profile. He also shows up in many photographs partying and swimming and hot-tubbing and receiving massages while with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and others — including women whose identities have been redacted. (Clinton testified that he did not know and did not have sex with his hot-tub partner.) Yet, through it all, Clinton — a Yale-trained lawyer, reputed possessor of a genius-level IQ, two-term former president — had no idea at all that anything might have been awry, not even an "inkling."

SAVE America Act: "Republicans are pushing to get historically restrictive voter ID bill to the president's desk." Evidently "SAVE" stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, a program "initially made to check if non-citizens were using government benefits." But the proposed law reportedly is much more restrictive, requiring a "birth certificate or passport," something which "half of Americans don't have." People who have changed their names, especially married women, face further obstacles. (I have an expired passport and a "REAL ID" drivers license. Unclear whether either would work, although both are based on a valid birth certificate.) The bill also adds burdens to mail in ballots. (Trump wants to completely ban them.) The bill passed the House on Feb. 11, and is being debated in the Senate.

• Eliza Sweren-Becker/Owen Backskai [03-20]: New SAVE Act bills would still block millions of American from voting.

• Jelinda Montes [03-18]: Trump is going all in on the SAVE America Act. It could make voting harder for millions.

• Jamelle Bouie [03-18]: This is what the president is fixated on right now? He points out that the bill could backfire against Republicans, as it most clearly discriminates against several groups that broke for Trump last time, like women who changed their name for marriage, and uneducated people who never got a passport. I'd throw in older folk who lost track of their documentation (I may be one: I have an expired passport, which should still prove my citizenship, but does it?). Perhaps the biggest question is who has enough motivation to fight the bureaucracy just to vote? Still, Trump and his party cling to the notion that the fewer people who can vote, the better:

  The point of the SAVE Act, for them, is to use a ginned-up panic over noncitizen voting to disenfranchise the tens of millions of Americans who oppose the president and who have, as a result, been placed outside the political community. The SAVE Act embodies Trump and the Republican Party's astonishing contempt for the idea that a fair election is one in which you can vote without being hassled by the state.

The Oscars: Prodded on by my wife, I managed to watch most of the nominated pictures (without, sorry to say, enjoying them much), so I was better informed than usual. I also watched the whole show (on a delay from fixing dinner, so we could fast-forward through the commercials). In last week's Music Week, I wrote a bit about the movies in advance of the show. Maybe I'll follow up in the next Music Week?

• Adam Nayman [03-16]: The last human Oscars?: "This year's show was both steeped in nostalgia for what the Oscars used to mean and bristling with ambivalence about the shape of things to come."

• Margaret Hartmann [03-16]: All the Trump insults at the 2026 Oscars: Including the following:

• Eileen Jones [03-16]: Javier Bardem was a bright spot at the Oscars last night.

• Brandon Harris [03-10]: What can an Oscar mean for Palestinian stories? "This year's international feature category became a test of what narratives the Academy is willing to recognize." A look at The Voice of Hind Rajab.

• Glenn Kenny [03-16]: Never won an Oscar pool: "Hollywood's biggest night, which is why they snubbed Brigitte Bardot in death, I suppose." I too kept waiting for Bardot to get a mention in their quite long and generally good memorial segment.

Major Threads

Israel: Netanyahu finally got his war against Iran, which is mostly reported in the long Trump Bombs Iran section. Hezbollah offered enough of a reaction for Israel to renew its assault on Lebanon (not that, despite a "ceasefire," it had ever halted). But more importantly, the Iran war distracts the US from Israel's violations of the "Gaza Peace Plan," and provides cover for more aggression against Palestinians in the West Bank.

• Yakov Hirsch [03-04]: The War to Erase October 7: What 'The Atlantic' leaves out about Netanyahu and the US-Israeli assault on Iran: "The Atlantic's Yair Rosenberg recasts Benjamin Netanyahu as a tragic figure forced to take radical action after October 7, ignoring his long history of fomenting war and exploiting Jewish trauma to further himself and his Zionist ideology." The section on "Weaponizing Holocaust memory" is useful for understanding the psychology that underlies Israeli politics:

  This silence is not just personal to Rosenberg. It flows from a broader Hasbara Culture that treats Netanyahu's worldview as sacred. A certain cluster of "Never Again" journalists — Jeffrey Goldberg, Rosenberg, Kirchick, and others — have spent decades telling American readers that Israel's enemies should be read through Holocaust categories. Iran is not just a hostile state; it is Amalek. Hamas is not just a brutal, rejectionist movement; they are, as Rosenberg himself argues, the new Nazis who simply want to kill Jews. Anyone who doubts that framework is portrayed as naive at best, or dangerously indulgent of genocidal antisemitism at worst. . . .

  In Hasbara Culture's world, Netanyahu is not just another politician; he is the man who sees 1938 coming again. His constant talk of "existential threats" is treated not as rhetoric but as revelation. Once you accept that frame, questioning his motives becomes almost taboo. If you say he is exaggerating or exploiting the threat, you are implicitly saying Jews should not take existential danger seriously. If you suggest he is using Holocaust memory for political gain, you risk being lumped with the people who accuse "the Jews" of "using" the Holocaust.

  That is why, when Netanyahu throws around Amalek and Holocaust analogies, these journalists nod along. It is why they treated his Gaza campaign and now his Iran war primarily as responses to October 7, rather than as the culmination of a long political and ideological project. And the long political and ideological project is the revisionist Zionist program he inherited and perfected: a maximalist claim to the land between the river and the sea; permanent rejection of Palestinian sovereignty; and an "iron wall" ethic that treats overwhelming, exemplary violence as the only reliable guarantee of Jewish safety and supremacy. Read this way, his invocations of Amalek and the Holocaust are not just panic or trauma, but the moral vocabulary of a worldview that prefers endless war-management, de facto annexation, and regional work-arounds to any settlement that would concede equal rights to Palestinians — and that is exactly how Gaza, and now Iran, end up looking like destiny rather than choice.

  Rosenberg's article is here:

  • Yair Rosenberg [03-02]: The Israel of October 6 is never coming back: Wherein "a senior Obama official" described Netanyahu as "a chickenshit" ("too timid to pull the trigger").

• Tareq S Hajjaj:

  • [03-04]: Palestinians in Gaza fear famine returning as Israel cuts off food amid Iran war: "Once Israel and the US launched their war on Iran, Israel closed the crossings into Gaza and cut off all aid. Palestinians in the Strip now fear a return to famine amid food shortages and soaring prices."

  • [03-19]: Food shortages return to Gaza as Israel tightens aid restrictions under the cover of its war on Iran: "Israel's tightened restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza since the US-Israeli war on Iran have led to shortages of basic necessities and an astronomical rise in prices, raising fears of a return to famine."

• Ross Barkan [03-06]: The day Israel lost America: "The Iran war sure looks like a breaking point."

• Qassam Muaddi:

  • [03-07]: Israel 'strangles' West Bank amid war on Iran: "With the world's attention focused on the US-Israeli war on Iran, Israel is making conditions unlivable for Palestinians in the West Bank. Residents say that every Israeli measures to 'strangle' Palestinians feels like it's 'irreversible.'"

  • [03-11]: Why is Israel trying to cause an 'explosion' in the West Bank? "Israel is cracking down on Palestinians in the West Bank and pushing the territory to the brink of a major conflagration."

• Mohammed R Mhawish [03-09]: The Iran war is a disaster for Gaza: "How the crisis leaves Gaza's 2 million people more friendless, isolated, and vulnerable than ever before."

• Ahmed Dremly/Ibtisam Mahdi [03-10]: 'The war is between Israel and Iran. Why should people in Gaza pay the price?': "After closures of Gaza's crossings drove up food casts and stalled medical evacuations, ongoing Israeli strikes raise fears of a renewed large-scale assault." One could also wonder why Iran should pay the price of Israel's war against Gaza. I fear it's reached the point where it no longer matters to Israel who they are hitting, as long as they are hitting someone else, showing the world that this is what they can and will do.

• Michael Arria [03-10]: US support for Israel continues to plummet, despite media's best efforts. "Last month, a Gallup poll found that 41% Americans now sympathize more with Palestinians, compared to 36% who say they sympathize more with Israelis." Further down, I saw a term I hadn't heard before: "Holocaust inversion," which is a new code for people who think Israel is guilty of genocide. This tries to force an analogy with "Holocaust denial," which is not uncommon (but probably exaggerated) among old-school antisemites. But the new charge is very different: those who are so charged not only acknowledge the Holocaust, they are consistent in applying the standard definition of genocide, regardless of who's doing the killing, and who's being killed.

• Elia Ayoub [03-11]: Israel's renewed war on Lebanon is about more than just Hezbollah: "After violating the 'ceasefire' 10,000 times, Israel is once again pounding Lebanon as its enduring thirst for war drives ever expanding ambitions."

• Oren Ziv [03-13]: 'Our coverage is not truthful': How Israel is censoring reporting on the war: "Barred from publishing details of Iranian missile impacts or interceptions, local and international journalists are struggling to tell the full story."

• Janet Abou-Elias [03-18]: US policy toward Lebanon is badly broken: "Washington has stoked a cycle of violence by prizing Israeli security over Lebanese stability." Sane people would realize that stability is essential for security, and focus on the basics. Israel has proven repeatedly that security must be mutual, and cannot be attained by one side repeatedly bombing the other.

• Mayssoun Sukarieh [03-20]: The Gods must be cruel: Inside Israel's psychological warfare campaign in Lebanon: "Israel is waging a campaign of psychological warfare in Beirut by projecting godlike power from the skies, raining down bombs that mete out death and dropping leaflets vowing that Beirut and Gaza will share in the same fate."

• Michael Sfard [03-21]: From Sde Teiman, the truth about Israel's military justice system has been set free: "By dropping all charges against the soldiers filmed abusing a Palestinian detainee, Israel has abandoned the whole masquerade of accountability."

• Oren Ziv/Ariel Caine [03-24]: "Erasing the l ines": How settlers are seizing new regions of the West Bank: "After decades consolidating their control over Area C, Israeli settlers are expanding into Areas B and A — nominally under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction — and displacing communities."

Elsewhere Around the World: With Ukraine turning into something of a forgotten war, I thought I'd extend this section to pick up bits on how the rest of the world is reacting to Trump's adventurism. As far as I can tell, slowly and cautiously, which doesn't make for a lot of news, but I suspect there is more going on than I'm noticing.

• Alan Rappeport [03-12]: Trump removes sanctions on Russia to help oil flow amid Iran conflict: "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was 'unfortunate' that the move could benefit Russia, but maintained that it was only for the short term." Here I was thinking this was a hypothetical, until I saw this story. What about the Russian tankers headed to Cuba?

• Anatol Lieven

  • [03-18]: A Euro leader cursed for calling for peace — with Russia: "Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever said what he 'no one dares to say out loud' about Moscow, oil, and Ukraine."

  • [03-04]: Europe's weakness on Iran, Gaza has radicalized politics at home: "Israeli actions and the continent's complicity in them have destabilized the center, while the far left and far right become stronger"

Trump Threatens the World: I originally set this section up to deal with Trump's threats of war. We're obviously beyond that now, so see the section on Iran for more on that. Nothing much on Cuba here, but that front seems to be heating up. But there is a fair amount here on Trump's newfound militarist mentality. For a while, I thought Trump had an aversion to war — while appreciating the military's usefulness for graft — that distinguished him from classic fascists, but once again we find that fascist power fetishism inevitably ends in war.

• Leah Schroeder [02-17]: Further US intervention in Haiti would be worst Trump move of all: "Washington sent warships this month to deploy 'gunboat diplomacy' while the island nation continues its frefall of violence and corruption." Note date, 11 days before Iran. Never say never.

• David French [03-01]: War and peace cannot be left to one man — especially not this man. I disagree with much of this, but he tries hard to make "a case for striking Iran":

  As my colleague Bret Stephens has argued, the Iranian regime is evil, hostile to the United States and militarily aggressive. It has engaged in a decades-long conflict with the United States. Beginning with the hostage crisis in 1979 — when Iranians seized and held American diplomats and Embassy employees for 444 days — Iran has conducted countless direct and indirect attacks against the United States.

  Iranian-backed terrorists are responsible for the Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 Americans. Iranian-backed terrorists killed 19 Americans in the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Iran-backed militias killed hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq.

  Since the second Iraq war, Iranian-backed militias have continued their attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. In fact, it's fair to say that Iran's efforts to attack and kill Americans have been relentless for decades.

  Beyond its attacks on Americans, Iran is one of the most aggressive and destabilizing regimes in the world. It has supported Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — three of the world's most powerful terrorist militias — it has attacked Israel with ballistic missiles, and it has supplied Russia with drones to use in its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

  Iran is deeply repressive at home. It stifles dissent, deprives women of their most basic human rights and massacres its own people by the thousands when they protest against the regime.

  If you're going to list foreign countries that should not obtain access to nuclear weapons, Iran should be at or close to the very top. Blocking Iran's ability to develop and deploy nuclear weapons is among our most vital national interests.

  This omits a lot of context, and also ignores the counterargument that if these constitute a casus belli for attacking Iran, one could construct a much longer list of similar reasons striking the US. Reasonable people should object to strikes on either, not based on the historical facts but because the attacks won't solve the problem, and will only lead to more problems. (By the way, I don't mean to justify the attitudes and behavior of Iran's rulers. I am critical of them, but one of my main complaints is the extent to which they have embraced their enemies' views on deterrence, subversion, and ultimately war. I also object to what I take to be the arrogant belief that they are a great country and deserve to have influence over lesser countries in the region.)

  French also offers a "case against an attack," which sad to say is even lamer than his case for. It starts with the worry that in attacking Iran, Trump is wasting missiles needed to deter China from attacking Taiwan. More sensible are his worries that Iran will fight back effectively, that the regime might not fall or collapse, and that its new leaders will emerge even more determined than ever to develop the nuclear weapons, especially since those Iranians who favored a path of caution have been killed off.

