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Sunday, November 1, 2026
Loose Tabs
On [10-04] I bypassed working on tabs.php to open this
scratch Loose Tabs file, which will eventually be renumbered to
post.
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 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." With
no strict schecule, I've tended to flush these notes out toward the
end of each month.
My previous one appeared ? days ago, on
November 2.
By the way, I've been trying to write some more in-depth pieces on
major issues (and/or personal peccadillos), using Substack as an email
agent. I call this series
Notes on Everyday Life. I used to have a pinned list of pieces
here, but as they've grown, I've moved them into
separate index.
I also have a
Notes feed there. While I've done very little with it so far,
it occurs to me that I might be able to use it to publish Loose
Tabs items and Music Week reviews as I write them, instead of
having to wait for a long compilation post.
Table of Contents:
New Stories
Most stories fit into well-established categories, organized below as
Major Threads. Some sources I lean on so
regularly they have their own
Regular Columnists section. I also have an
End Matter section for dealing with regular
occurrences like books, obituaries, and tweets. Stories that don't
fit into any regular category appear under
Miscellaneous Stories. However, occasionally
a short-term story blows up to where it needs extra attention, in
which case I included it here. Finally, there is
End Matter, which includes regular notes on
books and music, obituaries, and a few tweets that caught my eye.
Examples from last time:
Looking back at Israel; NAZA; The Nobel Peace Prize; Brazil;
Katie Zacharia, Israel's Elections (more on that below).
The "Midterms" Elections: This is the big deal, a remarkable rejection
and repudiation of Donald Trump and his Republicans, and also to a large
extent suggestive that Democrats are finally realizing that to win they
have to select motivated, highly competent campaigners who will focus on
issues voters care about, as opposed to just chasing donor money (which
has been their fashion since the 1980s). It certainly helped that the
enemy was clearly visible, and that Republicans had no real way to hide
from him. Also that Trump's war was widely known to be senseless and
totally unnecessary, but was inescapably on voters minds every time
they bought gas, and most often when they bought groceries. Meanwhile,
he's trapising around the country, acting carefree and clueless. The
closest thing to a surprise here is that he didn't lose even worse.
For that he can thank crooked gerrymanders to salvage the House, and
a massive spending advantage, which was largely wasted on a flood of
tv ads that made no sense whatsoever. The following are some stories.
More are scattered in other sections (e.g., pieces specifically on
the Republican or Democratic parties, and their futures; pieces by
regular columnists tend to be in their usual sections). I'm not
inclined to do many pieces on individual candidates or races, nor
do I care much about the progressive-vs.-centrist electability
arguments. I think what the election shows is that Democrats will
vote the same either way (the near-misses in Florida seem like
proof enough). That may be because Trump has boxed Democrats into
a corner where they realize that solidarity is their only chance
for survival.
Tom Wellborn [10-06]:
If Democrats take both chambers, here is what happens to Trump and
the Republicans, in the order it happens: "A Democratic Congress
can subpoena, refuse money, and stop confirmations; it cannot convict,
legislate over a veto, or end a war by resolution. Here is what 1986,
2006, and 2018 say comes next."
Eli Clifton [11-04]:
AIPAC dumped more than $55 million into losing midterm races:
"The pro-Israel group had a dismal day Tuesday, badly underperforming
its record in previous elections." Overall, they spend $84.1 million,
of which $31.78 million went against Abdul El-Sayed. Ryan Cooper [11-04]:
Let's all point and laugh at Elon Musk: "Turns out you can't just
buy Texas, even for a quarter billion dollars." Musk spent some $474
million this year trying to buy elections, with $224 million of that
going into Texas. Connor Echols [11-04]:
Vance admits it: 'The reason we lost is the war': "The vice president
is in damage control for 2028 after a disastrous night for the GOP."
