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Monday, November 25, 2019
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
November archive
(finished).
Music: Current count 32388 [32371] rated (+17), 221 [221] unrated (+0).
Took ill late last week, spending a couple days doing nothing more
ambitious than watching the remains of television series Laura had
already given up on (The Durrells in Corfu, which I enjoyed
very much, and Press, which barely kept me going). I'll add
that we recently finished the latest seasons of Orange Is the New
Black and Succession, which among other things remind us
that class persists in quantum orbits so isolated that it's hard for
most of us to imagine life like that.
No Weekend Roundup yesterday. I have a few links saved up for next
time I manage to write one. Not much Music Week here either. The one
thing I am trying to keep up with is tabulating ballots for this year's
NPR Jazz Critics Poll. That pointed me to several records this week,
no doubt more next week. (Playing Johnathan Blake's Trion at
the moment, and it's sounding like a pretty solid A-.) Spent a lot of
time early in the week just trying to round up the various pieces of
Allen Lowe's box set, and wound up guessing a bit.
I still haven't finalized my ballot yet, but you can see a very
rough draft
here.
New records reviewed this week:
- Ilia Belorukov & Vasco Trilla: Laniakea (2017 [2019], Astral Spirits): [bc]: B-
- Leonard Cohen: Thanks for the Dance (2016 [2019], Columbia/Legacy): [r]: A-
- The Last Poets: Transcending Toxic Times (2019, Ropeadope, 2CD): [r]: B+(**)
- Quiana Lynell: A Little Love (2019, Concord Jazz): [r]: B
- Aurora Nealand/Steve Marquette/Anton Hatwich/Paul Thibodeaux: Kobra Quartet (2018 [2019], Astral Spirits): [bc]: B+(*)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Bobby Kapp: Ineffable Joy (2018 [2019], ESP-Disk): [r]: B+(***)
- Charlie Porter: Immigration Nation (2019, OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
- Wallace Roney: Blue Dawn-Blue Nights (2019, HighNote): [r]: B+(***)
- Toh-Kichi: Baikamo (2019, Libra): [cd]: B+(***)
- Torbjörn Zetterberg & the Great Question: Live (2017 [2019], Corbett vs. Dempsey): [bc]: A-
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Georg Graewe/Ernest Reijseger/Gerry Hemingway: Kammern I-V (2009 [2019], Auricle): [cd]: B+(***)
- Allen Lowe: Jews & Roots/Radical Jewish Acculturation: An Avant Garde of Our Own: Disconnected Works 1980-2018 (1980-2018 [2019], Constant Sorrow/ESP-Disk, 8CD): [r/bc]: B+(***)
- Dudu Pukwana/Han Bennink/Misha Mengelberg: Yi Yole (1978 [2019], Corbett vs. Dempsey): [bc]: B+(**)
- David S. Ware New Quartet: Théâtre Garonne, 2008 (2008 [2019], AUM Fidelity): [r]: A-
- Mary Lou Williams: Mary Lou Williams (1962-63 [2019], Smithsonian Folkways): [r]: B+(*)
Old music:
Georg Graewe/Ernest Reijseger/Gerry Hemingway: Continuum (2005 [2006], Winter & Winter): [r]: B+(*)
Grade (or other) changes:
- Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage: Bad Wiring (2019, Don Giovanni): [r]: [was: B+(***)] A-
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Carol Albert: Stronger Now (Cahara) [01-30]
- Frank Colón: Latin Lounge (Technoprimal Music) [01-01]
- Elena Gilliam/Michael Le Van: Then Another Turns (Blujazz)
- Danny Lerman: Ice Cat (Blujazz)
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Link Cache
I'm skipping Weekend Roundup this week, but thought I'd cache some links
for next week.
A few links on the Democratic presidential debate:
Martin Belam:
Republican committee bought Trump Jr book Triggered in bulk:
"Reports claim title hit No 1 in bestseller list thanks in part to
$94,800 advance purchase."
Jonathan Chait:
Devin Nunes sues over another news story, won't even deny it's true.
Zak Cheney-Rice:
In the 2010s, white America was finally shows itself: Interview with
Ta-Nehisi Coates on "Obama's decade," reparations, and Kaepernick.
Umair Irfan:
UN: The world has backed itself into a treacherous corner on climate
change.
Ed Kilgore:
Markos Kounalakis:
King Trump: "The impeachment inquiry is testing us: Do we live in a
nation of laws or a nation of men?" Funny thing, I was just thinking of
contrasts between Trump and Washington, and it occurred to me that we've
gone full circle from the revolutionary who overthrew George III to his
the King's closest kin in American history.
Eric Levitz:
Trump and Xi are bending the moral arc of history toward barbarism.
Ian Millhiser:
Brett Kavanaugh's latest opinion should terrify Democrats.
Anna North:
New Trump administration rules on sexual assault could keep survivors
silent.
Andrew Prokop:
Nathan Robinson:
Progressives, trust your gut: Elizabeth Warren is not one of us.
I'll note this, but add that nothing here particularly bothers me,
except perhaps his "Sanders is far from a perfect candidate" aside.
Warren took a different path than most leftists did, but she's wound
up far more committed to our basic principles than is the norm for
Democrats, let alone for Americans overall. No president is going to
be able to do much more than Congress and the courts allow, so I'd
be happy with anyone who would lead in the right direction, and not
make many blunders along the way. Even some of the "moderates" might
qualify (although Obama's mix didn't help much). I'll also note that
while Warren isn't as grounded a leftist as Sanders, she may have a
political advantage as more rooted in America's progressive/liberal
tradition.
Katie Shepherd:
An ad smeared a Kansas Democrat for sexual harassment. The main charge
actually described a Republican. By the way Brandon Whipple has
since won his election to become Mayor of Wichita. It's nominally a
non-partisan election, but Republicans worked hard to make it partisan.
Emily Stewart:
Alex Ward:
Matthew Yglesias:
Monday, November 18, 2019
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
November archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 32371 [32345] rated (+26), 221 [221] unrated (+0).
I've been dreading this date for more than a month now. I should be
feeling relief that the worst-case scenario has been avoided, but I'm
still feeling pretty shaken and tattered. Thought I'd celebrate by
rustling up a fairly simple dinner on Tuesday -- a big pot of paella
plus something for dessert -- for a small group, figuring that's the
one thing I can still depend on my competency for. But at the moment
I'm feeling overwhelmed by pressing work -- including lots of things
I've been putting off.
Indeed, I had quite a bit I wanted to write about here, but will
have to cut very short. One thing that will seem obvious from the
list below is that Robert Christgau's
Consumer Guide: November 2019 came out on Wednesday. As the column
currently depends on paid subscribers, I've held back the grade schematic
from previous
news rolls, but I will note
a few things here: three pick hits are albums I previously graded A-
(Raphael Saadiq: Jimmy Lee; Rachid Taha: Je Suis Africain;
Jamila Woods: Legacy! Legacy!). Three more I came up short on,
but revised my grades below: Kim Gordon: No Home Record; Sonic
Youth: Battery Park; and That Dog: Old LP. I don't often
change my grades after a Christgau review -- the only other time it's
happened this year was The Coathangers: The Devil You Know.