• Mark Mazzetti, et al. [03-02]: How Trump decided to go to war: "President Trump's embrace of military action in Iran was spurred by an Israeli leader determined to end diplomatic negotiations. Few of the president's advisers voiced opposition." The "paper of record" explains the semi-official story, which mostly makes sense, even if the reporters have little sense of just how extraordinarily deranged Trump's decision is. The essential elements are: Netanyahu's long, determined campaign to ensnare Trump in a war with Iran; the staffing of the White House and Pentagon with action-first figures, fitting Trump's own instincts; and "a remarkable piece of intelligence," an opportunity for decapitation which spurred Trump to act immediately. The assassination strike is reported here:

  • Julian E Barnes, et al. [03-01]: The CIA helped pinpoint a gathering of Iranian leaders. Then Israel struck.: "The killing of Iran's supreme leader and other top Iranian officials came after close intelligence sharing between the United States and Israel, according to people familiar with the operation."

• Michelle Goldberg [03-02]: The idea that Trump was antiwar was always delusional: "Trump's foreign policy has often been less a repudiation of neoconservatism than a mutation of it." Also: "This has always been the real Trump doctrine. Not no wars, but no rules."

• Ben Rhodes [03-02]: Trump may come to regret this: I doubt it, but that may be because whenever I see Trump's smiling mug, I immediately flash to the face of Alfred E Neumann, whose motto was "what, me worry?" I'm also reminded of the line in the Fog of War movie, where someone comments that "everyone's having Bob's ulcer but Bob." ("Bob" is Vietnam-era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, the guy who famously saw the "light at the end of the tunnel." What I do wonder is whether Rhodes regrets his own not inconsiderable role in the long "real men go to Tehran" march to this war? He doesn't say, nor does he mention his old boss, Barack Obama.

• Ross Barkan [03-02]: Republican Warmongers are back in control: Especially Marco Rubio, who Trump in 2016 "mocked for being a neocon . . . a 'perfect little puppet' of hawkish megadonor Sheldon Adelson." Adelson's widow has since become Trump's top donor (or maybe 2nd to Elon Musk).

  There is a dark political logic to this administration's military adventures in Venezuela and Iran and the aborted threat to seize Greenland. As Trump's popularity plummets at home, his immigration and economic policies largely judged a failure by the American people, he has turned to sowing chaos abroad. Overseas, American presidents can act more like sultans than democratic leaders. Military operations can be launched without congressional oversight. Trump, increasingly emboldened, has indicated he might topple Cuba next. All of this is easier and more enjoyable for him than addressing the plight of the American people.

  Barkan notes that "killing a brutal dictator is easy — even Barack Obama did it in Libya"; but "power vacuums are dangerous, and old regime hands don't simply vanish into smoke." Also:

  Little of this new conflict in Iran makes sense other than as a wish-fulfillment scheme for Israel and frothing American neoconservative warriors. The U.S. already claimed to obliterate Iran's sites that were aimed at building nuclear-weapons capacity. The Iranian regime, hobbled before the air strikes, posed little threat to the U.S. Its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas have already been crushed by Israel, the latter in the de facto genocide in Gaza.

  An unsettling reality is that the current crop of neoconservatives in the Trump administration, beginning with Rubio, do not seem to believe in the need to make a popular case for what they do. When Bush invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, he had the American people, misguided as they were, at his back. He had Republicans and Democrats. In apparently starting a war with Iran, the Trump administration has won over the minuscule slice of hawks in the electorate (and the much larger contingent in Washington), but that's about it. Younger Americans on the left and right are weary of what feels like America's constant capitulation to Israel.

• Aaron Pellish/Eric Bazail-Eimil [03-03]: US launches military operations in Ecuador: "The joint military operation with Ecuador targeted what the US called 'designated terrorist organizations' in the country."

• Jordan Michael Smith [03-06] Donald Trump has lit a global match: "Trump and his aides think the United States has global leverage that his predecessors refused to use. He seems to forget that other countries have leverage, too — and they're intent on using it to stop him." It's long bothered me to hear the US presidency described as "the most powerful job in the world," probably because it implied what Trump was the first to clearly hear: that the president can do anything, shake anyone else down, and they will have no choice but to submit.

• Andrew O'Hehir [03-08]: Behind Trump's war fever lies profound weakness: "US wages fast-escalating war, with no clear motivation and no realistic plan. It isn't fooling anyone." Well, they seem to be fooling themselves. Was the problem with Obama really just "no drama"? Is it possible he just didn't know how to get credit for being rational, predictable, and boring?

• Thomas B Edsall [03-08]: The smash-and-grab presidency reaches its apex.

  But it isn't just in foreign countries. The willingness to adopt policies that will result in increased deaths among Americans, particularly within Trump's loyal MAGA electorate, pervades administration decision making, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as I wrote in two previous essays, "What Can't Trump Wreck?" and "The MAHA Pipe Dream Is Going to Hurt MAGA the Most."

  Even so, Trump's war against Iran stands apart from past policies adopted on impulse. In this case, preliminary developments suggest Trump will pay a political price for his lack of careful planning and impetuous behavior. In fact, he may be forced to take responsibility for lost lives, damage to U.S. facilities and allies' cities, economic setbacks and the failure to anticipate predictable adverse events.

• Casey Ryan Kelly [03-10]: Why Pete Hegseth talks like he's in an action movie: "Many observers were taken aback by his haughty tone, hypermasculine preoccupation with domination, giddiness about violence and casual attitude toward death." This notes that speaking "in a manner that is bombastic, outrageous and perverse" isn't unusual in Trump's cabinet (cf. Kash Patel, Sean Duffy, Mehmet Oz), but Hegseth more than any other has made a role out of it. (Meanwhile, Trump himself seems to be becoming terminally blasé.)

Trump Attacks America: Law, lawlessness, and the courts.

• Sophia Tesfaye [03-17]: Trump wants to punish media for his unpopular war: "The president and FCC Chair Brendan Carr are threatening journalists and broadcasters for their coverage of Iran." "Carr's threat is a grotesque distortion of the FCC's mandate."

  • CK Smith [03-15]: FCC warns broadcasters over Iran war coverage.

• Elie Honig [03-20]: Trump's losing war against the Federal Reserve: "The thing is, if he'd gone about it more smartly, he would have gotten his way."

• Robert Kuttner [03-20]: How Trump lost the courts: "With every passing day, another federal judge issues a scathing order to contain Trump's autocracy and Trump keeps alienating the Supreme Court." Don't get excited too soon. But one thing you can expect judges to do is to defend their own authority, which Trump's megalomania is threatening to run roughshod over. If Republicans do manage to pass the "SAVE" act, I think it's going to have a rough time in the courts, and not just because it's blatantly unconstitutional, but because it is corrosive of the idea that the government (including the courts) reflects the will of the people.

Trump's Administration: What they're up to while you're distracted by the flood of shit emanating from the White House.

• Joah E Bromwich/Michael S Schmidt [03-02]: Trump Administration abandons efforts to impose orders on law firms: "The move amounts to a surrender in a clash that has led many law firms to submit to the president rather than face the threat of his executive orders." For starters, this makes the firms that surrendered in cases that could easily have been defended and won look cowardly and probably complicit in Trump's outrageous shakedowns.

• Sarah Jones [03-05]: The myth of the root cause: Meet "Dr." Casey Means, Trump's quack nominee for Surgeon General.

• David Dayen [03-19]: The quietest government shutdown: "It's been almost imperceptible, but the Department of Homeland Security hasn't been funded since February. Avenues to resolve the standoff keep getting cut off." Last month I had this as a separate story, but it barely qualifies for a mention this time — just long lines and other concerns at airports (here's a summary of How a DHS shutdown affects different components and employees). PS: Okay, here's some news on the shutdown:

  • Emily Davies [03-21]: Trump threatens to deploy ICE to airports as TSA shortages drive delays. As scabs? Or just as goons? Is he assuming that because they aren't competent at their own jobs, they might be at another one they weren't trained for? Or does he simply not care. Or does he think that another stupid threat will force his opponents to cave in?

• Maxine Joselow/Brad Plumer [03-23]: Trump admistration to pay $1 billion to energy giant to cancel wind farms: And, in case you didn't think the title was outrageous enough: "In exchange, the French company TotalEnergies would inest in oil and natural gas projects in Texas and elsewhere."

Donald Trump, Himself: Up close and personal, or blown up into some kind of cosmic enigma.

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [03-02]: Trump is workshopping Iran War plan in weird calls to press: "Why did Trump go to war with Iran? You'll have to piece that together from his brief and contradictory remarks to a dozen reporters."

  • [03-05]: Trump fires Kristi Noem, but not for the reason you think: "The final straw wasn't DHS's cruel and chaotic tactics, her alleged affair, or various other scandals, but trying to use Trump himself as a cover."

  • [03-10]: Does Trump know his favorite shoe company is suing him? "Presumably he wouldn't be pushing $145 Florsheim oxfords on all his pals if he knew the company sued his administration over tariffs."

  • [03-12]: 8 scarily stupid moments from Trump's Kentucky rally: "Featuring Jake Paul, Trump's stair phobia, and an update on the Iran war — which we must keep fighting, though it's also 'over' and 'we won.'"

  • [03-13]: Trump boasts killing Iranian 'scumbags' is his 'great honor': "He's reveling in military fantasies on Truth Social, issuing threats to Iran's leaders and showing off photos of himself in uniform (as a teen)."

  • [03-18]: Judge isn't buying White House's 'brazen' ballroom defense: "He blasted the Trump administration for offering 'shifting' requirements and describing the East Wing destruction as a little 'alteration.'"

• Robert Reich [03-19]: Dear allies of America, please don't confuse our president with us: "We are trying our best to resist him, contain him and remove him from office as quickly as we possibly can. Thank you for your patience." This is really dumb. In the first place, our efforts aren't really working, nor are them likely to work until his term expires in 2029, if then. Sure, inside the US, there are lots of things that we are doing, or trying to do, to reduce the damage Trump is causing, but outside the US, for all intents and purposes Trump is the US, and you need to adjust your thinking to that simple fact. Just because you used to have an alliance with the US government (which was never the same as the American people), and thought that worthwhile, doesn't mean that Trump is still your ally, or won't fuck you over on some arbitrary whim. You have to do what's best for you, then reevaluate and adjust in 2029, if things change. Reich writes (my numbers, for future reference):

  In point of fact, we the people of the United States do need your help.

  1. We need your help fighting the global climate crisis.
  2. We need your help heading off pandemics.
  3. We need your help countering global criminal gangs that are trafficking people and dangerous drugs and weapons.
  4. We need your help fighting global poverty, hunger and disease.
  5. We need your help safeguarding freedom and democracy from authoritarian regimes intent on extinguishing freedom and democracy around the world.

  These are all things (and the list is far from exhaustive) that all people in all nations should want to work together on. In olden days, the US could help its "allies" on these (and vice versa), but Trump has changed that: He's said that 1 & 2 aren't problems, so you're on your own; 4 may still be a problem, but it isn't ours; 3 is something we're going to address with arbitrary violence, which you can join in on but have no authority over; and for 5, we want more authoritarian regimes, not more democracy. In short, these are areas where other nations, to the extent they realize these are real international problems, need to find their own solutions for, and that may (and probably should) involve breaking with the US. They don't have to become enemies. They can't really threaten us, and it won't do any good to interfere domestically. They may still find it possible to work with American companies (which aren't even all that American these days). But they shouldn't pretend that the US is their ally, when clearly Trump is not. Maybe when Trump is gone, the US will want to work with their organizations, and help with their solutions. But if the US is a lost cause, as currently it is, they shouldn't sacrifice their future for our ego.

  A lot of liberals, like Reich, are stuck on this idea that the US is, and should always remain, the natural leader of a network of global alliances dedicated to solving the world's problems. US foreign policy has always (but especially since WWII) been directed by financial and military interests, offering a little bit of altruism (and high-minded but often hollow rhetoric) as bait. All Trump has really changed has been to get rid of the nice-guy act. Restoring the act isn't going to wash. The world distribution of power has changed since 1945, even if the American ego has not. Moving forward needs to reflect this change, but also to recognize that power itself no longer suffices, and that cooperation has to be built on mutual respect. Trump is the antithesis of that.

• Henry Giroux [03-20]: Trump's Crusade: Christian Nationalism and the making of a holy war: This starts with a photo of Trump at his desk, surrounded by Christian clergy, many with their hands on Trump's slumped shoulders, blessing his divinely inspired war.

  In this register, Operation Epic Fury becomes barbarism refashioned as spectacle, draped in an aesthetic of impunity and moral annihilation. War is transformed into a form of public pedagogy, a daily lesson in domination delivered through media images, political rhetoric, and state policy, teaching that cruelty signals strength and that enemies, both foreign and domestic, are rendered disposable, unworthy of recognition or justice and instead subjected to humiliation, repression, and violence. Under such conditions, violence no longer hides behind the worn language of necessity or of making the world safe for democracy. It exposes what it has long been in American foreign policy, a ruthless instrument of imperial power. . . .

  This normalization of lawless violence feeds the broader war culture shaping the political imagination of the MAGA movement. Military force is framed not as a tragic last resort but as proof of national vitality. Violence becomes a measure of masculinity and patriotism, while reflection or restraint is dismissed as cowardice. War is imagined as a cleansing force capable of restoring national greatness. . . .

  When militarism fuses with apocalyptic religion, the consequences are deeply troubling. War ceases to be a tragic failure of diplomacy and becomes a sacred drama instead. Violence is sanctified as the instrument through which divine destiny is said to unfold.

• Chauncey DeVega [03-19]: Laugh at Trump's shoe gifts all you want — it's a loyalty test: "The Florsheim presents aren't about style — they reveal the mechanics of MAGA authoritarianism and if it can endure."