Vance, of course, was the guy who was against the war, before he was
for it, before he was against it again. He was involved in negotiating
the MOU, which Trump (advised by Netanyahu) tore up. At this point,
blaming the war is the hand he was dealt. What bewilders me is the
suggestion here that Marco Rubio, who is even more implicated in the
war (and even more so the actions against Latin America) is, as Trey
Gowdy is quoted here as saying, the "one winner tonight on the
Republican side." Actually, at this point I don't think that anyone
inside the administration can escape the war stain, or much else as
shown by their Trump sycophancy. Blaise Malley [11-04]:
'It's the war, stupid': Dems sweep midterms on wave of voter anger:
"Republicans lose control of Congress with exit polls showing just how
much Trump's unpopular foreign policy played a role."
Israel's Elections: Israel's legislative elections were held on
October 27. The Knesset has 120 seats, which many parties compete for,
so governments are inevitably coalitions of multiple parties. The Jewish
vote was for most practical purposes divided into two factions: the
governing coalition under Benjamin Netanyahu, which fell short of a
majority with 53 seats; and a handful of other parties, united primarily
in their desire to unseat Netanyahu, came close with 48 seats. That left
19 seats for two parties which represent the Palestinians who became
Israeli citizens in 1950. They also want to end Netanyahu's reign of
war and genocide, which has not been confined to Gaza. The problem is
that the anti-Netanyahu Jewish parties have sworn never to join a
government with Palestinian parties. If they don't take this opportunity
to depose Netanyahu, he will continue as head of a minority caretaker
government until a new round of elections in six months.
Major Threads
War on Iran:
Israel:The focus here is on Israel's wars, especially against
their own people, and on internal Israeli politics. A second section
will address Israel's relations with the world, especially the US.
Mohamed Solaimane:
Tareq S Hajjaj:
Qassam Muaddi:
Israel-American-World Relations: This section deals with
Israel's relations with the world, especially the US, both at the
state level and regarding public opinion.
James North [11-01]:
Book Review: A guide to how the media sanitized Israel's genocide in
Gaza: The book is Assal Rad's
Don't Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide.
Starts with a tweet from Rad: "If you're not writing the truth about
crimes against humanity, you're culpable in them." Then, for example,
she quotes a New York Times headline ("Evictions in Jerusalem Become
Focus of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict") and offers a more pointed
rewrite: "Forced expulsions in Jerusalem became focus of Palestinian
struggle." The review quotes from the book:
My goal was not to nitpick or play semantic games. It is to show how
language is used as a weapon to obscure and sanitize. When
indiscriminate bombing is called 'targeted strikes,' a policy of
starvation is described as a 'humanitarian challenge,' and genocide as
reframed as 'self-defense,' these linguistic choices are not
accidental. They are political decisions that determine whose lives
count and whose deaths are permissible.
Alex Kane [11-03]:
The election cycle that shattered the pro-Israel consensus: "The
Democratic contests broke the ceiling for pro-Palestine progressives."
The real test here isn't that we have a few more progressives pushing
the issues, but that the "leaders" have to follow:
Traditionally stalwart backers of Israel who lead the party in both
chambers — Chuck Schumer in the Senate, and Hakeem Jeffries in
the House — have had to move, even if narrowly, with their
caucus. In September, Schumer voted for a failed resolution that would
have required the State Department to produce a report on Israeli
human rights abuses in the West Bank; the measure would also have
mandated a freeze on US security aid to Israel if the report was not
provided within 30 days. Schumer and Jeffries have also both supported
efforts to impose sanctions on individual West Bank settlers who
commit violence against Palestinians.
Michael Arria:
Hamid Bendaas [11-05]:
Democrats would be insane not to break with Israel now: "The party
has an unequivocal mandate to fundamentally change the US-Israel
relationship." This is wrong on two levels. While the election can
be taken as a rebuke to war, to Israel, and to AIPAC, it isn't a
mandate to "break with Israel now." Foreign policy is still largely
controlled by the president, and the president is still Trump. They
can pass toothless resolutions, and possibly slip in some provisos
on how money is to be spent, but their power is pretty limited, and
it would be a shame to squander it on pointless gestures. Secondly,
a break with Israel wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. America's
alliance with Israel gives us influence that would be lost with a
clear break. What Democrats can do is to use their back channels to
hint that they would like to preserve the alliance, but Netanyahu,
especially with his close identification with Trump, needs to go
(and with him, Smotrich and Ben Gvir). Eisenkot may be no better
than Netanyahu in terms of the Israel's genocidal tendency, but he
could afford to drop the war with Iran (and maybe Lebanon and Syria).