My initial assessments of the first two were pretty close to the
mark, but at the time I didn't feel like giving them the extra play
they needed, and took that as a sign. That left one new record I hadn't
gotten to (Ed Sheeran's -- well, more if you count the HMs, where I
struck out), and two old ones where I was familiar with the music from
other packages: I have two Spaniels CDs on Collectables which match the
2-CD Jasmine compilation closely, and I've heard all of the music on
the 8-CD Bud Powell bargain box --
my previous grades
(I have the two Trio albums on Roost combined on a single
Roulette CD):
- Bud Powell Trio (1951) -- in The Bud Powell Trio Plays (1947-53, Roulette) [A-]
- The Amazing Bud Powell (1951) -- (1949-51, Blue Note) [A]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2 (1953) -- (1951-53, Blue Note) [A-]
- Bud Powell Trio Volume 2 (1953) -- in The Bud Powell Trio Plays (1947-53, Roulette) [A-]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 3: Bud! (1957) -- (1957, Blue Note) [B+]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 4: Time Waits (1958) -- (1958, Blue Note) [A-]
- Blues in the Closet (1958) -- (1956, Verve) [B+(**)]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 5: The Scene Changes (1959) -- (1958, Blue Note) [A-]
I should note that my 2019
ratings and
music tracking files have continued
to grow (927 new releases rated so far, 3167 records listed). I've also
done a very preliminary sort of my top-rated
jazz and
non-jazz records,
showing 67 A/A- jazz records vs. 54 non-jazz. Last year at this time
the split was 46-46, which I noted
at the time was unusually
balanced. Not easy to dig up stats on previous years, but I suspect
2016 was more typical, with
a 61-41 jazz/non-jazz split. In most years, the numbers eventually
even out, but I typically hold off on non-jazz records until I see
them show up in EOY lists. One thing I should emphasize here is that
the current lists are a first pass, and I expect the rank order to
shift a lot in the near future. The other thing is that I will keep
adding to (and otherwise reshuffling) those two files well into 2020
(as I've done in years past).
I should also note that my
metacritic list is still
growing. I started this file with mid-year lists, then added points
based on grades (mostly as reported by AOTY and Metacritic). I don't
have any actual EOY lists factored in (the first usually show up just
before Thanksgiving, so . . . next week), but have added new records
as they come out. First place has tottered between Sharon Van Etten
and Billie Eilish all years, with Van Etten recently back on top. If
I had time, I'd speculate on where I see the EOY lists going, based
on this research (factoring in certain data artifacts), but will have
to skip that for now.
Final point I wanted to make is that Francis Davis is running his
14th Annual Jazz Critics Poll, and once again I'll try to help out.
I also don't have time to speculate on likely standings there --
indeed, I've given the subject very little thought, and doubt my
metacritic file sheds much light on it at this point. One thing I
do want to pass along from the invite letter is this:
One last request. I need your help to expand the poll's voter base.
If you can recommend any writers, bloggers, broadcasters, or podcasters
you believe are qualified but believe I've overlooked, please let me
know as soon as possible.
I'd be happy to forward any critic nominations.
New records reviewed this week:
- Lolly Allen: Coming Home (2016 [2019], OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
- Jon Batiste: Anatomy of Angels: Live at the Village Vanguard (2018 [2019], Verve): [r]: B+(*)
- Jon Batiste: Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard (2018 [2019], Verve): [r]: B+(*)
- Gerald Cleaver & Violet Hour: Live at Firehouse 12 (2019, Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
- The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + the Boys (2017 [2019], MCG Jazz): [cd]: B+(*)
- DJ Shadow: Our Pathetic Age (2019, Mass Appeal, 2CD): [r]: B+(**)
- FKA Twigs: Magdalene (2019, Young Turks): [r]: B
- Gauche: A People's History of Gauche (2016-18 [2019], Merge): [r]: B+(***)
- Charles Gayle/Giovanni Barcella/Manolo Cabras: The Alto Sessions (2017 [2019], El Negocito): [bc]: B+(**)
- Ben Goldberg: Good Day for Cloud Fishing (2017 [2019], Pyroclastic): [r]: B
- Laura Jurd: Stepping Back, Jumping In (2019, Edition): [r]: B
- Kneebody: Chapters (2018-19 [2019], Edition): [r]: B+(*)
- Kodian Trio: III (2019, Trost): [r]: B+(***)
- Konstrukt + Ken Vandermark: Kozmik Bazaar (2018 [2019], Karlrecords): [r]: B+(**)
- Liquid Quintet [Agustí Fernández/Artur Majewski/Albert Cirera/Rafal Mazur/Ramon Prats]: Flux (2017 [2019], Fundacja Sluchaj): [bc]: B+(**)
- Made to Break: F4 Fake (2017 [2019], Trost): [r]: A-
- Rachel Musson/Pat Thomas/Mark Sanders: Shifa: Live at Cafe Oto (2019, 577): [r]: B+(**)
- Bob Ravenscroft & Inner Journeys: Phantasmagoria (2019, OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
- Bria Skonberg: Nothing Never Happens (2019, self-released): [r]: B+(***)
- SLD Trio: El Contorno Del Espacio (2018 [2019], Fundacja Sluchaj): [bc]: B+(**)
- Tierney Sutton Band: ScreenPlay (2019, BFM Jazz): [r]: B+(***)
- Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band: Obiaa! (2019, Strut): [r]: B+(**)
- Threnody [Johan Berthling/Martin Küchen/Steve Noble]: A Paradigm of Suspicion (2018 [2019], Trost): [r]: B+(***)
- Jonah Tolchin: Fires for the Cold (2019, Yep Roc): [r]: B+(*)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Future: Monster (2014 [2019], Freebandz): [r]: B+(***)
- ICP Orchestra: ICP Orchestra in Albuquerque: The Outpost Performance Space, March 17th, 2003 (2003 [2019], ICP): [bc]: B+(**)
Old music:
- Charles Gayle/Giovani Barcella/Manolo Cabras: Live in Belgium (2015 [2017], El Negocito): [bc]: B+(***)
Grade (or other) changes:
- Kim Gordon: No Home Record (2019, Matador): [r]: [was: B+(***)] A-
- Sonic Youth: Battery Park, NYC, July 4th 2008 (2008 [2019], Matador): [r]: [was: B+(***)] A-
- That Dog: Old LP (2019, UMe): [r]: [was: B+(**)]: A-
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Georg Graewe/Ernest Reijseger/Gerry Hemingway: Kammern I-V (2009, Auricle)
- Isabelle Olivier/Rez Abbasi: OASIS (Enja/Yellowbird) [12-06]
- Sonar With David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 1) (RareNoise): cdr [11-29]
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Weekend Roundup
Once again, no time for introduction.
Some scattered links this week:
Zeeshan Aleem:
Trump just issued multiple war crime pardons. Experts think it's a bad
idea.