• Matt Ford [03-19]: There will be no post-presidential peace for Donald Trump: "The president and his allies will face impeachments, lawsuits, and maybe even The Hague." Shortly after Trump took office in 2025, I gave this some thought, and concluded that whoever follows him should grant him a blanket pardon from criminal prosecution (or maybe just advance clemency against jail time should he be convicted), but should let him fend for himself against civil suits (which are as common to him as eating). For one thing, this would settle the question of whether Secret Service should protect him in jail. (In theory, jail should be the safest place in America, but it doesn't seem to be.) I didn't consider the question of international law, as there seems to be no support for that even from Democrats. As for state laws, that's outside the jurisdiction of the next president, but short of shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, that's unlikely to be a problem. Since then, I find myself caring less and less. The main reason for the clemency, aside from the Secret Service issue (and one could argue that a convicted felon safe in jail doesn't merit that service), is that it helps bury the hatchet, or at least is a gesture in that direction. On the other hand, we already have tons of things that need to be publicly examined. It might be better to do so in a commission, especially one that can subpoena and grant immunity for revealing testimony. It's more important to expose what happened than it is to lock a few people up. As for Trump, I still like my idea of exiling him to St. Helena, where he would be free to build a luxury golf resort no one in their right mind would ever visit. But short of that, Eddie Murphy's advice in Trading Places still seems right: "the best way to hurt rich people is by turning 'em into poor people."

• Brian Karem [03-20]: Who will stop Trump on Iran? "As the war escalates and the president digs in, the White House says 'nobody tells him what to do.'"

• Cameron Peters [03-20]: Trump's new coin, briefly explained: "How Trump is celebrating his favorite things: gold and himself."

• Michael Tomasky [03-20]: Yes, Trump Derangement Syndrome exists; but it's among his supporters: "That Pearl Harbor comment: Aside from being a fascist, the man is a national embarrassment. The deranged Americans are those who still support this charlatan."

  Am I overstating things? Do I suffer — gasp — from Trump Derangement Syndrome? Elsewhere today on this site, Simon Lazarus issues a sharp and necessary reminder to liberals not to get overly obsessed with Trump himself — to bear in mind the movement and the intellectuals that support him.

  He's right about that. At the same time, though, I'd say that we shouldn't even accept the presumption that Trump Derangement Syndrome applies to people like us. It does not. The people who suffer from TDS in this country are the ones who support him. And it's getting worse: This week, Nate Silver found Trump's approval slipping into uncharted territory, and approval of the war generally polls in the 30s — but at the same time, an NBC News poll discovered that among self-identified MAGAs, Trump's approval stood literally at 100 percent to zero.

  They're the ones with TDS. You and I have Trump Awareness Syndrome. We see his un-thought-out war — and by the way, if it's almost over, why is he asking Congress for $200 billion? — and we hear him utter vacuous and offensive statements like the Pearl Harbor remark, and we know all too well what he's doing to this country. Awareness is a far heavier burden than derangement.

  The Lazarus piece is here:

  • Simon Lazarus [03-20]: Trump Derangement Syndrome is a self-destructive distraction: "Liberals aren't wrong to excoriate the president for his misdeeds, but they mustn't lose sight of the fact that Trumpism isn't about one man." As someone who's also recently read Laura Field's Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, I recognize the names of the so-called "MAGA intellectuals" mentioned here, but I want to point out that a lot of Trump's worst ideas derive not from them (or their gurus like Carl Schmitt and Harry Jaffa) but from more conventional Republican sources (paleocons, neocons, libertarians, Buckleyites, theocrats, and/or unprincipled weasels like Roy Cohn, and that's far from exhaustive, as the same irritable mental gestures and rabid defense of the elite go back centuries, when the same sort waxed eloquent about the virtues of slaveholding and monarchy. But Trump doesn't wax eloquent about anything. He may pick up thoughts on occasion because he swims in their same sewer, but thoughts don't stick to him, because he doesn't think them, he just spouts along with all the rest of his incoherent mish-mash. That leaves us in a quandary: he's too important, and too symbolic, to ignore, but he's too slippery to pin down, or maybe too sticky to escape ("tarbaby" comes to mind)?

    By the way, some more on Field's book:

  • Alexandre Lefebvre [2025-11-14]: A mole in MAGA's midst.

    What unites the New Right? One fear and one hope. The fear is that liberalism is everywhere, its tentacles wrapped around the public sphere and even the most intimate details of private life. Whichever MAGA faction you turn to, there is a shared conviction, as Field puts it, that "for all its pretensions to neutrality, liberal, pluralistic, modern constitutionalism has normative tendencies and implicit preferences and inevitably shapes the liberal democratic psyche in specific ways." Liberalism is right there on dating apps with every left or right swipe, in the empowerment slogans of multinationals, and in the endless Netflix scroll of choose-your-own-identity mush. And so, while MAGA strategies diverge on how to respond — from tactical retreat (the so-called "Benedict Option") to co-opting the liberal machine (Catholic integralists) to burning it all down (the chronically online Hard Right) — there is consensus on the enemy.

    That's the negative. What about the positive? Field credits Anton — author of the galvanizing 2016 essay "The Flight 93 Election" and now a senior Trump administration figure — with distilling MAGA's three-point creed: "secure borders, economic nationalism, and America-first foreign policy." But this, she shows, is only surface politics. The deeper point of Furious Minds is to reveal a near-consensus on a social vision and a set of moral ideals for what a postliberal United States should look like.

    Denoting these "moral ideals" as "the good, the true, and the beautiful" doesn't help explain them, because those are not concepts that liberals (or most people) lack, but ones they define differently (and less absolutely). The key thing is that the New Right wants their state (which is not your state, or any form of democratic state) to tell you what to believe, and to force you into believing it. They believe that if everyone thought the same things (the same things they think) all our problems would vanish and we'd have heaven on earth. And one of the things they think is that anyone who derides Trump is deranged?

  • Adam Gopnik [2024-03-18]: The forgotten history of Hitler's establishment enables: "The Nazi leader didn't seize power; he was given it." A review of Timothy Ryback's book, Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power. This book, like the following review, was cited in the Lazarus piece.

  • Casey Schwartz [2025-11-11]: What could have stopped Hitler — and didn't: "In Fateful Hours, the road map to authoritarian disaster is laid out in gleamingly sinister detail by the German historian Volker Ullrich."

  • John Ganz [03-20]: Grand delusion: "The Trumpist intellectuals wake up." I'm having some trouble digesting this retort to Sohrab Ahmari, but I like the comparison of Trump to Napoleon III and the Marx quote (not the farce that follows tragedy one), but this seemed like as good a place as any to file it for further reference. Intellectuals try very hard to rationalize their world view, even if it has no rational basis at all, which is doubly difficult when your world view is bound to a leader [Trump] who has no sensible grounding at all. Oh, the Marx:

    An old, crafty roué, [who] conceives the historical life of the nations and their performances of state as comedy in the most vulgar sense, as a masquerade in which the grand costumes, words, and postures merely serve to mask the pettiest knavery.

Economists and the Economy: Note that I've moved Dean Baker into his own section.

• Richard Bookstaber [03-16]: I predicted the 2008 financial crisis. What is coming may be worse. One of the comments mentions how Trump "has bombed himself into a no-exit with the oil market," then concludes: "combine this behavior with our crumbled infrastructure, collapsing job market, rising prices, etc., and it's hard not to see a market meltdown."

---

Regular Columnists

Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough that it makes sense to collect their work in one place, rather than scatter it about.

Dean Baker: For more look here.

• [03-20]: Are the Biden and Trump economies the same? "While short-term economic data may appear similar, key differences in inflation, labor market strength, affordability pressures, and long-term poicy choices suggest the Trump and Biden economies are meaningfully different."

  Key takeaways:

  • Presidential impact on the economy is often overstated, but policy differences still matter.
  • Claims that Democrats overstated economic success overlook efforts to address affordability concerns.
  • Inflation was trending downward before policy shifts like tariffs disrupted progress.
  • Labor market indicators, especially quit rates and wage growth, point to weakening conditions.
  • Affordability concerns may stem from rising real household costs, especially healthcare and student debt.
  • Trump-era policy changes on energy, immigration, and research could harm long-term growth.
  • Short-term differences are modest, but long-term economic outlook under Trump appears weaker.

  I think the last point should be made much stronger. We're only one year into the Trump economy, and what has happened as a policy level is only starting to impact. Moreover, while the Iran war did quickly signal higher gas prices, it's real impact is still in the future. I don't think we'll actually see the worst-case scenarios that can be projected from Trump's governing principles, because I expect businesses to be more resilient and more resistant to Trump's worst excesses, but best-case is going to be pretty bad, especially as businesses trying to save themselves aren't likely to care much about anyone else.

  I might also note here that I was surprised to see a whole section on "Harris did not cheerlead the Biden economy":

  First, I think he [Jason Furman] is very unfair in saying that former VP Kamala Harris was running around touting that the US economy was the envy of the world. This claim was in fact true, but that was hardly the main story of her campaign.

  Harris went around everywhere saying that she knew people were hurting and outlined proposals, especially on housing, on how she would make things more affordable. We can debate the merits of these proposals, but she was quite explicitly trying to address what she said were major problems in the economy.

  Baker is still far more committed than Harris was to touting the Biden economy, while Harris seemed to be more sensitive to its shortcomings — something she got no credit for during the campaign. The question is why didn't her concerns and proposals get much if any airing in the media? Possible reasons include: that she didn't convey either much outrage or empathy; that her proposals were couched in terms meant to appeal to business and donors; and that she blame the obvious culprits (Biden would have been the easiest mark, as Trump proved). But shouldn't the media have at least tried to sort this out, or are they just totally incapable of reporting on wonky policy matters? I'm reminded here of Hilary Clinton's 2016 gaffe about "baskets of deplorables," which is the only thing the media reported, ignoring the context, which included a fairly detailed and generous plan to revive the economy of areas like West Virginia which had been left behind (something her husband had more than a little to do with). What Clinton proposed would have been much better for the people than Trump's bullshit about "clean coal," but Trump saw his biggest vote gains in areas that Clinton wanted to help, and could have. But who reported that?

• [03-18]: The "fraud" fraud: "The new anti-fraud push led by JD Vance is portrayed as politically driven, relying on exaggerated claims that don't align with the actual scale of the federal budget or national debt." Opens with:

  Fans of pet-eating migrant stories are thrilled to hear that JD Vance is heading up an anti-fraud task force operating out of the White House. As best anyone cal tell, the purpose is to drum up absurd allegations of fraud against prominent Democrats, like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

  If the reference to pet-eating migrant stories is too obscure, let me remind everyone. During the presidential campaign, Vance admitted that he invented stories about Haitian immigrants eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio, to advance the Trump ticket's anti-immigrant political agenda. This is important background when considering the sincerity of his new anti-fraud crusade.

  The other important background item is that Trump just gave us an anti-fraud crusade last year. Doesn't anyone remember Elon Musk running around with his chainsaw and his "super-high IQ" DOGE boys? He was supposed to find trillions of dollars of fraud, and send us all $5k dividend checks.

  Baker is right that Vance's interest here is crassly political, and that the sort of blatantly illegal fraud that such a task force could conceivably find is small potatoes compared to the economy as a whole. But fraud is something people do care about, and Democrats would be smart to expose some on their own. They could, of course, start with Trump, and all the money coming in and favors handed out, which will make Reagan's "welfare queens" and whatever it was that Tim Walz got tangled up with in Minnesota look truly microscopic. Moreover, they could start looking at the broader picture of what is supposedly legal but creates a culture which allows fraud to operate and profit. For instance, every day I fend off dozens of phone calls and emails, some from legit businesses I have no desire to hear from, some surely more disreputable. How hard would it be to shut them all down? I'm sure there's a long list of things that could be done, that would in the end make business and government more respectable and trustworthy. But we live in a world where the politicians seem to accept an ethic of everyone having to struggle to screw everyone else, with our best advice being caveat emptor? We're approaching the point where vigilance against fraud is more than a full time job. It's certainly more than one can stand. And one of the worst long-term effects of Trump is that he's poisoning the entire culture by wrapping it up in his graft. Yet somehow he managed to convince lots of voters in 2016 and 2024 that he was the one who wasn't "crooked"!

• [03-17]: The AI bubble, like the housing bubble, is a big problem and it's not complicated: "Like the housing crash, today's AI bubble driven by inflated expectations and stock valuations poses a major risk to the broader economy when it bursts." I don't doubt that there is a large AI bubble, at least as far as stock prices are concerned, and that it's based on assumptions that won't pan out, but that probably follows 2001 more closely than 2008. On the other hand, I suspect that we're also in a real estate bubble. (My evidence: my tax assessment went up by about 15% this year, and 25% over two years ago.) Both AI stocks and real estate are largely driven to speculative capital, leveraged on a house of cards. The underlying problem is increasing inequality (specifically the ability of the rich to avoid taxation by various schemes).

• [03-16]: Trump agrees with Mark Carney: the old order is very dead: "Trump's unilateral war on Iran signals the end of the US-led world order and forces allies to reconsider security, trade, and global partnerships."

• [03-13]: When Pete Hegseth says "lethality" he's talking about killing Iranian school girls: "Relaxed rules of engagement under Pete Hegseth are blamed for increasing civilian casualties, including a deadly strike on a Iranian girls' school."

• [03-09]: The winning and losing countries from high oil prices: it's not just who has the oil: "Rising oil and gas prices function like a tax on consumers, and despite strong domestic production, US households still face major costs from higher energy prices."

• [03-05]: Little boy Trump goes to war: "Those of us in the United States who lied through Donald Trump's first presidency know that he is not a person who thinks carefully about his actions and their long-term consequences." For instance, Trump's war is going to accelerate the spread of renewable energy and electric cars. It should also accelerate the realignment of much of the world away from the US: "This war without reason removes any doubt that Trump is a threat to world peace and economic stability. The world needs to move away from any dependence on the United States as quickly as possible and now they all know this."

• [03-03]: A real abundance agenda starts by rolling back patent and copyright monopolies: "Genuine economic abundance requires weakening monopoly protections and financial rents that enrich the wealthy while driving up costs for everyone else."

• [02-28]: Trump's stock market is headed down!

• [02-27]: The Ellisons taking over Warner is pants on fire stuff, but team progressive just whines.