Those wars do two things for Netanyahu: they provide cover for the
ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and they trap Trump into
"defending" Israel from "existential foreign threats." But this
has to be done subtly, by longstanding friends of Israel (like
Schumer and Jeffries). Of course, longtime critics should keep up
the pressure, but not fool themselves into thinking they have
leverage on this issue. Philip Weiss [11-06]:
The American people have spoken, and across the political spectrum
they don't like Israel: "'Everyone knows why we lost,' J.D. Vance
said after the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections, and among
the reasons he cited was Israel. For decades, the Israel lobby worked
to keep Zionism's bigotry off voters' radar. Those days are over."
Ukraine, Other Hot Spots, and World Politics: A catch-all,
where the focus is away from, but not unaffected by, Trump's wars.
Trump's War Department: I 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.
Trump vs. Law and/or Law vs. America: From ICE to the Supreme
Court and the assault on democracy.
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, and that
it's mostly not is no excuse: he sets the tone, then distracts the
media with his own insanity.
Donald Trump: The cult (or should I say sinkhole?) of personality.
While most of the bad things he has done and is doing are the work of
his administration, and many of their bad ideas are deeply ingrained
in the Republican Party, he hogs the spotlight, giving them a uniquely
pungent odor.
Electoral Politics: Pieces on US elections (recent and future)
and, more generally, inter-party politicking. Party-specific pieces in
following sections.
Ed Kilgore:
[09-15]:
Who enabled Trump's second act? "From GOP leaders to titans of
business, those who might have mitigated the president's second term
lawlessness instead bent the knee. Each had their reasons." Seems
like I must have linked to this review of Jacob Weisberg's book,
Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump
Era, but I found it in a loose tab, so might as well mention
it (again?). The book consists of eight profiles, some famous,
some less so: Brad Karp, Stephen A Schwarzman, Jeff Bezos, Megyn
Kelly, Mitch McConnell, George W Bush, Sian Beilock, John Roberts.
One can quibble with the list (aside from McConnell and Roberts),
or perhaps with the very notion of courage and cowardice —
Weisberg adopts "John F. Kennedy's 1956 classic Profiles in
Courage" as his model, with its dubious, self-serving picks. [12-04]:
This midterm wave was one for the history books:
Democrats won the House national popular vote by an estimated 13 to 14
percent, well above the 8 to 9 percent advantage in the generic
congressional ballot shown by Silver Bulletin and
RealClearPolitics. They are currently projected by NBC News to win 258
House seats, a gain of 43, far above the 230 to 240 generally
predicted. They have definitely won 54 Senate seats, a gain of seven,
and could win two more in Alaska and Mississippi. No one to my
knowledge predicted that kind of sweep. Democrats also flipped five
governorships, and could flip two more, while busting up at least four
GOP state trifectas as they build five of their own.
Other Republicans:
Bess Levin [11-04]:
The many ways Republicans completely screwed up the midterms:
Let the blame game begin: It was the crappy candidates (Greg Abbott
is a RINO?); It was the do-nothing Republicans in Congress (Mike
Johnson will take this hit); it was Fox News (Trump: "Fox News bears
responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting
on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse"; he thinks Fox should work for
him, when what they're mainly interested in is making money by
cultivating anger; if Democrats use the time to make sense, maybe
they're not so "Dum" after all); It was Trump (basically, everyone
else). Jake Lahut [11-04]:
Republicans are calling it the worst campaign of all time:
Someone is complaining, "Trump has truly hired the dumbest people,"
but this is really a case of the fish rotting from the head. Trump's
final month of massive campaigning basically froze the candidates
in his shadow, leaving them no wiggle room to lie their way out of
the predicaments he put them in. Andrew Atterbury/Rita Misra [11-04]:
DeSantis calls midterm bloodbath an 'extinction-level event for
Republicans': "Florida Republicans fended off a blue wave
yesterday, while Democrats across the country flipped long-held
red seats and seized control of Congress." He insists that
"Democrats are unpopular," and chides them for not running on
a "positive agenda" (like "woke goes to Florida to die?").