Andrew Bacevich:
Trump isn't really trying to end America's wars.
David Bromwich:
The medium is the mistake: Review of James Poniewozik: Audience
of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America,
and Matt Taibbi: Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One
Another. I got a lot out of the former book, and think it gets
raked unfairly here -- not that I won't give Bromwich a couple of his
points (The Beverly Hillbillies, Playboy). I've seen
some parts of Taibbi's book, but didn't read them closely, and don't
have a clear picture of the whole. Taibbi's first book on campaigning,
Spanking the Donkey, was very sharp, not just on the candidates
but on the press covering them (that's where he wrote up his Wimblehack
brackets). Since then he's developed his own idiosyncratic version of
"fair and balanced" centrism, which sometimes wears my patience thin.
By the way, Bromwich has a recent book I hadn't noticed, but should
take a look at: American Breakdown: The Trump Years and How They
Befell Us. I'm also intrigued by parts of his earlier Moral
Imagination: Essays. Just to pick one almost random quote from
the latter's preface:
We ought to describe as "terrorist" any act of deliberate violence
that compasses the deaths of innocent persons in order to achieve a
political end. State terror, such as Britain practiced in Kenya,
Russia in Chechnya and the U.S. in Iraq -- state terror, as exemplified
by our own state among others -- differs morally in no way from the
terror of the people we are in the habit of calling terrorists. Moral
imagination affirms the kinship in evil of these two sorts of violence.
Laura Bult/Liz Scheltens:
America's wilderness is for sale.
Jonathan Chait:
Isaac Chotiner:
How a Trump administration proposal could worsen public health: "Now,
the Trump administration has proposed a new measure that would limit the
research that the Environmental Protection Agency can use when regulating
public health." Interview with Douglas Dockery.
Jason Del Rey:
The Seattle politician Amazon tried to oust has declared victory:
Kshama Sawant.
Masha Gessen:
David Graeber:
Against economics: Review of Robert Skidelsky: Money and Government:
The Past and Future of Economics. Skidelsky is best known as Keynes'
biographer, and wrote what was for all intents and purposes Keynes' reply
to the 2008 collapse (Keynes: The Return of the Master), but seems
to venture further here -- which Graeber, an anarchist-anthropologist whose
most famous book was called Debt, applauds. Lots of interesting
points here, including a discussion of money which echoes some points Art
Protin's tried to convince me of last week. Of course, the following
nugget helped convince me they're on solid ground:
Surely there's nothing wrong with creating simplified models. Arguably,
this is how any science of human affairs has to proceed. But an empirical
science then goes on to test those models against what people actually
do, and adjust them accordingly. This is precisely what economists did
not do. Instead, they discovered that, if one encased those models
in mathematical formulae completely impenetrable to the noninitiate, it
would be possible to create a universe in which those premises could
never be refuted. . . .
The problem, as Skidelsky emphasizes, is that if your initial
assumptions are absurd, multiplying them a thousandfold will hardly
make them less so. Or, as he puts it, rather less gently, "lunatic
premises lead to mad conclusions." . . .
Economic theory as it exists increasingly resembles a shed full
of broken tools. This is not to say there are no useful insights
here, but fundamentally the existing discipline is designed to solve
another century's problems. The problem of how to determine the optimal
distribution of work and resources to create high levels of economic
growth is simply not the same problem we are now facing: i.e., how to
deal with increasing technological productivity, decreasing real demand
for labor, and the effective management of care work, without also
destroying the Earth. This demands a different science.
Michael M Grynbaum:
Blloomberg's teamcalls his crude remarks on women 'wrong'.
Jeet Heer:
The foreign policy establishment is hijacking impeachment. Trump has
done hundreds of things that I would be happy to impeach him for, but to
be real, impeachment needs a broad consensus, and the FPE has expanded
that from roughly half of the Democrats in the House to all of them. So
that puts them first in line to level charges, even if they pick a few
that I wouldn't prioritize.
Sean Illing:
The post-truth prophets: "Postmodernism predicted our post-truth
hellscape. Everyone still hates it." Not his usual interview, although
it's likely he's done interviews in this vein. I stopped paying attention
to social theory around 1975, so I missed Lyotard's 1979 book where he
coined the term postmodernism -- I did read precursors like Baudrillard,
Foucault, and Lacan, but can't say as I ever got much out of them. The
term meant nothing to me for a long time, before I came up with my own
definition, using it to describe a world that had lost all sense of
direction -- the one thing modernism promised -- and therefore let any
damn thing go. I saw this most clearly in architecture, eventually in
other arts, but it always remained something of a grab bag. What it
might possibly mean for politics is especially hard to pin down, maybe
because none of the rival claimants for a modernist politics ever got
close to their intrinsic limits.
Did Trump just commit witness tampering? I asked 7 legal experts.
"Probably not, but here's why it likely doesn't matter anyway."
Why we need a more forgiving legal system: Interview with Martha
Minow, author of When Should Law Forgive?
Alex Isenstadt:
Louisiana delivers Trump a black eye: "The president lost two of three
gubernatorial elections in conservative Southern states, raising questions
about his standing heading into 2020." Louisiana just re-elected Democrat
John Bel Edwards to a second term as governor.
Molly Jong-Fast:
Why Trump attacked Marie Yovanovitch: "He can't help but go after women,
even when doing so hurts his cause."
Ed Kilgore:
Warren proposes two-step plan to implement Medicare for All. I see
this as a fair and reasoned bow to the inevitable, not that I have any
problem with Sanders sticking with his full-blown plan: how to get there
matters, but not as much as knowing where you want to go. I could imagine
even more steps along the way. M4A faces two major challenges: one is
the money that is currently paid to private insurance companies over to
the public program (most of that money is controlled by employers, who
would like to keep it themselves); the other is getting the providers
integrated into the M4A network, preferably on terms that allow M4A to
better manage costs without reducing service. Warren's "head tax" is one
way of dealing with the former (not an ideal solution, but should work
as a bridge gap). Few people talk about the latter, probably because
Medicare already has a large service network, but even there Advantage
plans limit the network, and similar limits are common with private
insurance plans. On the other hand, M4A would be more efficient (which
is to say affordable) if providers dealt exclusively with it. I think
this opens up three ideas that I've never seen really discussed. The
first key is realizing that for well into the future private insurers
will still be able to sell supplemental insurance plans. I'm on Medicare,
but I still buy a "Medigap" private health insurance policy, which picks
up virtually all of the deductibles and miscellaneous charges Medicare
sticks you with. Sanders wants to eliminate all of those charges, but
anything short of his plan will leave the insurance companies a viable
market. Most practical implementations of M4A will leave a role for
supplemental insurance. Doesn't this imply that M4A won't totally end
the need for private insurance, but will simply shift it from primary
to supplemental coverage? This opens up another way to incrementally
shift to M4A: start by insuring everyone for certain conditions, and
expand that list as you build up a general tax base to support it
(part of the tax could be on private insurance premiums, which could
be cost-neutral for the insurance companies). Some obvious candidates
for the initial list: ER trauma, vaccinations, pre-natal care and
deliveries. Another idea would be to start investing more funds into
non-profit provider networks (which could be built around existing
public providers, like the VA). Under M4A Medicaid wouldn't be needed
as a second-class insurer, but could be repurposed to build affordable
and accessible clinics, which would compete effectively with for-profit
providers, and thereby help manage costs.