  And this is where progressives are far behind the curve. The fact that the Ellisons can put right-wing hacks like Bari Weiss in charge of the news that people see between the campaign ads is a far greater threat to democracy than the 30-second campaign ads that the rich can buy in abundance.

Jeet Heer: Other pieces cited passim, but let's add these, mostly on Trump/Iran:

• [03-20]: Will the Iran war destroy MAGA? "Trump's coalition is splintering over nationalism and Israel." Leaving aside what is or is not MAGA, and whether its supposed constituents are anything more than a fad fan base for Trump, what's splintering them is war, specifically the kind that fights back, and seems like none of their business — the kind that Israel is perpetually fighting, and dragging us into. (They seem pretty happy with war on their domestic foes, and would welcome a lot more of that. But engaging abroad, even if just to hurt others, may strike them as unnecessary, especially when it blows back.)

• [03-13]: The Iran war is spurring global anger at America: "Trump's reckless and unnecessary conflict is hurting allies as well as foes."

• [03-12]: Is AIPAC doomed? "The hard-line pro-Israel lobby is facing more opposition than ever before. But fully defanging it won't be easy."

• [03-09]: Trump's war is destroying the global economy: "Spiraling financial chaos might be the only thing that can force the president to pull back from this conflict." It's certainly not going to be analysis, or conscience.

Paul Krugman: I haven't been reading him since he retired to Substack, but his posts there are more frequent and more expansive than the New York Times allowed, and I haven't been paywalled yet. I cite one of his pieces above (under Iran), but here are a few more:

• [02-23]: Day 1461 of Putin's Three-Day War: "Courage, betrayal — and reasons for hope." He's more hawkishly anti-Putin than I am. I doubt, for instance, that Ukraine have won the war years ago but for Biden's imposing limitations on the use of US-supplied weapons. On the other hand, I do fault Biden for not having the imagination or concern to pursue a diplomatic solution. But his charts do show that Europe has largely made up for Trump's cuts. For now, that only extends the stalemate. The question now is whether Europe can nudge Ukraine into a pragmatic compromise with Russia.

• [02-27]: The economics of faltering fascism: "Unfortunately for Trump, and fortunately for us, he didn't inherit an economic crisis." Compares this to Hitler and Putin, who were able to consolidate power as they forcefully recovered from inherited crises. Sure, Trump campaigned on Biden being the worst president ever, but Trump's remedies have more often than not made matters worse, and his popularity has stalled and sunk. Krugman cites a couple of interesting pieces here:

  • Mike Konczal [02-09]: Why affordability and the vibecession are real economic problems: "There are many ways inflation makes people worse off even when real incomes recover, especially for essentials."

  • Timothy Snyder [02-25]: Fascist failure: "The state of Trump." This was written just after the SOTU, and just before the resumed bombing of Iran. The prescient point is in the fourth paragraph, but let's not neglect the context (my bold):

    Trump's problem is not with idea of fascism. It suits him well. Just consider the atmospherics of last night. Fascism celebrates a leader who transcends law and aims to unites the people with their destiny. It denies truth in favor of grand stories of struggle against a chosen enemy. It posits an imaginary golden age. All of that was in the speech.

    Fascism demands a chosen enemy, and victims. Trump called the Democrats in the audience "crazy" and associated them with illegal immigration and crime. The United States is engaged in an enormous cleansing project. ICE raids celebrate physical force in the cities and our concentration camp system is landscape of domination in the countryside. The murder of civilians in Minnesota was greeted by big lies about the victims.

    All of this is awful. But it is also stasis. Trump is unpopular, the economy is weak. When the government murdered Americans, this did not deter protest. To actually change the nature of politics, to move beyond the current state of affairs (competitive authoritarianism) to something else, to fascism, Trump needs another kind of conflict.

    Fascism demands a major foreign war to kill one's own people and thereby generate a reservoir of meaning that could be used to justify indefinite rule and further oppression, to make the world seem like an endless struggles and submission to hierarchy as the only kind of life. . . .

    Trump senses that he needs such a war, but, characteristically, he wants a short cut. . . . To complete the fascist transition, Trump has to give the country a war it does not want, and win it, and transform the society. . . .

    And so the state of Trump is that he is stuck. He is failing at fascism. He can break things, but he cannot make things. He can bluster, but he cannot triumph. He is tired, and every day is harder than the day before, and there are rivals in the wings, and elections coming.

    Between now and November 2026 he has two moves: win a war, which he cannot; and suppress the vote, which he has telegraphed that he will try to do.

    Snyder not only mentions Iran, he goes on at some length, to some merit but events have moved beyond speculation. But the notion that Trump would gamble on war to try to shore up his flagging polls on domestic policy was a bit too fantastic for me to figure out, even though it's long been a defining trait of all fascists. Sorry if I thought that even they weren't that stupid, but the core traits that lead folks to fascism do lead to a fetishization of power and violence, and that was already pretty clear with Trump. One more point I should make here is that Trump's problem is not that he's incompetent as a fascist. It's that fascism (even his) doesn't work to fix the problems America has.

• [03-02]: War, oil and the world economy: "Are we less vulnerable to an oil price shock than we were in 1979?" Answers seems to be "somewhat," based mostly on that real GDP has risen substantially against oil consumption. Still, there are other factors, including "financial fragility." Conclusion — and this was just a few days into the war, before the full impact of closing the Strait of Hormuz factored in — is: "I don't want to engage in doomsaying. But I do worry that people are too complacent about the economic risks this war creates."

• [03-04]: Reality sets in on Trump's new war: "Surprise! War in the middle of the world's most important oil fields has consequences." Starts with a hart of "traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," followed by one of Brent Crude Oil prices.

• [03-08]: Oil crises, past and possibly future: "What the 70s can and can't teach us." [Paywall here.]

• [03-12]: The billionaires' war: "The ultrawealthy put Trump in power but other people will pay the price."

• [03-16]: No, America is not respected: "Thanks to Trump, we're held in contempt even by our closest allies." I don't doubt the contempt, but still wonder when it's going to be followed up by concrete action. It's still far easier for world elites to humor the US than it is to find ways to work around US obstruction and insanity. Especially as most viable ways would mean moving left.

• [03-18]: Donald Trump, Petropresident: "Follow the Gulf oil money."

  And then there's Trump's relentless use of his office to enrich himself and his family. As the New York Times editorial board has documented, Trump has raked in at least $1.4 billion since returning to the White House. The biggest single piece of that total is Qatar's gift to him of a $400 million jet. Most of the rest has come from sales of cryptocurrency. We don't know who the buyers of Trump crypto are, but it seems likely that Gulf oil money has accounted for a large share. The Wall Street Journal reports that an Abu Dhabi royal secretly invested $500 million in World Liberty Financial, the center of the Trump crypto empire.

  Meanwhile Jared Kushner, the First Son-in-Law, has been acting as one of the U.S. government's chief negotiators on the Middle East while also raising large sums of money for his personal investment firm from investors in the region, especially the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund.

• [03-19]: A whiff of staglation: "Inflation was rising and job growth stalled even before the Iran War."

• [03-23]: When hyperglobalization meets chaos: "Choke points are everywhere you look. . . . While things are bad now, they may very well get a lot worse."

Heather Digby Parton:

• [03-02]: Trump's foreign policy has no rules.

• [03-05]: Trump's new plan for Iran doomed to backfire: "As the administration reportedly prepares to arm Kurds, history shows the risks of using militias for regime change." Aside from the general history of the CIA trying to arm ethnic minorities as guerrillas against supposed foes, is there anything specific about Kurds in Iran that makes them more likely to pay off? I can't think of anything, other than that Mossad may have used some Kurds as spies, but that's not a formula that scales up.

• [03-07]: Trump and Hegseth are writing their own rules of war: "As the Iran war widens, the president and defense secretary's long support of carnage matters a lot." Make that Secretary of War. Weren't you paying attention?

• [03-10]: Lindsey Graham is the little war devil on Trump's shoulder: "Now he says 'Cuba is next.'"

• [03-12]: Trump's threats against "radical left" echo a long history: "Conservatives have often used the federal government to go after protesters and dissenters."

• [03-15]: Trump's Strait of Hormuz problem: "Oil prices surge as the Trump administration shows no clear plan for the world's most critical shipping lane."

• [03-16]: How Iran is exposing Vance and Rubio's 2028 rivalry: Understatement to say that Rubio "has always been something of a hawk." His case to succeed Trump in 2028 is clearly tied to his wars, where he's even more enthusiastic about the next one in Cuba than this one in Iran or last months's in Venezuela (not that he's done there). Vance has a pretty checkered record himself, but shouldn't have any problem pinning the quagmire on Rubio.

• [03-19]: Trump's "America First" becomes America alone: "The nation's allies are refusing to help in Iran, leaving the president increasingly isolated on the world stage."

Jeffrey St Clair:

• [03-02]: Preliminary notes on a planned decapitation. The keyword here is "whacked": for Trump, that's all it comes down to, the solution to all problems. And if it doesn't work, just whack again.

  Trump has done the world a service. He has abandoned pretense and clarified the true nature of American power. There is no longer any need to manufacture a case for war, to make an attack seem conform to international law and treaties or to demonstrate its righteousness by acting as part of an international coalition. Now America can do what it wants to whomever it wants solely because the people who run its government want to. This has, of course, almost always been the case behind the curtain of diplomatic niceties. But Trump has ripped those curtains down and now the world is seeing American power in the raw: brazen, arrogant and mindless of the consequences, which will be borne by others and if they complain, they might be whacked, too.

• [03-06]: Roaming Charges: Calling all angels! Opens with "the shifting rationales (all fictitious) for Trump/Netanyahu's criminal attack on Iran." Let's give a prize to Mario Rubio for the most ironically unselfconscious explanation: "Iran is run by lunatics." This is followed by a video of Paula White ("the spiritual advisor to Trump and head of the White House Faith Office"). Further down, we get to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) explaining, "Iran has been an imminent threat to the United States for 47 years." Some other notes:

  • More than 70 percent of American public school teachers hold at least one side job, according to a new Gallup survey released this week.

  • On Monday, state officials in Ohio approved a $4.5 million sales tax exemption for a $136 million data center expansion in Northeast Ohio. The plant is expected to create a total of 10 new full-time jobs.

  • The number of US adults who feel optimistic about their future life has dropped to 59.2%, the lowest number ever, according to Gallup.

• [03-13]: Kill, lie, and cover up: The shooting of Ruben Martinez. Like Renee Good, he was a US citizen killed in his car by ICE. "Over the last 14 months, ICE has shot at more than 16 people, hitting 12, including 5 US citizens."

• [03-20]: Roaming Charges: Trump's little excursion hits the Straits:

  • Meme: "Republican support for war with Iran jumped from 23% to 85% the moment Trump started the war." Comment: "Yet more proof that the Republican Party has turned in to a Jonestown-like cult."

Nick Turse: Covering the US military for The Intercept, he's had a busy month (mostly on Iran, but not only):

• [03-03]: Rubio admits that America is fighting Israel's war: "Israel's plan to strike Iran would put American lives at risk, the secretary of state said. Rather than confronting Israel, the US joined the war."

• [03-04]: US military joins drug war in Ecuador: "It wasn't going to be just boat strikes forever": "Two government officials told The Intercept that the joint US-Ecuador military action won't just be a one-off raid."

• [03-05]: Sources briefed on Iran war say US has no plans for what comes next: 'The administration doesn't have a clue. They do not have an actual, real rationale, endgame, or plan for the aftermath of this.'"

• [03-11]: Pentagon report: US military fired missile at elementary school in Iran: "Despite attempts by Trump to claim otherwise, the US military was responsible for killing at least 175 in a strike on a school in Iran."

• [03-17]: Trump's war on Iran could cost trillions: "'My kids' kids, and probably their kids, are going to be paying for this," said one official briefed on the US war on Iran."

• [03-19]: US warmongering hits historic level as Trump attacks 3 continents in 3 days: "Since World War II,the US has rarely, if ever, attacked so many places. 'All war. All the time. Everywhere.'"

• [03-19]: Pentagon claims it needs additional $200 billion to pay for war on Iran: "'Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,' said Pete Hegseth, when asked about the funding request."

• [03-23]: Pentagon reveals attacks in Latin America are just the beginning: "With 'Operation Total Extermination' and Trump's threats against Cuba, expect more US military strikes in the region."

• [03-24]: Leaders of elite paratrooper unit ordered to Middle East as Trump weighs Iran ground war: "Government sources tell The Intercept that leadership of the storied 82nd Airborne Division have been ordered to the Middle East."

  • Eric Schmitt [03-24]: Around 2,000 US paratroopers to be sent to the Middle East: Confirmed here, and soft sold, as if he could be bluffing: "The order gives President Trump more military options as he considers diplomacy with Iran. It is unclear the soldiers will go in the Middle East."

Miscellaneous Pieces

The following articles are more/less in order published, although some authors have collected pieces, and some entries have related articles underneath.

Joel Gouveia [02-25]: The death of Spotify: Why streaming is minutes away from being obsolete: Or so says Jimmy Iovine ("arguably the most important living bridge between music and tech": co-founded Interscope, built Beats by Dre, sold it to Apple for $3 billion). Some interesting points here, but none impress me much one way or the other, at least to the point of convincing me that what came before and/or what might come after is any better or worse.

John Herrman [03-05]: Is it really illegal to bet on inside information about the Iran war? How about MrBeast?: "Kalshi and Polymarket are creating a new kind of dilemma." There are few things in this world I find more offensive than gambling, for lots of reasons, but this kind of thing goes orders of magnitude beyond the ordinary.

Chris Dalla Riva [03-06]: Long live Robert Christgau: A conversation with Matty Wishnow: Wishnow has produced a documentary film about the long-time rock critic, The Last Critic, and talks about that here. Also see:

• Robert Christgau [03-18]: Film comment: "Notes from the premiere of the documentary The Last Critic at SXSW."

• David Fear [03-15]: Robert Christgau is the 'Last Critic' standing: "A new doc pays tribute to the legendary dean of rock criticism. But it also reminds you what critics do, and why we need them — now more than ever."