Democrats:
Paul Starr [11-04]:
Democrats just laid the foundation for 2028: "The wins last night
will have long-lasting significance." Colby Hall [11-04]:
'Woke is back!' Democrats are ALREADY squandering their historic midterm
landslide: "Voters handed Democrats Congress over gas prices. Ro
Khanna and CNN called it DEI before the sun came up." Trump's demolition
of DEI and Woke wasn't a good thing. It was couched in racism, which
it inevitably promoted. But DEI and Woke weren't all that good either,
and I'm not in any hurry to restore them. DEI was a half-hearted effort
to fake inclusivity in a very hierarchical system. What you really need
is enforcement against discrimination under civil rights laws that give
everyone a fair shake. As for Woke, the point seemed to be to take
historical and structural problems of discrimination and blame them
on an individual's thoughts and speech. I don't have a problem with
Woke as some kind of personal self-enlightenment goal (like a state
of sartori), but if you start enforcing it, it turned into a system
of thought control. Merrill Goozner [11-05]:
Health care: don't just fix what they broke: "Reversing the damage
of the past two years must be a priority for the new Congress, but it
also needs to provide immediate relief for the already insured." Not
just the last two years. They've been breaking Obamacare since before
it was fully implemented (e.g., the state governments who refused to
go along with the Medicaid expansion). It was never intended to be
more than a patch anyway, or if it was, that was based on the theory
that everyone would fully buy into it, and no one would try to cheat.
Any system that allows for any degree of non-coverage is vulnerable,
as Obamacare was. Mitchell Plitnick [11-06]:
Here is what a new Democratic Party foreign policy should look like
following the Blue Tsunami: "The midterm elections showed that
the political landscape has shifted dramatically on Israel and the
war in Iran. Now, activists must pressure Congress to end the war
and support Palestinian rights. Here is what they should advocate
for." This focuses on specifics, like opposing the $1.5 trillion
NDAA, with its provisions for collaborating with Israel (Section
219), and accepting the MOU with Iran. It doesn't say anything about
general principles. But Democrats are sorely in need of some principles
regarding foreign policy. Otherwise, they'll only get suckered into
more wars.
Economists and the Economy:
Technology (Including AI):
Climate and Environment:
Media:
Regular Columnists
Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough on a range
of topics that it makes sense to collect their work in one place,
rather than scatter it about (especially if they cover a range of
topics).
Jeffrey St Clair:
[11-06]:
A day in my life under Trump: "The elections were certainly a rebuke
of the most corrupt and preposterous world leader since the bunga-bunga
days of Silvio Berlusconi. Believe me, I have no illusions about the
Democrats, but we must take our victories where we can, hold the ground,
and move on."
Miscellaneous Pieces
The following articles are more/less in order published, although
some authors may have collected pieces, and some entries may have
related articles underneath.
End Matter
Books: Multiple reviews are grouped under book.
Music:
Other media:
Obituaries: I had been using the New York Times, but
they're giving me aggravation these days, so I've switched over to
Wikipedia
November
which is probably better anyway. Roughly speaking, since my last
report on
November 2:
Some other names I recognize:
Related essays to file here:
Mark Coleman [10-12]:
Elegy for the Sonic Architect: "Remembering music journalist James
Hunter 1957-2025." He wrote for The Village Voice, Rolling
Stone, and others. I only have the vaguest recollection of the
name. Not to be confused with the British r&b singer-songwriter,
the LitRPG fantasy author, or my late sister's former brother-in-law.
Current count:
56 links, 4478 words (5682 total)
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