Bevin concedes after Republicans decline to help him steal the election.
Deval Patrick is officially running for President. Two-term governor
of Massachusetts, a black politician who's open for business, so much so
that after politics he went to work for Mitt Romney's vulture capital firm,
Bain Capital. I recall that Thomas Frank, in Listen, Liberal: Or What
Ever Happened to the Part of the People, looked past the Clintons
to single Patrick out, along with Andrew Cuomo and Rahm Emmanuel, as
prominent Democrats always eager to sell out to business interests.
Patrick's hat in the ring tells us that certain donors are spooked by
Warren and Sanders, are convinced Biden will collapse, realize that
none of the Senators (Booker, Harris, Klobuchar) have attracted enough
interest, and doubt Buttigieg can expand beyond his niche. Those donors
have been pushing several names recently, including Bloomberg (who has
even more negatives), but Patrick is the first to nibble. The problem
is that unless you're looking for financial favors, it's hard to see
any reason for anyone to pick Patrick over anyone else in the middle
of the Democratic Party road. Also on Patrick: Matt Taibbi:
Deval Patrick's candidacy is another chapter in the Democrats' 2020
clown car disaster.
Nikki Haley's skillful and opportunistic MAGA balancing act: "Once
again, Nikki Haley has figured out how to keep herself in the news as
a potential Trump-Pence successor while declaring her Trumpist loyalties."
Is Buttigieg's presidential bid buoyed by male privilege? Amy Klobuchar
seems to think so. I don't doubt that lots of people have lots of prejudices
governing their preferences, but such a claim isn't going to change anything.
Among moderate ("no we can't") candidates, maybe Buttigieg and Biden have
advantages other than sex -- one's an old establishment figure, the other
is a complete outsider not tainted by past failures. Besides, didn't Hillary
break the "glass ceiling" for wimpy moderates (at least in the Democratic
primaries)? You could just as well argue that Cory Booker hasn't taken off
due to white privilege, but Obama didn't seem to have that problem.
German Lopez:
Alec MacGillis:
The case against Boeing. Specifically, regarding the 737 MAX. One
can make lots of other cases against Boeing, perhaps not all "proving
that the company put profit over safety," but profit is never far from
management's thinking.
Ian Millhiser:
3 ways the Supreme Court could decide DACA's fate.
Andrew Prokop:
Emily Raboteau:
Lessons in survival: Review of two books: Elizabeth Rush: Rising:
Dispatches from the New American Shore, and Gilbert M Gaul: The
Geography of Risk: Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America's
Coasts.
Both make the controversial case for managed retreat as our best defense,
given the scale of the problem. This approach calls for withdrawing rather
than rebuilding after disasters, and would include government buyout
programs to finance the resettlement of homeowners from vulnerable areas.
Robert Reich:
Warren doesn't just frighten billionaires -- she scares the whole
establishment.
David Roberts:
With impeachment, America's epistemic crisis as arrived: "Can the
right-wing machine hold the base in an alternate reality long enough
to get through the next election?"
They [the right] are working with a few key tools and advantages. The
first is a strong tendency, especially among low-information, relatively
disengaged voters (and political reporters), to view consensus as a signal
of legitimacy. It's an easy and appealing heuristic: If something is a
good idea, it would have at least a few people from both sides supporting
it. That's why "bipartisan" has been such a magic word in US politics this
century, even as the reality of bipartisanship has faded.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell was very canny in recognizing
this tendency and working it it ruthlessly to his advantage. He realized
before Obama ever set foot in office that if he could keep Republicans
unified in opposition, refusing any cooperation on anything, he could make
Obama appear "polarizing." His great insight, as ruthlessly effective as
it was morally bankrupt, was that he could unilaterally deny Obama the
ability to be a uniter, a leader, or a deal maker. Through nothing but
sheer obstinance, he could make politics into an endless, frustrating,
fruitless shitshow, diminishing both parties in voters' eyes.
This is what Republicans need more than anything on impeachment: for
the general public to see it as just another round of partisan squabbling,
another illustration of how "Washington" is broken. They need to prevent
any hint of bipartisan consensus from emerging.
Roberts refers to several previous articles, worth collecting
here, starting with his own:
Aaron Rupar:
Dominic Rushe:
Boo-hoo billionaires: why America's super-wealthy are afraid for 2020.
Dylan Scott:
Trump's big veterans health care plan has hit a snag. The "big plan"
is to privatize health care services for veterans who don't live close
enough to heavily used VA facilities. Once again, the privateers have
overestimated the competency of the private sector, and underestimated
its rapacity.
Emily Stewart:
"ok billionaire": Elizabeth Warren is leaning into her billionaire
battle.
Matt Stieb:
Jim Tankersley/Peter Eavis/Ben Casselman:
How FedEx cut its tax bill to $0: "The company, like much of corporate
America, has not made good on its promised investment surge from President
Trump's 2017 tax cuts."
Peter Wade:
'You're done': Conservative radio host fired mid-show for criticizing
Trump.
Alex Ward:
The one big policy change 2020 Democrats want to make for veterans,
explained.
Matthew Yglesias:
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Daily Log
Robert Christgau published his
November 2019 Consumer Guide today. One of the records reviewed there
was Bud Powell: Eight Classic Albums (Real Gone -4CD). The eight
albums are:
- Bud Powell Trio (1951) -- in The Bud Powell Trio Plays (1947-53, Roulette) [A-]
- The Amazing Bud Powell (1951) -- (1949-51, Blue Note) [A]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2 (1953) -- (1951-53, Blue Note) [A-]
- Bud Powell Trio Volume 2 (1953) -- in The Bud Powell Trio Plays (1947-53, Roulette) [A-]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 3: Bud! (1957) -- (1957, Blue Note) [B+]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 4: Time Waits (1958) -- (1958, Blue Note) [A-]
- Blues in the Closet (1958) -- (1956, Verve) [B+(**)]
- The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 5: The Scene Changes (1959) -- (1958, Blue Note) [A-]
Monday, November 11, 2019
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
November archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 32345 [32307] rated (+38), 221 [220] unrated (+1).
Pressure continues to build on my psych crisis. Hoped for a break
today, but may have underestimated the holiday. Maybe tomorrow? I've
been in a rut for nearly a month, getting damn little done. Still,
might as well knock this out. Don't actually have much to say about
it, anyway.
Next week will either be much better . . . or worse.