• Jason Gross [03-21]: on Facebook.

• Mike Hilleary [03-13]: Matty Wishnow on capturing Robert Christgau, one of the greatest to give a grade, with The Last Critic: An interview.

Harold Meyerson [03-19]: Cesar falls: "With the horror of the revelations of his sexual predations, an already tarnished icon collapses." I'm surprised to see this recent spate of stories, as I thought this was already old news. Related here:

• Timothy Noah [03-19]: The shame of Cesar Chavez: "We shouldn't forget the reasons he has come to be revered, but his legacy was tarnished long before this."

---

Some notable deaths: Mostly from the New York Times listings. Last time I did such a trawl was on February 27, so we'll look that far back (although some names have appeared since):

• [03-21]: Robert S Mueller III, 81, dies; rebuilt FBI and led Trump inquiry: "He imposed the most significant overhaul of the FBI in its history. After concluding that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, ,he became a target of the president's anger."

  • Erica L Green [03-21]: Trump's reaction to Mueller's death: 'Good, I'm glad.'

  • Jeet Heer [03-22]: Robert Mueller never should have been a liberal hero: "The cult of Mueller foolishly prioritized legal prosecution over political organizing."

  I had heard of Mueller, but first got some insight into him during a ridiculous, pointless sedition case he prosecuted. One of the defense attorneys was our friend Elizabeth Fink. I wish I could quote her assessment of him verbatim, but the net effect was that I never for a moment expected anything but the toothless whitewash of Trump he handed in.

• [03-20]: Chuck Norris, black-belt action star of movies and television, dies at 86.

• [03-17]: Len Deighton, author of espionage best-sellers, dies at 97.

• [03-15]: Paul R Ehrlich, who alarmed the world with The Population Bomb, dies at 93: "His best-selling 1968 book, which forecast global famines, made him a leader of the environmental movement. but he faced criticism when his predictions proved premature." I read his book shortly after it came out, and at the time I thought it made sense. It turned out that, like Richard Malthus' theory, it was incomplete, but not wrong.

  • Bryan Walsh [03-21]: The man who bet against humanity — and lost: "Paul Ehrlich predicted hundreds of millions would starve thanks to overpopulation. Here's what actually happened." Some cautionary notes about doomsaying here, but I still prefer Ehrlich's gloom to Julian Simon's whatever, and note that Walsh's continued worry about declining birth rates is wrong-headed under any scenario. Also note Walsh's piece on the Iran war's affect on fertilizer manufacture and distribution (under Iran war) shows that with war all bets are off.

• [03-14]: Jürgen Habermas dies at 96; one of postwar Germany's most influential thinkers: "In dozens of books, he rejected postmodern cynicism about truth and reason, arguing that rational communication was the best way to redeem democratic society." I was very interested in the Frankfurt School before I left college, but while I had learned much, I never really returned to critical theory. I read one of Habermas' early books (Knowledge and Human Interests), but in a speed reading experiment that yielded so little I gave up the approach, without giving him another chance.

  • Eric Alterman [03-19]: Jürgen Habermas has died. Will democratic optimism die with him? "The great German philosopher both robustly defended the public sphere — and for seven decades never stopped participating in it."

• [03-13]: John F Burns, prize-winning foreign correspondent for The Times, dies at 81.

• [03-12]: Walid Khalidi, scholar called father of Palestinian studies, dies at 100: "As a historian and diplomat, he gave intellectual shape to his people and made sure that they played a role in negotiating their future."

• [03-09]: Monti Rock III, gleefully untalented 'Tonight Show' favorite, dies at 86.

• [03-09]: Bo Gritz, Vietnam veteran called a real-life Rambo, dies at 87.

• [03-08]: Country Joe McDonald, whose antiwar song became an anthem: "Whoopee, we're all gonna die!"

• [03-04]: Bob Power, 73, hip-hop engineer and Tribe Called Quest collaborator, dies.

• [03-04]: John P Hammond, pioneer in 1960s blues renaissance, dies at 83.

• [02-28]: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, autocratic cleric who made Iran a regional power, is dead at 86: As Iran's supreme leader, he brutally crushed dissent at home and expanded Iran's footprint abroad, challenging Saudi Arabia for dominance in the Middle East." Note that Wikipedia also lists 12 more prominent Iranians killed in the same strikes (another article lists 9 of those 12, plus several Iranian officials killed later).

• [02-28]: Joe Randall, chef who celebrated black cooking traditions, dies at 79: "He helped bring the African American cooking of the Carolina Lowcountry to the world and became known as the 'dean of Southern Cuisine.'"

Also, not [yet] noted in New York Times:

• Calvin Tomkins, 100, American author and art critic (The New Yorker) [03-20]; also see David Remnick [03-20]: Remembering Calvin Tomkins, a master of the profile.
• Ali Larijani, 67, Iranian politician, twice secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, speaker of the Parliament (2008-2020), and minister of culture (1992-1994) [03-17]; The New York Times reported on Larijani's death, but not in the Obituary section: Ali Larijani, a top Iranian politician and emissary, is dead at 67.

  • Yeganeh Torbati [03-24]: Iran's new security chief is a hard-line former Guards commander: "Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr replaces Ali Larijani, who is was killed last week in an Israeli strike. He has a history fo expanding the Guards' reach into Iran's politics." Once again, Israel promotes ever more militant opponents.

• Roy Book Binder, 82, American blues musician [03-03]

Tweets: I've usually used this section for highlighting clever responses and/or interesting ideas.

• Alon Mizrahi: "So basically the US is at war, its president is making one deranged statement after another, and the whole world ignores him like he is a crazy person on a bus."

• Corey Robin [03-19]: Starts with: "If you haven't seen this yet, you have to take one and a half minutes — that's all it takes — to listen to Marc Andreessen, one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley, talk about the evils of introspection. He claims that he doesn't do introspection, and I believe him." You can follow the link to six points Robin makes, including "can you think without introspection? Silicon Valley says yes." More on this:

  • David Futrelle [03-23]: Marc Andreessen's Dangerously Unexamined Life: "The tech mogul has declared himself an enemy of introspection, and that conveniently erases considerations of conscience from his amoral investment empire." Includes a Sun Tzu quote that seems to have escaped Trump: "Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster."

    We should note that Marc Andreessen does in fact have an inner life, because we all do. As a result, his declaration of zero introspection is either a weird and extreme failure of self-knowledge or (more likely) a performance, a brand identity so thoroughly constructed and maintained that it functions like an authentic account of the brander's experience. Either way, the practical effect is identical: a man with enormous influence over the technologies of war and surveillance, over the political direction of the country, over the infrastructure of violence that his firm has spent a decade funding, has, in effect, announced that he has no interest in examining his conscience.

    Andreessen has built the perfect ideology for Silicon Valley in the Trump age: Move fast, break people, and don't devote even a moment to self-examination.

• Cory Robin [03-21]:

  Ten headlines from today's New York Times:

  1. You've Lost Your Health Insurance. It Shouldn't Have Been a Surprise.
  2. Trump's Reaction to Mueller's Death: 'Good, I'm Glad.'
  3. I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse.
  4. The 'Hunger Games,' Hamptons-Style: Hiring a Private Chef for Summer
  5. No Pills or Needles, Just Paper: How Deadly Drugs Are Changing
  6. Student Freed From ICE Detention Worries About Those Left Behind
  7. Across the West, Record Heat Is Colliding With a Snow Drought
  8. Unclogging a Hairy Drain Is Gross. This $15 Stopper Makes It Less So.
  9. The Future of the Democratic Party Is Emerging
  10. Here's what happened in the war in the Middle East on Saturday.

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Current count: 310 links, 25755 words (30834 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, March 14, 2026

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Music Week

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45655 [45603] rated (+52), 39 [11] unrated (+28).

This is indeed the first Music Week of March. I've been slow all year, and I'm not very optimistic about ever catching up, but I do keep plugging away at it. Last Music Week actually appeared around March 2, but was backdated to February 28, which was a fairly honest cutoff date. I had been held back trying to wrap up an overgrown and unruly Loose Tabs, which barely made it just before Trump's decapitation strike against Iran, and then got sidelined by a minor illness. The squeeze kept me from sending anything to my Substack newsletter, Notes on Everyday Life, although I had a draft piece on comfort cooking in the works, and several more ideas.

Those all got shelved by the Iran war. I was shocked and appalled the moment I heard the news, although the shock wore off as soon as I replaced the initial hypothetical (why would any rational leader do something as obviously stupid and counterproductive?) with the names of the actual leaders: Trump and Netanyahu. It's not that they are incapable of reason, although each is trapped in his own matrix of myths (some self-generated, especially for the exceptionally vain and gullible Trump), but their judgment is perverted by enchantment with power and a genuine lack of care for their victims, let alone any longer-term consequences.

I felt the need to write something, if only to clarify my own thoughts. I remembered what I had written on March 18, 2003, the day after Bush started his full-scale war on Iraq. I started out:

Yesterday, March 17, 2003, is another date that will live in infamy. On this date, U.S. President George W. Bush rejected the efforts and council of the United Nations, and the expressed concerns of overwhelming numbers of people throughout the U.S. and all around the world, and committed the U.S. to attack, invade, and occupy Iraq, to prosecute or kill Iraq's government leaders, and to install a new government favorable to U.S. interests.

At the time, the effort to sell Americans on the war didn't seem remarkable: it had started with the neocon Project for the New American Century in 1997, and went into hard sell, no-lie-left-unturned mode in September 2002. In the end, it's fair to say that the snow job failed, with Bush arbitrarily starting the war and palming it off as fait accompli (PR, much like his later "mission accomplished" moment). But as I started thinking about the "day of infamy" quote, it occurred to me that the word belonged more to the ones attacked. A more accurate word for the attackers would be "ignominy": the dictionary starts with "deep personal humiliation, public shame, or total disgrace," then adds "dishonorable actions or loss of reputation." While both wars started in fits of arrogance, Trump's is unique in his disregard for any sense of democracy. I'm not much impressed by Democrats who would like to support this war but who balk on procedural grounds, but they do have a point: this is not just a war against Iran, but one against whatever's left of democracy in America. It seeks not just to engage in war, but to deprive the people of any say in when or why the US goes to war. And while Democrats have often contributed to exalting presidential power — e.g., Obama's bombing of Libya and Syria — this time it feels different, because Trump's ambitions are domestic as much as foreign.

The rest of the Iraq war posts are interesting enough I'm tempted to dust them off as a "Big Lookback." On March 25, 2003, one week after the war started in earnest, I wrote:

The war grinds on. The fantasy that expected the Iraqis to roll out the red carpet for their American liberators has been dashed. Nobody expects that Iraq will be able to repulse the U.S. invasion, but the level and form of resistance pretty much guarantees that eventually the U.S. will leave Iraq without having accomplished anything more notable than the perverse satisfaction of serving up Saddam's head on some platter.

As I said earlier, the level of resistance will be telling. If you want a rule of thumb for neocolonialist wars of occupation, it's that once you can't tell your friends from your enemies in the native population, you're fucked. At its simplest level, that's because the occupiers get nervous and make mistakes. The mistakes, in turn, compound, pushing more and more people from the friendly side to the hostile side. That in turn reinforces the nervousness, the mistakes, the alienation. In turn, the resistance gets bolder; as this happens, the occupation digs in, becoming more brutal, vicious, capricious. The high-minded rhetoric is exposed as pure hypocrisy, and the occupation becomes more nakedly about nothing more than power. Such wars become vastly unpopular, and eventually the occupier has to cut their losses and go home. This is pretty much what happened in Vietnam, and we're going to be hearing a lot more about the similarity as this war bogs down. . . .

So, let's face it, the U.S. war against Iraq is a colossal failure. The only question remaining is how long it will take the U.S. to give up and get out, and how much destruction the U.S. will leave in its wake. So remember this: This war did not have to happen.

I also wrote this on April 11, 2003:

There was a period back in the Afghanistan war when the Northern Alliance started reeling off a quick series of victories — not so much that they were defeating the Taliban in confrontations as that the Taliban was high-tailing it out of the cities, allowing Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar to fall in quick succession. The hawks then made haste to trumpet their victory and to dump on anyone who had doubted the US in this war. Back then, I referred to those few weeks as "the feel good days of the war." Well, we had something like that in Iraq, too, except that use of the plural now seems unwarranted. So mark it on your calendar, Wednesday, April 9, 2003, was the feel good day of the Iraq war.

I mentioned the looting, the killing of shi'ite collaborators, and mob reprisals against Ba'ath leaders. I could have mentioned Rumsfeld's blasé "stuff happens" quote. I ended with "So happy last Wednesday. That's very likely to be the last one for a long time now." It was.

Anyhow, it took longer than I expected (what else doesn't these days?), but I finally sent out my Days of Infamy piece on March 13. Reaction so far has been underwhelming: three likes, no comments. A notice on Facebook got one like, no comments. (I've rather arbitrarily limited my Facebook "friends" list to people I know personally, but that's still over 100. By the way, I just enabled "Professional Mode," which I think will allow non-Friends to follow me. I don't really know a lot about this, but settings are pretty open, and we'll see how that goes.) Probably a lot of "TL;DR." It could have been longer, even beyond the earlier draft of a final section I cut (but it's still in the archive file, along with two more attached footnotes. I'll have more to say as I collect links for Loose Tabs (if you're interested, the draft file has a couple dozen already, as well as a few extras). I'll try to wrap that up fairly quickly (perhaps before next Music Week, which is likely to skip next week).

I'm also thinking about following up the Iran piece with a second, hopefully more succinct one. I'm thining the format there should be questions and answers. Here's my first stab at a list:

1. Why did Netanyahu want a war with Iran?
2. Why did Trump go along with the war?
3. Why didn't Iran surrender once the Supreme Leader has killed?
4. How long can Iran continue to fight back?
5. Is there any chance of regime change (anywhere)?
6. Will world opinion of the US and Israel change? And will it matter?
7. If the US and Israel aren't stopped, will they go on and attack more countries?
8. Will the war end democracy?
9. Is there any chance for a revival of international law?

Most of these questions are addressed in my piece, but not in a very well organized way. I could be more explicit about the political prospects for Trump and Netanyahu, but I thought I'd slip that in under "regime change" (since those are the regimes that really need to change). I could also break out the question of terrorism and other economic impacts. Important stuff, but I think secondarily (even through they're already receiving a lot of attention). Or I could just stop with the first four, and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. Maybe ask readers for questions. I do have a little-used question form.

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Oscars tomorrow night. My wife has been plotting to see all the nominated movies (except some rejected out of hand). We watch a couple hours of TV every night every night, which sometimes she wants to use for a movie. I have only rarely enjoyed movies for quite some time now. My most obvious complaint is the need to fit a whole story into allotted time, either compressing it or stretching it out, with a story arc that grows ever more clichéd, essentialist, and/or dreary. Still, given that I have a moment here, and I like to be reasonably well informed, I thought I'd run down the nominee films. No reviews, or even grades (which I've been known to do, but long ago). No real criticism (but some griping). Just notes. The best film nominees, as far as I know:

• Bugonia: We watched it tonight. I don't have much to say about it.
• F1: We watched 10 minutes last night. Full of shit, over the hill driver hitches a fast ride, probably to glory. I followed F1 closely in my teens, and I can tell you a lot about everyone from Tazio Nuvolari up to whoever preceded Niki Lauda (whose name I had to check spelling on). I'd watch it. I don't regret having watched Ford vs. Ferrari, which was history I knew, even if the focus had changed. Wasn't great, but watchable.
• Frankenstein: L liked, but I didn't see.
• Hamnet: L had no interest.
• Marty Supreme: I don't even remember hearing about it. Something about table tennis.
• One Battle After Another: L turned it off after a minute, but was talked into giving it another try. We watched it. I thought the politics were absurdly cartoonish. Only at the end did I see that it was based on Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. I've long been a huge fan of V., but only made it half-way through Gravity's Rainbow, and haven't tried his later books. Still, I wonder whether knowing it was based on Pynchon might have let me accept the premise and run with it.
• The Secret Agent: Brazilian film set in the 1970s. We watched it. I thought it was awful slow and I struggled to follow it — I didn't get that the tape-monitoring scenes were distant future (now-ish) until the end, which helped make sense. So I remember it better than I experienced it.
• Sentimental Value: Norwegian film. We saw it. I thought it was fine, but mostly after the fact.
• Sinners: We saw it. I hated the vampire shit, but otherwise it could have been good.
• Train Dreams: Didn't see. I don't think L did either.

Other films with prominent nominees:

• Blue Moon: Richard Linklater film about Lorenz Hart. We saw it. Dialogue reads better than it sounds, but I rarely mind that.
• If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: Didn't see, or hear of it.
• It Was Just an Accident: Set in Iran. We saw it. I found it tedious and uncomfortable. Settled better after it ended, not that I actually liked the ending.
• Song Sung Blue: We saw it. About a Neil Diamond tribute duo, which was bound to be hokey, but we enjoyed it.
• Weapons: I don't recall hearing about it, but as a "supernatural mystery horror film" I wouldn't. [PS: Turns out that L watched this. Liked it, but didn't think I would.]

I skipped over several films in the song, makeup, sound, and visual effects categories. In international features, we didn't see: Sirat; The Voice of Hind Rajab. We didn't see any of the documentary features. I didn't see any of the animated features, although L may have.

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Almost two weeks of records below. Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide got me to reevaluate Buck 65 and Gogol Bordello. Phil Overeem's February list was also useful. I've done some minor updating to the EOY Aggregate. I doubt I'll be doing much more of that, but hard to say for sure. I did save off my frozen 2025 file as of March 1, which is a month earlier than last year, but typical of previous years. Seemed like a good enough breaking point, as my appetite for more 2025 releases has sunk down to my level of interest in 2026 releases. I will continue adding late 2025 releases to that file, marked in color, as well as to the year-end lists for jazz and non-jazz.

Aside from the Streamnotes bookkeeping, I've finally caught up with my unpacking, hence this week's oversized list. I'll work on knocking that down.

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New records reviewed this week:

Melissa Aldana: Filin (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist from Chile, debut 2010, third album on Blue Note, a quartet with Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Kush Abadey (drums), mostly playing Cuban ballads arranged by Rubalcaba. Cécile McLorin Salvant sings two of them. B+(**) [sp]

Kal Banx: Rhoda (2026, Top Dawg Entertainment): Rapper Kalon Berry, Discogs credits him with a couple of singles, also seems to have some production experience, first solo album a sprawling 25 tracks, 81 minutes. First half consistently solid; second slipped in and out. B+(**) [sp]

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic (2026, In Finé): The former is known for wrapping choral vocals in electronic loops, with four solo (and now three collaborative) albums since 2011. The latter, with solo albums back to 2013, adds harp. B+(*) [sp]

By Storm: My Ghosts Go Ghost (2026, Dead Air/By(e) Storm): Two-thirds of Arizona hip-hop trio Injury Reserve (rapper Nathaniel Ritchie and producer Parker Corey), carrying on after rapper Steppa J. Groggs died in 2020. Working through some pain, somewhat short of voice. B+(*) [sp]

Ron Carter & Ricky Dillard: Sweet, Sweet Spirit (2026, Blue Note): Bassist, best known as part of the Miles Davis Quartet (1963-68), nearing 90 he probably holds the record for most recording sessions ever (per Wikipedia: 2,221). Dillard is a gospel choirmaster, starting with his New Generation Chorale in 1990, and out in force here. Standards arranged around bass lines composed by Carter, it's fun to focus on the bass, although the rest is overkill. B+(*) [sp]

Charli XCX: Wuthering Heights (2026, Atlantic): An unlikely follow up to the huge Brat, a slim (34:34) batch of 12 songs tied to a new movie version of Emily Bronte's 1847 novel. Strings for soundtrack ambiance, and the ambiance is thick, but some songs are striking. B+(***) [sp]

Steve Cohn/Billy Stein: Up From the Soil (2021-24 [2025], Hathor Music): Cohn plays piano, shakuhachi, trombone, drums, and Fender Rhodes in four duets with the guitarist. B+(**) [cd]

The Cucumbers: As You Heard Me: Songs From "Hello George" (2026, Life Force): New Jersey group, formed by Deena Shoskes (vocals) and Jon Fried (guitar), released a good EP in 1983 and a great LP in 1987, with various stops and restarts ever since. This is a collection of 16 very fetching songs, based on the novella Hello George by Fried (who has several more short story collections). [PS: I have the novella, but haven't read it yet. Too much war in the way.] A- [cd]

Daggerboard: The Skipper and Mike Clark (2022 [2026], Wide Hive): Group led by Erik Jekabson (trumpet) and Gregory Howe (percussion), has a handful of albums since 2021. Skipper (bassist Henry Franklin) was a guest last time, joined here by keyboardist Mike Clark, Dave McNab (guitar), Dave Ellis (tenor/soprano sax), Mads Tolling (violin), and Babatunde (congas). B+(**) [cd]

Dead Pioneers: Po$t American (2025, Hassle): Indigenous punk rock band from Denver, second album, spoken word, so no compromising he messages by searching for rhymes. The music is as pointed as the critique of settler colonialism, with lines like "the audacity (no the caucasity)," "there will always be another settler to take your place," and an Indian name I can't transcribe which means "white person who talks too much, presumes too much, and has no boundaries, which is a mouthful." A- [sp]

DJ Eprom: We Are the Biobots (2026, JuNouMi): Polish electronica producer Michal Baj ("who has ties to Silesia") has synthesized the perfect Kraftwerk album, built from turntable scratch samples and electronically processed vocals. Thankfully, the robot world is one we can still laugh at. A- [sp]

Art Edmaiston & Chad Fowler: Memphis Mandala (2024 [2026], Mahakala Music): Tenor/soprano saxophonist from Tennessee, based in Memphis since 1990, has quite a few side credits since 1997, mostly with blues groups like JJ Grey & Mofro. Gets a shot at a free jazz album, with label head Fowler playing strich and flute, backed by bass (Damon Smith) and two drummer/percussionists (Ra Kalam Bob Moses and Clifford "Pee Wee" Jackson). Seems a little subdued. B+(*) [sp]

John Ellis & Double Wide: Fireball (2019 [2026], Sunnyside): Saxophonist from North Carolina, albums since 1997, band connected to New Orleans with Jason Marsalis (drums), Alan Ferber (trombone), Matt Perrine (sousaphone), and Gary Versace (keyboards; one track also with Rogerio Boccato on percussion). Recording date inferred from doc. The low brass is delightful. B+(**) [sp]

Fakemink: The Boy Who Cried Terrified (2026, EtnaVeraVela, EP): British rapper, has a previous album (21:17) as 9090gate, this one runs 7 songs, 14:39. B+(*) [sp]

The Femcels: I Have to Get Hotter (2026, Getting Hotter): British group, first album, sketchy punk-pop, often slips off the beat and sometimes out of tune, which is both appeal and some kind of limit. 16 songs, 32:31. B+(**) [sp]

Bill Frisell: In My Dreams (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Jazz guitarist, major figure since 1980, one frequent theme is his use of folk materials (including "Hard Times" and "Home on the Range" here). Group with strings — Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Thomas Morgan (double bass) — and drums (Rudy Royston). B+(**) [sp]

Peter Furlan: The Peter Furlan Project Live at Maureen's Jazz Cellar (2025 [2026], Beany Bops): Tenor/soprano saxophonist, composer and arranger, Discogs credits him for this and two other albums (1981-83). Fairly large group (nine pieces), allowing for some interesting solo textures. B+(*) [cd]

Heavenly: Highway to Heavenly (2026, Skep Wax): British twee pop band, released four albums and an EP 1991-96, Amelia Fletcher the singer, first album since reuniting in 2023. B+(*) [sp]

Imarhan: Essam (2026, City Slang): Tuareg desert rock band from the Algerian side of the Sahara. Reports are that earlier albums distinguished themselves by rocking harder than their similar-sounding contemporaries, but this one starts out leisurely, and hardly suffers from doing so. B+(***) [sp]

Jon Irabagon: Focus Out (2022 [2026], Irrabagast): Saxophonist, alto here, a star in Moppa Elliott's Mostly Other People Do the Killing, has a substantial discography on his own. Quartet with Matt Mitchell (keyboards), Chris Lightcap (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums), plus guest spots, including two Kokayi raps, and spots for trumpet, guitar, and tenor sax (two at once). B+(***) [cd] [03-13]

Jon Irabagon and Dan Oestreicher: Saturday's Child (2023 [2026], Irrabagast): Instruments not listed, but Oestreicher is a New Orleans-based baritone saxophonist who likely goes even lower here, giving this a delightfully jaunty oom-pah feel. Just the two of them, as far as I can tell. B+(***) [cd]

Lazy Californians: Back to San Francisco (2026, Angel Island): Group led by Cameron Washington, plays trumpet and vocals, based in San Francisco, patterned on New Orleans brass bands but supplements trad jazz with rap and funk organ and more. B+(***) [cd]

Shawn Lovato: Biotic (2024 [2026], Endectomorph Music): Bassist, has a couple previous albums, this one a trio with Ingrid Laubrock (tenor sax) and Henry Mermer (drums), a fine example of the form. B+(***) [cd]

Mandy, Indiana: Urgh (2026, Sacred Bones): French singer-songwriter Valentine Caulfield, mostly in French, organized the band in Manchester, although they also have a toehold in Berlin. Second album, with Scott Fair (guitar, production), Simon Catling (synthesizer), and Alex Macdougall (drums) sharing writing credits. Mostly going off sound here, which is dense but hard to parse. B+(**) [sp]

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (2026, Impulse!): Guitar-bass-drums trio had a couple albums (2018-19) before they joined up with the powerhouse tenor saxophonist. I filed the early albums under rock as the bassist (Joe Lally) and drummer (Brendan Canty) came from Fugazi, although guitarist Anthony Pirog had a fringe-jazz resume (two albums with Henry Kaiser, one a conduction of Terry Riley, a couple more I've heard but don't particularly recall). Time to move them into the jazz file, but I'm not all that pleased. The saxophonist makes a strong effort, but it's hard to sort him out. B [sp]

Pat Metheny: Side-Eye III+ (2026, Ubiquity Music): Jazz guitarist, long career, exceptionally popular, second Side-Eye recording (after 2021's Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)), but a different group — the trio with Chris Fishman (keyboards) and Joe Dyson (drums) gets cover billing, plus guests including a vocal ensemble. B+(*) [sp]

Van Morrison: Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge (2026, Townsend Music/Orangefield): He turned 80 last year, has developed a reputation as a sociopolitical crank, and he's writing fewer songs (4 of 20 here, not sure how many are new), but keeps active, here with his 48th studio album, mostly blues covers that get a fresh dose of swing. He's in good voice, and plays a little saxophone, some harmonica, a bit of guitar, while entertaining guests like Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, and Buddy Guy. Sounds good, but wears a bit thin before ending strong. B+(*) [sp]

Quinsin Nachoff: Patterns From Nature (2023 [2026], Whirlwind): Canadian saxophonist, based in New York, albums since 2006, some earlier side credits (especially with Michael Bates). Two long, complex pieces (one dubbed a concerto), played by a large ensemble with extra strings, a bit much for my taste. B+(***) [cd]

Negative Press Project: Friction Quartet (2025 [2026], Envelopmental Music): Bay Area chamber jazz octet led by Ruthie Dineen (piano) and Andrew Lion (bass), debuted in 2017 with an album called Eternal Life: Jeff Buckley Songs and Sounds, this their fifth album (although Discogs only lists their first), supplemented here by the Friction Quartet ("a cutting-edge string ensemble"). B+(*) [cd]

Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes (2025 [2026], Intakt): Alto saxophonist, born in Poland, debut album 2000, with a fairly well known pick up band in Chicago, names on the cover: Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), Nicole Mitchell (flute), Mike Reed (drums), Dave Rempis (alto/tenor sax), and Luke Stewart (bass). B+(***) [sp]