New records reviewed this week:
- Ben Allison/Steve Cardenas/Ted Nash: Quiet Revolution (2018, Sonic Camera): [r]: B+(***)
- Byron Asher: Byron Asher's Skrontch Music (2018 [2019], Sinking City): [r]: B+(**)
- The Bad Plus: Activate Infinity (2019, Edition): [r]: B+(**)
- Kenny Barron & Mulgrew Miller: The Art of Piano Duo: Live (2005-11 [2019], Sunnyside): [r]: A-
- Harold Danko/Kirk Knuffke: Play Date (2018 [2019], SteepleChase): [r]: B+(***)
- David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Interaction (2018 [2019], Origin, 2CD): [cd]: B+(***) [11-15]
- Andy Fusco: Vortex (2017 [2019], SteepleChase): [r]: B+(**)
- Mary Halvorson & John Dieterich: A Tangle of Stars (2018 [2019], New Amsterdam): [r]: B+(**)
- Kevin Hays/Mark Turner/Marc Miralta: Where Are You (2018 [2019], Fresh Sound New Talent): [r]: B+(***)
- Zlatko Kaucic Quintet: Morning Patches (2018 [2019], Fundacja Sluchaj): [bc]: B+(*)
- Michael Kiwanuka: Kiwanuka (2019, Polydor): [r]: B+(*)
- Kronos Quartet: Terry Riley: Sun Rings (2019, Nonesuch): [r]: B
- Travis Laplante: Human (2018 [2019], New Amsterdam): [r]: B
- Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage: Bad Wiring (2019, Don Giovanni): [r]: B+(***)
- Joe Morris & Evan Parker: The Village (2014 [2019], Fundacja Sluchaj): [bc]: B+(**)
- Ted Nash/Steve Cardenas/Ben Allison: Somewhere Else: West Side Story Songs (2019, Plastic Sax): [r]: B+(**)
- One O'Clock Lab Band: Lab 2019 (2019, North Texas Jazz): [cd]: B+(*) [11-22]
- Evan Parker/Lotte Anker/Torben Snekkestad: Inferences (2016 [2019], Fundacja Sluchaj): [bc]: B+(*)
- Marta Sánchez Quintet: El Rayo De Luz (2019, Fresh Sound New Talent): [cd]: A-
- Sirkis/Bialas IQ: Our New Earth (2018 [2019], Moonjune, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
- That Dog: Old LP (2019, UMe): [r]: B+(**)
- Jeremy Udden: Three in Paris (2018 [2019], Sunnyside): [r]: B+(***)
- Michael Zilber: East West: Music for Big Bands (2018 [2019], Origin, 2CD): [cd]: B+(*) [11-15]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Bulawayo Blue Yodel (1950s [2019], Olvido): [bc]: B+(**)
- Lloyd McNeill: Treasures (1970 [2019], Soul Jazz): [r]: B+(**)
- Lee Moses: How Much Longer Must I Wait? Singles & Rarities 1965-1972 (1965-72 [2019], Light in the Attic): [bc]: B+(**)
- Phil Ranelin: Collected 2003-2019 (2003-19 [2019], Wide Hive, 2CD): [r]: A-
- Tribe: Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990-2014 (1990-2014 [2019], Art Yard/Strut): [r]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Ben Allison: The Stars Look Very Different Today (2013, Sonic Camera): [r]: B+(*)
- Ben Allison: Layers of the City (2017, Sonic Camera): [r]: B+(**)
- Harold Danko: After the Rain (1994 [1995], SteepleChase): [r]: B+(**)
- Harold Danko Quartet: Tidal Breeze (1995-96 [1997], SteepleChase): [r]: B+(***)
- Lloyd McNeill and Marshall Hawkins: Tanner Suite (1969 [2015], Universal Sound): [r]: B+(*)
- Lee Moses: Time and Place (1971, Maple): [r]: B+(***)
- Phil Ranelin: A Close Encounter of the Very Best Kind (1996, Lifeforce): [r]: B+(***)
- Phil Ranelin: Living a New Day (2005, Wide hive): [r]: B+(**)
- Phil Ranelin & Tribe Renaissance: Reminiscence: Live! (2009, Wide Hive): [r]: B+(***)
- Phil Ranelin: Portrait in Blue (2015, Wide Hive): [r]: B+(***)
- Pamela Samiha Wise: A New Message From the Tribe (2017, Tribe): [r]: B+(**)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Lolly Allen: Coming Home (OA2) [11-15]
- The Diva Jazz Orchestra: Diva + the Boys (MCG Jazz)
- Rozina Pátkai: Taladim (Tom-Tom)
- Charlie Porter: Immigration Nation (OA2) [11-15]
- Bob Ravenscroft & Inner Journeys: Phantasmagoria (OA2) [11-15]
- Toh-Kichi: Baikamo (Libra)
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Weekend Roundup
Another "going through the motions" week, so no introduction. I noted
a friend of a friend commenting that people don't realize how much time
it's going to take after the 2020 election to undo the damage Trump has
inflicted (and is continuing to, no doubt with a special flurry after he
gets beat, including a bunch of pre-emptive pardons). This person was
citing the difficulties Laura Kelly has faced since becoming governor
of Kansas, but it's a general rule. For me, the best election news last
week was the defeat of Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell, who spent his term
making shady deals with real estate developers. One of those was to wreck
McLean Boulevard, which used to hug the river from 13th North to Pawnee
(23rd South), but now will have its downtown passage moved so realtors
can offer exclusive river views. Unlikely that would ever have passed a
public vote, but it's also unlikely that the new mayor will be able to
undo the blight. Of course, a big part of Kelly's problem is that the
state legislature is still controlled by Republicans. The bigger the
Democratic wave in 2020, but more a new president will be able to do.
But still, the task list is daunting, and growing every day.
Some scattered links this week:
Sasha Abramsky:
Trump throws more red meat to nativists, polluters, and evangelicals.
Meher Ahmad:
Austerity blues: "After sixty years of IMF intervention, Pakistan has
little to show for it." Also: "The IMF bailout of today is far from what
Keynes had envisioned for his lender of last resort: it does less to lift
economies than break them in to be fit for Western interaction -- or
exploitation."
Robert P Alvarez:
Republicans, not Russians, threaten our elections: "When turnout
climbs, Republicans lose. No wonder they're closing polling places and
purging voters all over the country."
Jillian Ambrose:
Fracking halted in England in major government U-turn.
Andrew Bacevich:
The Berlin Wall fell and the US learned the wrong lessons. It got us
Donald Trump.
Zack Beauchamp:
What the right fears about Warren's wealth tax.
Phyllis Bennis:
Trump has stolen the anti-war mantle. Here's how to get it back.
Michael Birnbaum:
While Washington is checked out, Macron is pushing to lead the Western
world. Here's a cluster of articles on NATO, reflecting the decline
of American influence and interest. Others:
Ted Galen Carpenter:
What's really undermining NATO? Europe's yearning for neutrality.
Jacob Heilbrunn:
Emmanuel Macron is right: NATO is over: Starts with Lord Ismay's
explanation that the purpose of NATO was to "keep the Russians out,
the Americans in, and the Germans down." One might make a sensible
argument that none of those things matter much these days, therefore
neither does NATO. On the other hand, this veers off into insanity:
The moment has arrived for France and Germany to adopt more than baby
steps to make Europe great again. This would require them to establish
a Franco-German condominium to assert their interests, including the
joint development of new nuclear weapons to deter Russia and China.