PVA: No More Like This (2026, It's All for Fun): British electropop, or perhaps trip-hop, group; second album, has a striking sound. B+(***) [sp]

Ratboys: Singin' to an Empty Chair (2026, New West): Chicago indie rock band, Julia Steiner the singer, guitarist David Sagan the other principal, sixth studio album since 2015. B+(**) [sp]

Ron Rieder: Compositions in Blue and Other Hues (2024 [2026], Meson): Composer, based in Boston, has a couple of recent Latin jazz albums, this a collection of more conventionally postbop pieces, played by a quintet I scarcely recognize — Yaure Muñiz (trumpet) is on some Cuban albums I've heard, and Mark Lockwood (bass) was in the Fringe. B+(**) [cd]

Brandon Seabrook: Hellbent Daydream (2026, Pyroclastic): Guitarist, also plays banjo, albums since 2014, many credits, has leaned toward metal noise, does some kind of chamber jazz experiment here, with bass (Henry Fraser), violin (Erica Dicker), and keyboards (Elias Stemeseder). Has some interest, but not much appeal. B+(*) [cd]

Shabaka: Of the Earth (2026, Shabaka): Last name Hutchings, British saxophonist, has been a major figure in groups like Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming, his own Ancestors, has a couple solo albums, at one point swore off sax in favor of flute, but seems to have recovered. Solo, with rhythm tracks and some rap. Still a lot of flute. B+(*) [sp]

Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X (2026, Rough Trade): British post-punk duo, started in 2007 with raw rap vocals, has evolved into something slightly more sung, like Psychedelic Furs. Lyrics matter, but so far I'm mostly taking theirs on faith. B+(**) [sp]

Squirrel Nut Zippers: Squirrel Nut Zippers Starring in "Fat City" (The Ballad of Lil' Tony) (2026, Music Maker): Swing revival band from North Carolina, first appeared in 1995, five albums up through 2000, after which Jimbo Mathis recorded as a solo, and others scattered. A couple revivals later, he returns with a suite of songs based on his grandfather, Tony Malvezzi, "a bootlegger and juke joint operator" who moved on to promoting big bands in New Orleans. B+(**) [sp]

Karen Stachel, Norbert Stachel & LehCats: Live @ the Breakroom With Giovanni Hidalgo (2024 [2025], Purple Room Productions, 2CD): Wife and husband, she sings and plays flutes, he plays soprano and tenor sax (and more flutes), the band includes Matt Clark on keyboards, Dan Feiszli on bass, and Dan Gonzalez on drums, with guest percussion for more than a little Latin tinge. B+(*) [cd] [03-20]

Teen Jesus & the Jean Teasers: Glory (2025, Mom + Pop Music): Australian riot grrrl-inspired quartet, second album after a couple EPs, 10 snappy songs in 29:16, songcraft up, energy down. B+(**) [sp]

They Might Be Giants: Eyeball (2026, Idlewild, EP): John Flansburgh and John Linnell, their 1986 debut was my favorite album of the year, although I've never again been so taken by their musical and lyrical wit. Four songs, 8:31, one a remix. B- [sp]

Zu: Ferrum Sidereum (2026, House of Mythology): Italian group, founded 1999, came to my attention in jazz but always had a fondness for noise and lately have gravitated toward metal. Principally Luca T Mai (sax) and Massimo Pupillo (bass), both also on keyboards, plus new drummer Paolo Mongardi. I have this tagged as "avant-metal," but it's instrumental, and as tricky as ever. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy: African Skies (1993 [2025], Listening Position): Trumpet player (1927-2017), in Sun Ra Arkestra 1959-61, recorded several albums, leading Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Plays various instruments here (congas, flute, guitar, harp, trumpet, violin uke, and his own invention of an electrified kalimba, the frankiphone). Starts uncertain, with some vocals, but finds its groove, highlighted by a blues. A- [bc]

Marty Ehrlich/Julius Hemphill: Circle the Heart (1982 [2026], Relative Pitch): Hemphill (1938-95) founded the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, which Ehrlich joined before moving to New York. Duets, both playing soprano and alto sax, and flute, with Ehrlich also on bass clarinet. B+(**) [sp]

Grupo Um: Nineteen Seventy Seven (1977 [2026], Far Out): Brazilian jazz group, with Roberto Sion (soprano sax/clarinet), Lelo Nazario (keyboards), Zeca Assumpção (electric bass), and Zé Eduardo Nazario (drums), released three albums 1979-82, this find dating from a bit earlier. B+(**) [sp]

Abdallah Oumbadougou: Amghar: The Godfather of Tuareg Music Vol. 1 ([2024], Petaluma): Tuareg guitarist-singer from Niger (1962-2020), a pioneer in the Saharan rock style practiced by many later bands from Niger and Mali. No info on when this well-selected classic material was recorded, but Sahel Sounds released another good album from 1995, Anou Malane. A- [sp]

Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical: Galaxia Tropical ([2026], Analog Africa): Cumbia group, from Iquitos deep in the Pervian Amazon, led by singer Ranil (Raúl Llena Vásquez, 1935-2020). Dates are hard to come by, but he/they released a dozen albums starting in the 1970s (Discogs only has dates on three 1974-77 singles, plus some later compilations). This German label came up with a previous compilation in 2020 (plus a digital-only supplement called Stay Safe and Sound Rail Selection!!). A- [sp]

Old music:

Dead Pioneers: Dead Pioneers (2023, self-released): Indigenous punk-rap group from Denver, Gregg Deal the vocalist, with two guitars, bass, and drums, racing through 12 songs in 22:01. Starts with: "America's a pyramid scheme, and you ain't at the top." Continues: "The foundation of this country is rooted in slavery and genocide, born in the bosom of colonialism," then after noting capitalism adds "this structure is a rigged game." He goes on to admit to being a "Bad Indian" and a "Doom Indian" ("doom sustains me; it's no longer a description so much as a solid indigenous character; doom is angry and real and could care less about how it makes you feel." A- [sp]

Madonna: Madame X: Music From the Theater Xperience (2020 [2021], Warner): As the pace of her studio albums has slowed, she's gotten into the habit of punctuating them with live megatour albums — the tours being the main point of the albums. Thus we have The Confessions Tour (2007), Sticky & Sweet Tour (2010), MDNA World Tour (2013), Rebel Heart Tour (2017), and now this, following her excellent Madame X album (2019). This one was recorded in Lisbon, where Madonna moved in 2019, and incorporates a fado segment, among the new songs that mix in with the always welcome hits. In between, her banter is more sharply political than ever. Good. B+(***) [sp]

Madonna: MDNA World Tour (2012 [2013], Interscope): Her fourth live album, following MDNA, her twelfth studio album (2012), one of her better ones. The new album contributes 9 songs ("Turn Up the Radio" is one of the best), in a 114-minute, 24-song program. Sound is a bit thin, but the music is terrific, as ever. B+(***) [sp]

Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour (2016 [2017], Eagle): Another megatour, behind her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2016), a concert from Sydney, originally released as a 138:16 video, later reduced by a 22-track, 99:01 album. Eight songs from a good but not great album, plus many more. B+(**) [sp]

Masaka Kids Africana: Greatful (2021, Masaka Kids Africana): Group of Ugandan teens (more or less), under the name of a nonprofit that helps "orphaned, vulnerable and abandoned children," in this specific case to become YouTube dancing and musical stars. Second album after a 2019 debut, one more since plus several EPs, including some Xmas music. Several sources misread the album title as "Grateful," which they may well be, but they're also pretty great. A- [sp]

Range Rats: Range Rats (1986 [2010], Mississippi): Ragged-but-right country-rock band led by Fred and Toody Cole, "some sad lilting ballads & some punk as hell," seems to be their only album under this name but the Coles have other credits, including the Rats (1980-83, before their country turn) and Dead Moon (1988-2004; I have two of their albums at A-). A- [sp]

Michael Hurley/The Range Rats: Dead Moon Night (1986-2017 [2024], Mississippi, EP): "Limited one time edition," consists of the folksinger covering a Dead Moon song from Portland's first Dead Moon Day (in honor of the band, after Freddy Cole's death), followed by a previously unreleased Range Rats song. Curios at best. B [bc]

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Grade (or other) changes:

Buck 65: Do Not Bend (2026, Vertices): Rapper/beatmaker Richard Terfly, from Nova Scotia, seems to be in Toronto these days, called his 1988-96 juvenilia compilation Weirdo Magnet, has released many albums since, with a 2014-22 break, but he's been superb ever since. Short one (14 tracks, 26:43), snappy, as exceptional as ever. Noted: "I don't like this universe, let's move on to another one." [Label unspecified, but Christgau used Buck 65's Substack title. Lyrics here.] [was: B+(***)] A- [bc]

Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (2026, Casa Gogol): New York-based punk band, principally Eugene Hütz, the one constant since 1999, draws heavily on his Ukrainian background. Strong album. [was: B+(***)] A- [sp]

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Unpacking: Found in the mail last week (actually last several, as I had fallen way behind):

• David Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) [03-27]
• Tyrone Allen II: Upward (Dreams and Fears) [03-16]
• Anthony Branker & Other Ways of Knowing: Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit (Origin) [03-20]
• Asher Brinson: Midnight Hurricane (AsherBrin) [04-03]
• Owen Chen: Eternal Wind: The Ghibli Collection (OA2) [04-03]
• Steve Cohn/Billy Stein: Up From the Soil (Hathor Music) [2025-10-03]
• Matt Dwonsyk: Live at the Sidedoor (self-released) [03-06]
• Simon Hanes: Gargantua (Pyroclastic) [03-27]
• Alexander Hawkins/Taylor Ho Bynum: A Near Permanent State of Wonder (RogueArt) [2025-09-12]
• Steven Husted and Friends: Two Nights - "Live!" (self-released) [02-16]
• The Interplay Jazz Orchestra: Bite Your Tongue (self-released) [02-26]
• Jon Irabagon: Focus Out (Irrabagast) [03-13]
• Jon Irabagon and Dan Oestreicher: Saturday's Child (Irrabagast) [03-13]
• Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan (Solid Jackson/Palmetto) [03-27]
• Jamile/Vinicius Gomes: Boundless Species (La Reserve) [04-03]
• DeYeon Kim: Wellspring (TAO Forms) [05-01]
• Erica von Kleist: Picc Pocket (self-released) [04-23]
• Anna Kolchina: Reach for Tomorrow (OA2) [02-27]
• Steve Kovalcheck: Buckshot Blues (OA2) [04-03]
• Brian Landrus: Just When You Think You Know (BlueLand/Palmetto) [03-20]
• Scott Lee: Greetings From Florida: Postcards From Paradise (Sunnyside) [04-16]
• Tom Lippincott: Ode to the Possible (self-released) [03-02]
• Lisanne Lyons: May I Come In (OA2) [02-27]
• Quinsin Nachoff: Patterns From Nature (Whirlwind) [02-27]
• Luke Norris: Moment From the Past (self-released) [03-20]
• Adam O'Farrill: Elephant (Out of Your Head) [03-20]
• Meg Okura: Isaiah (Adhyâropa) [02-20]
• Beto Paciello: The Stoic Suite (Moons Arts) [04-17]
• Chenxi Pan: This Very Moment (Origin) [03-20]
• Benjie Porecki: Faster Than We Know (Funklove Productions) [03-02]
• Reverso: Between Two Silences (Alternate Side) [03-27]
• Harvie S: Bright Dawn (Origin) [03-20]
• Marta Sanchez: For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) [04-17]
• Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Agua Con Gas (Cubeye Music) [04-17]
• Yuyo Sotashe & Chris Pattishall: Invocation (self-released) [03-20]
• Chad Taylor/Aymeric Avice/Luke Stewart: Deep in the Earth High in the Sky (RogueArt) [02-09] *
• Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow: Electrical Field of Love (Pi) [03-27]
• Jack Wood: For Every Man There's a Woman (Jazz Hang) [03-24]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, February 28, 2026

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Music Week

February archive (finished).

Music: Current count 45603 [45565] rated (+38), 11 [27] unrated (-16).

I'm writing this introduction on March 2, but it seems fair to backdate this one. Not that I'm not happy to be done with February, but the shortfall of days messed up my schedule (or would have, if I had followed a normal schedule in February). Besides, the cutoff is honest. All of these reviews were logged by Feb. 28, and I haven't written any more since. Saturday was disrupted by having someone come over to trim the giant elm tree in the backyard. Then I picked up some kind of stomach bug, and I spent most of Sunday in bed. I'm feeling somewhat better today, but remain in a bad mood, and I don't expect that to alleviate any time soon.

I published a rather massive Loose Tabs on Friday, where I obviously didn't pay enough attention to the likelihood that Trump would be so befuddled as to launch a war against Iran. I did a minor update last night, where I noted that Franklin Roosevelt's designation of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor as "a day in infamy" applies equally well to Trump's attack on Iran and to Bush's 2003 attack on Iraq. I also wrote:

That Trump and Netanyahu have blindly thrust us into a new state of the world is undeniable. The things we should be absolutely clear on are: the "crisis" that precipitated this action was totally fabricated, the result of Israel hyping Iran as some kind of supreme existential enemy, for no reason beyond their desire to provide cover for their ongoing displacement of the Palestinian people; that the US has gone along with demonizing Iran because the CIA installation of the Shah in 1953 and the subsequent support of the Shah's terror campaign against his people is something Americans have never acknowledged and made any sort of amends for; and that several generations of American politicians, including Biden and Trump, have allowed themselves to be manipulated and dictated to by Israelis, Netanyahu in particular. There was never any need to go to war with Iran, and even a week ago an agreement could have been negotiated, at least had the US shown any decent respect for the Iranian regime and people.