It would also allow Europe to win an independent footing from an
increasingly hostile United States.
Need I remind you that Europe's previous claim to greatness was
built on the rape and pillage of the rest of the world, starting with
the looting and extermination of the Americas and the enslavement of
Africans. I'm always struck by the fact that British rule reduced
India's share of world GDP from 20% to 5%. The post-colonial period
hasn't been much more generous, as political control was sub-contracted
to locals committed to preserving capitalism's property rights.
Jonathan Blitzer:
The Trump administration's plot to end DACA faces a Supreme Court test.
Jonathan Chait:
David Daley:
Secret gerrymandering files can now be made public, court rules.
Julia Davis:
Thanks to Rand Paul, Russian media are naming the alleged whistleblower.
Two caveats here: one is that Davis doesn't repeat the unmasking; the other
is that she seems to have cultivated a niche in painting Trump as Putin's
puppet. E.g., see:
Trump's Syria fiasco is part of Putin's to-do list. She filed that one
under the tag "Donald J. Subservient."
Jason Del Rey:
Amazon tried to buy a new Seattle City Council. It doesn't look like it
worked.
Barbara Ehrenreich:
The humanoid stain: "Art lessons from our cave-dwelling ancestors."
Ben Ehrenreich:
California is burning -- nationalize PG&E.
Benjamin Y Fong/Christie Offenbacher:
Medicare for All is a strategy.
Constance Grady:
75 books from university presses that will help you understand the world.
Mehdi Hasan:
Bernie Sanders says denying aid because of Hamas is "part of an effort to
dehumanize Palestinians".
Adam Hochschild:
When America tried to deport its radicals: Emma Goldman, for
instance, a hundred years ago..
Sean Illing:
Daniel Immerwahr:
The center does not hold: Review of Jill Lepore's books: These
Truths: A History of the United States, and This America: The
Case for the Nation.
Umair Irfan:
Virginia Democrats campaigned on their Green New Deal and fighting climate
change. And won.
Sarah Jones:
Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein:
The tears of the taxed: "Ignore the rich: tax opposition has never
been about liberty."
Fred Kaplan:
Loyalty vs Democracy: "The impeachment transcripts say Republicans
have to choose between Trump and America's political future." No prizes
for hed writing here, as Republicans haven't trusted democracy for some
time now, and most would be happy if Trump were the future. Moreover,
while I'm not going to argue that Democrats shouldn't impeach Trump,
the fate of democracy in America depends much more on the outcome of
the 2020 elections and the build up of a political movement that is
strong enough to overcome Republican obstruction -- something the
currently constituted Congress is not able to do.
Nicole Karlis:
Thanks to Trump, STD rates hit a record high: "Trump's pro-life
policies and attacks on reproductive health care are having repercussions
beyond the GOP's intent."
Titled "Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report," the report
noted that in 2018, there were more than 2.4 million syphilis, gonorrhea
and chlamydia infections combined -- an increase of more than 100,000
from the previous year.
There was also a 71 percent increase in syphilis cases since 2014,
along with a 22 percent increase from 2017 in the number of newborn
deaths related to congenital syphilis.
Ed Kilgore:
Bloomberg to follow the not-so-successful Giuliani strategy in the
primaries. The former New York City major, after months of first
flirting with running for president then publicly deciding not to,
filed last week to appear on the ballot in Alabama, just beating the
deadline there. Presumably he's just keeping his options open, as
opposed to making a strategic bet that there's serious interest in
him down there. Still, he got a ton of publicity, even if the bottom
line is that he has no chance, even if he floods the primaries with
money. That's basically because he's a DINO: maybe his support for
gun control makes him a non-starter in the Republican Party, but he
doesn't offer any reason for rank-and-file Democrats to give him a
moment's thought. His commitment to finance-based oligarchy is as
deeply seated as his membership in same. The media may slot him as
a "moderate," but his reaction to Occupy Wall Street was as rabid
as Bull Connor's to civil rights marches. Hmm, maybe that explains
Alabama? But doesn't he know that Connor's ilk are all Republicans
now? More links on Bloomberg here:
Three years later, Trump has lost the element of surprise: "Memories
of the shock of Election Night 2016 could become a strategic asset for
Democrats, who sure won't get over-confident in 2020."
House Dems want to give America impeachment for Christmas.
Jen Kirby:
Sharon Lerner:
Top US toxicologist was barred from saying PFAS cause disease in
humans. She's saying it now.
Nancy LeTourneau:
Trump hires a con artist to provide outreach to white evangelicals:
Paula White.
Eric Levitz:
Leftism isn't very appealing to nonvoters. But Bernie Sanders is.
The GOP's opposition to impeachment is (terrifyingly) principled: "To
many conservatives, Democrats (and/or popular democracy) are a greater
threat to America than [XXX]." The actual quote said "Vladimir Putin,"
but you can fill that in with lots of things -- the author picks on Putin
because lots of liberals instinctively regard him as an actual threat,
even if the only concrete example they can give was the support Russian
hackers gave to electing Trump. The fact is that conservatives have never
trusted democracy, and have regularly done everything in their power to
game it in their favor.
Martin Longman:
Alan Macleod:
Multi-millionaire Nancy Pelosi warns "fellow leftists": Medicare for All
is a very bad idea. She's also knocking the wealth tax.
Amanda Marcotte:
Dylan Matthews:
Katie Mettler:
Nobody is buying Mark Halperin's book. The disgraced journalist's publisher
lambastes 'cancel culture.' First week's sales of How to Beat Trump:
America's Top Political Strategists on What It Will Take totaled 502.
Halperin gained some fame when he co-wrote (with John Heilemann) a big book
on the 2008 election (Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and
Palin, but he's now viewed as the very definition of a hack political
journalist -- qualities you can get for free any time you turn in a cable
news panel. "Disgraced" refers to his "#MeToo" reputation, which can't have
helped him, but he was a sinking ship anyway.
Ian Millhiser:
Ellen Nakashima/Greg Bensinger:
Former Twitter employees charged with spying for Saudi Arabia by digging
into the accounts of kingdom critics.
Nicole Narea:
State Department officials warned Trump not to revoke protections for
immigrants.
Ella Nilsen:
Jeff Sessions announces a Senate run -- by telling voters he's still loyal
to Trump. Also:
Hamilton Nolan:
Why did Amazon spend $1.5m in Seattle's local elections?
Anna North:
Andrew Prokop:
Nathaniel Rakich:
What Virginia, Mississippi and Kentucky can tell us about 2020.
Hope Reese:
The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower on how American voters are "primed
to be exploited".
Jennifer Rubin:
How a former senator and defense secretary explains Republican
spinelessness: "I think it's either fear or complicity." He's being
too generous. Strikes me more as Führerprinzip. Having accepted Trump
as their leader, they now have no option but to follow.
Aaron Rupar:
Louis Sahagun:
Trump team has a plan for national parks: Amazon, food trucks and no
senior discounts.
Tim Shorrock:
South Koreans are pleading for a breakthrough in the US-North Korea
talks.
Amy Davidson Sorkin:
Trump's frantic fight for immunity: "As public impeachment hearings
begin, Trump's Presidency is still defined by his belief that he cannot
be held to account."
Keith A Spencer:
There is hard data that shows that a centrist Democrat would be a losing
candidate. This is largely based on a paper by Thomas Piketty, based
on French and British data as well as American, which is only one of many
reasons why the conclusions might not apply. More intuitively, I'd say that
centrist Democrats face two major risks: one is that they spend so much
time and effort discounting leftist proposals they're lose the ability
to convince voters to trust them; the other is that their "centrism" is
largely defined by their willingness to favor business, which makes them
appear corrupt. Leftists face other obstacles, but they do have an edge
in authenticity and integrity, which given Trump may be important.
Emily Stewart:
We get it, rich guys are not into Elizabeth Warren: "From Bill Gates
to Jamie Dimon to Leon Cooperman, billionaires have lots of thoughts and
feelings about Elizabeth Warren."
Jennifer Szalai:
In A Warning, anonymous author makes case against re-election:
New book attempts to expand on last year's
op-ed attributed to an anonymous but "senior Trump administration
official." The idea then was to reassure us that sane conservatives are
working stealthily to limit the damage of Trump's petulant insanity, but
a year later the author is more pessimistic, admitting that "just a wet
Band-Aid that wouldn't hold together a gaping wound." Related:
Res Thebault:
Visit to Arlington Cemetery reminded Donald Trump Jr of all his family's
'sacrifices,' he writes. He has a new book with his name on the
cover, under the ridiculous title Triggered: How the Left Thrives
on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.
Jake Thomas:
Migrant children are being given to an adoption agency linked to Betsy
DeVos. Probably over the top to accuse DeVos of human trafficking,
but the anti-abortion movement has a long association with adoption
agencies, and the latter seem to be happy to take children wherever
they can find them.
Yeganeh Torbati:
How Mike Pence's office meddled in foreign aid to reroute money to favored
Christian groups.
Alex Ward:
Matthew Yglesias:
Monday, November 04, 2019
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
November archive
(in progress).
Music: current count 32307 [32276] rated (+31), 220 [224] unrated (-4).
Not as physically miserable on waking up this morning as last, but
more deeply troubled. Figured I'd get even by doing a long groan and
rant here, but 9-10 hours later, when I finally got started, all I
wanted was the day to be over with. So I'll spare you the details on
two major personal crises, other than to note that one I made some
headway on today, and the other I sensibly put off until tomorrow.
That leaves two or three technical problems that are easier to talk
about. The one that bothers me most is the new computer.
To recap, I order a bunch of parts to build a new computer:
- AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 8-Core 3.2GHz CPU
- ASRock X570 Steel Legend Motherboard
- G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 3000 SDRAM
- XFX Radeon RX 570 RS 8Gb Graphics Card
- Intel 660p Series M.2 1TB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- Lite-On DVD Burner SATA
- Corsair RM Series 750W Full Modular Power Supply
- Fractal Design Focus G Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
- AmazonBasics DisplayPort 6 Foot Cable
- Logitech M705 Cordless Mouse
- Samsung 32-Inch UJ59 UHD 3840x2160 Monitor
I'm reusing a Logitech K740 Mechanical Keyboard, plus (for now) a
pretty cheap set of speakers -- gear originally attached to an old
(and pathetically slow) machine that will be retired (or maybe used
as a print server, as it's the last machine standing with a parallel
port for my HP Laser Printer). Originally I misread the motherboard
specs and thought I could make do with onboard video, but turned out
that was dependent on a different CPU, so I had to add the video card.
When I did install the card, the machine came up nicely, and I loaded
Xubuntu 18.04 LTS easily enough.
Main problem I ran into then was that the default fonts were awful
small on the high-resolution monitor, so I've had to find the various
places where they are defined and tweak them up. The new machine is as
powerful as I expected. However, I ran into a problem: the machine
freezes after some period of inactivity. I've spent 3-4 days chasing
after this problem, and still don't have a handle on it.
The obvious suspect is the power save and screen lock functions of the
window manager. I've scaled them back (and eliminated light-locker all
together). That eliminated the blank screen, but the system would leave
either just wallpaper or the full workspace window when it freezes (in
which state neither mouse nor keyboard wakes it up). I wondered whether
parts of the window manager crashed, in which case it should be possible
to ssh in from another machine -- but active ssh sessions are disconnected
when the machine freezes. I've poured through syslogs, but have yet to
find anything enlightening (obviously have more of that to do). The box
felt a bit warm to me, so I wondered about thermal. Inserting an instant
read thermometer through the back grill registers 93F, which doesn't
strike me as unusually hot. Also, the timing always follows inactivity --
I played music for about 5 hours last night, then it shut down a few
minutes after the music stopped.
Good news, I suppose, is that reset wakes it up, and reboot is pretty
quick. Still, the most vexing problem I've run across in 6-8 computer
builds -- rather dispiriting given my age and psychic frailty. Also,
I shot way pass my original budget, so I'm extra reluctant to swap in
extra new hardware. Plus this has come at a time when I'm also having
to deal with repair/replace questions on dishwasher and car. One bit
of good news is that I seem to have managed to repair the dishwasher
leak.
[PS: I have ascertained that the freeze is a kernel panic, more
specifically a watchdog timer detecting a soft lockup during a
system call (timeout is 20 seconds). This indicates a bug in a
kernel module, although I suppose it could be caused by a hardware
fault. I need to better understand the context to figure out how
to fix the problem or work around it. It would be helpful to get
a call trace, which would map the source back to an application
program.]
Not much to say about this week's music. Swapping out the old computer
before getting the new one working forced me to spend more time working
off the promo queue than streaming. As for the "old music," I picked up
a friendly download of Carmen McRae's Live at the Dug -- one of the
few records recommended in Will Friedland's The Great Jazz and Pop
Vocal Albums
I hadn't heard), and
thought I'd check out a few more promising albums without taking a deep
dive.
In recent weeks I've been the best-reviewed new albums plus identifying
other new ones of exceptional interest. Not much to report on that front
this week: top-rated this week was Michael Kiwanuka: Kiwanuka (12),
followed by Miranda Lambert: Wildcard (7), and Sudan Archives:
Athena (4). The other new release that looks most promising is:
Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage: Bad Wiring.
Among records I previously reviewed, the best to finally appear last
week were: Roger Kellaway: The Many Open Minds of Roger Kellaway
[A-]; and Roberto Magris: Sun Stone [***].