I wasn't able to follow the news as the attack unfolded, and thus far I've barely skimmed a couple of reports. As far as I've been able to glean, Trump wants to continue bombing for several more weeks. As such, he's wasting the opportunity caused by killing Khamenei: a pause would allow cooler heads to regroup, while keeping up the attack will only increase Iran's resolve to fight back — as they are doing, but thus far to limited effect. I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that Iran could make their attackers feel real (if not commensurate) pain, but what worries me more at the moment is the extraordinary exhilaration and hubris Trump and Netanyahu are feeling in flexing their power to destroy and wreak havoc, especially given how unpopular their warmaking is. I doubt either of them will meet the justice they deserve. I just fear that they're on a path that will only get worse until someone finally stops them (as if anyone could or would).

In old age, I often reflect back on maxims I learned when I was a child. One of the most enduring is: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Sure, Trump was pretty corrupt long before he had the absolute power to kill thousands or millions of people. I don't know how people couldn't have seen through Trump, but for all of my lifetime, we've been brought up to adore and trust American power, despite constant reminders that we cannot and should not.

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I finally cracked into the 2026 promo queue last week (or two), so that's much of what you'll find below. I have more that I haven't unpacked yet. Main thing that's slowed me down is that my office space has descended into a horrible mess. I'll try to straighten that out next week. Meanwhile, my main source for new non-jazz picks this week is RiotRiot. I also looked up some Neil Sedaka after his death — I've been playing The Brill Building Box, where Stairway to Heaven is a favorite (here's a live take, in a medley) — and I also sampled a couple of this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees that I had nothing rated by (still missing for me are Inxs and Iron Maiden).

I'm not invited to vote, and almost certainly never will be, but Chuck Eddy is, so I followed his link as a checklist, then I compiled a table of the 17 nominees' graded albums: only 4 had A/A- graded albums (Joy Division/New Order, Pink, Shakira, Wu-Tang Clan), so I would have been very hard-pressed to meet their minimum of 7 votes: I wouldn't begrudge Vandross, and admit that lots of (almost exclusively British?) people like Oasis to a HOF degree, and I'm somewhat into the post-New Edition solo/trio albums. But it feels to me like in their rush to induct everyone they've started scraping the bottom of the barrel — although I'm pretty sure that if I did a bit of research I could find many much better individuals and/or bands they've overlooked (e.g., Pere Ubu, Pet Shop Boys, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Pavement).

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New records reviewed this week:

Michael Aadal: Aggressive Hymns, Energetic Ballads (2025 [2026], Losen): Norwegian guitarist, tenth album since 2009, cover lists last name only, quartet with André Kassen (tenor/baritone sax), Audun Ramo (acoustic/electric bass), Gunnar Sæter (drums), all original pieces, most pretty strong. B+(***) [cd]

Joshua Achiron: Climbing (2026, Calligram): Young guitarist, from Chicago, first album, playing original pieces (plus one Ellington), backed by veteran who elevate his game: Geof Bradfield (tenor sax), Clark Sommers (bass), and Dana Hall (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Naseem Alatrash: Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas (2025 [2026], Levantine Music): Cellist, Arabic heritage, teaches in Boston, is a member of Turtle Island Quartet, has credits with Danilo Perez and Simon Shaheen. Seven original compositions, 32:03, backed by piano, bass, string quartet, and drums. Zips right along. B+(***) [cd] [02-27]

Eddie Allen's Push: Rhythm People (2023 [2026], Origin): Trumpet player, originally from Milwaukee, based in New York, credits back to 1987 (Lester Bowie, Mongo Santamaria), albums from 1993, one called Push from 2014. Sextet here, plus "special guest" Steve Turre (trombone). B+(**) [cd]

Courtney Marie Andrews: Valentine (2026, Loose Future): Country singer-songwriter, ninth album since 2008. B+(*) [sp]

Kris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite (2024 [2026], Pyroclastic): Pianist, originally from Canada, put together a series of impressive albums in the 2000s, then moved to the forefront when she set up a label that is much more than just herself. Now she's making moves, this one with a scratchy Polish string quartet that doesn't allow you the option of not listening. A bit too "classical" for my taste, but those not similarly prejudiced are likely to be impressed. B+(***) [cd]

Hilary Duff: Luck . . . or Something (2026, Atlantic): Pop singer-songwriter, sixth album since 2002 (when she was 15), only second album since 2007 (when she was 20), started as a Disney "teen idol," has a fairly long (if not all that distinguished) list of acting credits, and has written a trilogy of "young adult" novels. B+(**) [sp]

Gaudi: Jazz Gone Dub (2025, Dubmission): Italian producer Daniele Cenacchi, plays keyboards, has been dabbling in jazz, electronica, and especially dub since the late 1980s, moving to London in 1995. B+(**) [sp]

Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (2026, Gogol): New York-based punk band, principally Eugene Hütz, the one constant since 1999, draws heavily on his Ukrainian background. Strong album. B+(***) [sp]

Andy Haas: In Praise of Insomnia (2025 [2026], Resonant Music): Saxophonist, career goes back to the 1980s, including the notable group Radio I-Ching. Solo exercises, credit "saxophone, circular breath, nano pulsar"). This format is inevitably limited, but revelatory if you pay close attention. Helps that it is varied but short: 12 tracks, 29:24. B+(**) [cd]

Hemlocke Springs: The Apple Tree Under the Sea (2026, AWAL): Pop singer-songwriter Isimeme Udu, has degrees in biology and medical informatics, released a well-regarded EP in 2023, first album (10 songs, 33:22). B+(***) [sp]

Joyce Manor: I Used to Go to This Bar (2026, Epitaph, EP): Punk band from California, Barry Johnson the singer-songwriter, Chase Knobbe on guitar, Matt Ebert on bass, various drummers since 2011, seventh album, but at 7 songs, 19:03 I'm inclined to treat it as an EP. B+(*) [sp]

Gil Livni: All In (2024-25 [2026], OA2): Guitarist from Israel, seems to be his second album, a quartet with Amit Friedman (sax), Yonatan Riklis (organ), and Yonatan Rosen (drums), so soul jazz? Three covers (including a Lennon-McCartney), seven originals, pretty lively. B+(**) [cd]

Chris Madsen/Dana Hall/Clark Sommers: Threefold (2025 [2026], Calligram): Tenor/soprano saxophonist, name listed last but type suggests crediting him first. If so (he produced and wrote 4/8 songs, the others by bassist Sommers), this may be his first, although he has side credits back to 2000. This is very solid. B+(***) [cd] [03-06]

Luke Marantz/Simon Jermyn: Echoes (2025 [2026], Chill Tone): Presented as duets (although a drummer is also credited), Marantz plays piano/keyboards, Jermyn electric guitar and bass. Marantz has a fair number of side credits since 2011. Jermyn, from Ireland but based in New York, had a debut album in 2010 (solo electric bass). B+(**) [cd]

Bruno Mars: The Romantic (2026, Atlantic): Pop genius Peter Gene Hernandez, broke through with Doo-Wops and Hooligans in 2010, and since then has shown occasional flashes of brilliance without putting together another compelling album. But this is only his fourth, with a 10-year gap since 2016's lame 24K Magic. This isn't lame, but the overproduction is pretty severe. B+(*) [sp]

Megan Moroney: Cloud 9 (2026, Columbia Nashville): Country singer-songwriter from Georgia, third album. B+(***) [sp]

Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon: As of Now (2026, Lex): Rapper Jamonte Lyde, from Charlotte but he's been around, Discogs lists 15 albums since 2019 but this is his big step forward. A- [sp]

Kate Olson: So It Goes (2025 [2026], OA2): Soprano saxophonist, from Seattle, has a previous (2009) album of "improvised duets" I wouldn't hold against calling this a debut, and side work with Wayne Horvitz, who appears as a guest here (3 tracks). Mostly quartet with Conner Eisenmenger (trombone), Tim Carey (electric bass/guitar), and Evan Woodle (drums), with extra double bass (Geoff Harper) on three tracks. B+(***) [cd]

The Paranoid Style: Known Associates (2026, Bar/None): Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Nelson, with husband Timothy Bracy, fifth album, pens historico-politico-philosophical tracts set to conventional, guitar-heavy but far from sludgy rock and roll. As someone who is slow to grasp lyrics, I tend to be less than impressed at first, then start to notice phrases and appreciate the clarity of the music. Main thing I've noted so far is that these songs are all hooked to their titles, which are somewhat more oblique than usual ("Tearing the Ticket," "A Barrier to Entry," "Shark Eyes," "Elegant Bachelors," the title song). A- [sp]

Pony: Clearly Cursed (2026, Take This to Heart): Toronto indie-pop group, Sam Bielanski the singer-songwriter, third album, with Matty Morand now the exclusive guitarist. Ten songs, 30:45. B+(**) [sp]

Brad Schrader: Late Nights With Brad Schrader (2025, self-released): Standards singer, been plying his trade for 25 years, nothing under Discogs, this seems to be his first. Seven standards (23:50, including the all-but-obligatory Jobim), backed nicely by piano (music director Jerry Vezza), bass, drums, and sax. B [cd]

Noé Sécula/Jorge Rossy: A Sphere Between Other Obsessions (2023 [2026], Fresh Sound New Talent): French pianist, second album, mostly duo with vibraphone (7/10 cuts), mostly playing Monk tunes. B+(*) [bc]

Dave Stryker: Blue Fire: The Van Gelder Session (2025 [2026], Strikezone): Guitarist, from Nebraska, called his first album First Strike (1988), co-led a long-running group with saxophonist Steve Slagle, has lately been in the habit of releasing something new every January. This year's offering is a back-to-roots session with organ (Jon Gold) and drums (McClenty Hunter). B+(**) [cd]

Mattias Svensson: Embrace (2022 [2026], Origin): Swedish bassist, studied in New York but returned to Sweden, has a couple previous albums under his own name, plus several dozen side-credits (especially with Jan Lundgren and Viktoria Tolstoy). Wrote all the pieces here, performed with Bill Mays (piano) and Morten Lund (drums). Nice outing. B+(**) [cd]

Craig Taborn: Dream Archives (2024 [2026], ECM): Pianist, first came to my attention in James Carter's 1990s quartet, has a wide-ranging solo career with several dozen albums and many more side-credits, ultimately leading to a MacArthur grant in 2024. Trio with Tomeka Reid (cello) and Ches Smith (drums). Talented group, but doesn't really take off (unlike, say, 2025's Trio of Bloom). B+(*) [sp]

Vance Thompson: Lost and Found (2024 [2026], Moondo): Trumpet player, founder/director of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, lost his ability to play due to focal dystonia, but has returned to music here, playing the vibraphone in a quintet with piano, guitar, bass, and drums. B+(*) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

John Vanore & Abstract Truth: Easter Island Suite (1989-2024 [2026], Acoustical Concepts): Trumpet player, several albums since 1991, started composing this suite in the 1980s and recorded the first movement in 1989, returning to the studio for the middle sections in 2012, then the final movement in 2024. The groups evolved, but all are deep in brass. B+(*) [cd]

Old music:

Phil Collins: Face Value (1981, Virgin): First solo album by the former Genesis drummer, started a string of eight gold/platinum albums (up to 2010), none I've heard so far, which is unusual for someone being given serious consideration for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (but not the only 2026 nominee I have nothing in the database for: also INXS, Iron Maiden, and New Edition). Seems like an agreeable pop album, but the only whole song that caught my attention was the Beatles cover ("Tomorrow Never Knows"), and the only other bits I was impressed by were drum breaks. B [sp]

The Damned: Damned Damned Damned (1977, Stiff): English punk rock group, first album, Dave Vanian the singer, backed by guitar (Brian James), bass (Captain Sensible), and drums (Rat Scabies), produced by Nick Lowe. I recall the group getting a lot of hype at the time, but little respect. Sounds pretty good at first, a little short of material toward the final rave up. B+(**) [yt]

New Edition: New Edition (1984, MCA): Another RRHOF nominee I totally missed, released 7 studio albums 1983-2004, selling over 20 million copies. Boy group, conceived as successor to the Jackson 5, updated with some rap to coin the term "new jack swing," the five members on this second album went on to solo acts for Bobby Brown and Ralph Tresvant as well as the trio known as Bell Biv Devoe. (Later member was/is Johnny Gill.) B+(**) [sp]

The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story: 1949-1957 (1949-57 [1993], Epic/Legacy, 3CD): Label founded 1918 by Otto Karl Erich Heinemann (1876-1965), recorded early "race" records including Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens. The label was sold to Columbia in 1926, sold off in 1934 and bought back by CBS in 1938, which periodically shut it down and revived it. This was their prime R&B period, with plenty of hot jump blues, but nothing I recognize from standard compilations (like Rhino's fabulous The R&B Box), and a shortage of star power (the "big" names here are Big Maybelle, Chuck Willis, Hadda Brooks, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins). B+(***) [sp]

Rosé: Rosie (2024, The Black Label/Atlantic): Born in New Zealand, raised in Australia, moved to South Korea (where her parents had emigrated from) and joined the bestselling girl group Blackpink, released a solo "single album" in 2021 (6:15, expanded on CD to 12:30), then this studio album, which belatedly came to my attention thanks to the Bruno Mars feature "APT." That single sound pretty good, but it's hardly helped by an overload of ballads, even if they're not bad. B+(*) [sp]

Neil Sedaka: Sings His Greatest Hits (1958-62 [1963], RCA): Brill Building songwriter, an original member of the Tokens (which had a 1961 hit with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), recorded a half-dozen top-ten singles 1959-62, which loom large here. Seems like he should have a memorable period compilation. This comes close. B+(***) [yt]

Neil Sedaka: Neil Sedaka and the Tokens (1956-57 [1963], Guest Star): Short compilation (10 songs, 21:54), unclear exactly when recorded (Google says that Sedaka left to go solo in 1958), but 6 songs are credited to Sedaka alone, 2 with the Tokens, and 2 (twisters) to Joe Martin and His Orchestra. B [sp]

Neil Sedaka: Sedaka's Back (1972-73 [1974], Rocket): Elton John's label compiled this from three UK-only LPs, including songs that were hits for others, and one that became his first since 1962, and set him up for years to come. B+(*) [sp]

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Unpacking: I have stuff but haven't logged it yet.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

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