New records reviewed this week:
- Areni Agbabian: Bloom (2016 [2019], ECM): [r]: B
- The Carter Family: Across Generations (2019, Reviver Legacy): [r]: B
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Ghosteen (2019, Ghosteen/Bad Seeds): [r]: B
- Clipping.: There Existed an Addiction to Blood (2019, Sub Pop): [r]: B+(*)
- Dave Douglas: Engage (2018 [2019], Greenleaf Music): [cd]: A- [11-08]
- Nick Dunston: Atlantic Extraction (2019, Out of Your Head): [cd]: B+(**)
- Lorenzo Feliciati/Michele Rabbia: Antikythera (2019, RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(**)
- Floating Points: Crush (2019, Ninja Tune): [r]: B+(**)
- Calabria Foti: Prelude to a Kiss (2019, Moco): [cd]: B
- Hal Galper Trio: The Zone: Live at the Yardbird Suite (2016 [2019], Origin): [cd]: A- [11-15]
- Francesco Guerri: Su Mimmi Non Si Spara! (2019, RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(**)
- Jerome Jennings: Solidarity (2019, Iola): [cd]: B+(***) [11-09]
- Per Texas Johansson: Stråk På Himlen Och Stora Hus (2019, Moserobie): [cd]: B+(***)
- Lakou Mizik: HaitiaNola (2019, Cumbancha): [r]: B+(*)
- Miranda Lambert: Wildcard (2019, RCA Nashville): [r]: A-
- João Lencastre's Communion 3: Song(s) of Hope (2019, Clean Feed): [bc]: B+(**)
- Chris Lightcap: SuperBigmouth (2019, Pyroclastic): [r]: B
- Lil Tjay: True 2 Myself (2019, Columbia): [r]: B+(*)
- Fredrik Ljungkvist Trio: Atlantis (2019, Moserobie): [cd]: B+(***)
- Maurice Louca: Elephantine (2019, Northern Spy): [r]: B+(*)
- Nellie McKay: Bagatelles (2019, Palmetto, EP): [r]: B+(*)
- MIKE: Tears of Joy (2019, 10k): [bc]: B+(**)
- Mute: Mute (2018 [2019], Fresh Sound New Talent): [cd]: A- [12-13]
- The Niro Featuring Gary Lucas: The Complete Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas Songbook (2019, Esordisco): [cd]: B [11-08]
- Northern Ranger: Eastern Stranger (2019, self-released, EP): [cdr]: B+(**)
- Nicholas Payton: Relaxin' With Nick (2019, Smoke Sessions, 2CD): [r]: B+(**)
- Roberta Piket: Domestic Harmony: Piket Plays Mintz (2019, Thirteenth Note): [cd]: B+(**) [12-06]
- Polo G: Die a Legend (2019, Columbia): [r]: B+(**)
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Colorado (2019, Reprise): [r]: B+(***)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- James Brown: Live at Home With His Bad Self (1969 [2019], Polydor): [r]: A-
- Johnny Griffin & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis: Ow! Live at the Penthouse (1962 [2019], Reel to Reel): [cd]: A-
Old music:
- Carmen McRae: Torchy (1955, Decca): [r]: B+(**)
- Carmen McRae: Sings Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics (1961 [1962,1997], Columbia/Legacy): [r]: B+(***)
- Carmen McRae: As Time Goes By: Carmen McRae Alone Live at the Dug (1973 [1974], Victor): [r]: B+(***)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Interaction (Origin, 2CD) [11-15]
- Hal Galper Trio: The Zone: Live at the Yardbird Suite (Origin) [11-15]
- Roberta Piket: Domestic Harmony: Piket Plays Mintz (Thirteenth Note) [12-06]
- Marta Sánchez Quintet: El Rayo De Luz (Fresh Sound New Talent) [11-22]
- Jim Snidero: Project-K (Savant) [01-24-2020]
- Sirkis/Ballas IQ: Our New Earth (Moonjune)
- Michael Zilber: East West: Music for Big Bands (Origin, 2CD) [11-15]
Daily Log
Got a "summons for jury service" from the 18th Judicial District Court,
Sedgwick County, Kansas. Filling the form out online, and on paper.
"The clerk may be contacted by telephone at (316) 660-9101, by fax
at (316) 941-5355, by email at jury@dc18.org, or via the Kansas Relay
Center at 1-800-766-3777."
Sunday, November 03, 2019
Weekend Roundup
Late getting into this, and beset by more problems than I can cope with
these days, so no introduction. Nothing fundamentally different. Just lots
more of the same old shit.
Some scattered links this week:
Spencer Ackerman:
Jared Bernstein:
Medicare-for-all won't happen anytime soon, but Democrats should keep
talking about it. I've been wondering why we don't see more practical
half-measures advanced about health-care, as the debate between Medicare
for All and its opponents has basically devolved into a debate over whether
we can or cannot solve the most basic problem in the world's most expensive
(and relative to cost most inefficient and in many ways dysfunctional)
health care system. There were several such proposals early on, such as
adding a "public option" to ACA and/or allowing various constituencies
to buy into Medicare. But now that the race has boiled down to Sanders
and Warren vs. Biden and Buttigieg, the debate is between those who
understand the problem and are willing to present bold solutions vs.
those who deny that significant change is possible, who don't even
seem to understand the problem, and in any case won't put any serious
effort into changing anything. Which is say, health care has become a
proxy for the deeper division among Democrats: the rift between the
"radicals," who believe that government should serve the people, and
the "moderates," who believe that government should serve the donors,
preferably without most other people getting hurt too bad (at least
compared to Republican standards).
Christopher Bertram:
Contempt for human life: Starts with case in UK where the bodies of
39 Chinese nationals were found dead in a parked lorry container.
Charles Bethea:
After ICE came to Morton, Mississippi: "About one in ten of the city's
residents was jailed or fired after raids at local chicken plants."
Alexia Fernández Campbell:
Jonathan Chait:
GOP leader has one chart showing why Republicans hate democracy.
Kevin McCarthy's tweet shows a county map of 2016 voting results, so
it heavily favors more rural, less populated counties. Head is: 63
million Americans put President Trump in office/ 231 Democrats are
trying to reverse the results." Top line ignores the fact that Hillary
Clinton got almost 3 million more votes than Trump, plus third party
candidates got another 2 million votes, so Trump's total share was
only 46.09% of the total. Second part ignores that impeachment would
not make Clinton or any other Democrat president (isn't that what
"reverse" means?). It would merely remove one spectacularly corrupt
aand vile office holder, in accordance with the US Constitution.
Trump: The Soviet witch coup has found me innocent: Steve Scalise's
poster decrying "37 days of Soviet-style impeachment proceedings" shows
how little he knows about the Soviet Union -- also the US Constitution.
Also how little grasp he has of irony.
If Trump is impeached or defeated, conservatives will call it a 'coup'.
The White House's Godfather fantasy.
Stone's case underlines a principle that's long been clear: It is
impossible to understand the Trump administration's cast of characters,
their lingo, and their governing ethos without a working knowledge of
La Cosa Nostra and its Hollywood lore. If the Kennedy administration
created Camelot, the Trump presidency has built a kind of cultural
gangster state.
Chas Danner:
Trump has been booed at another major sporting event: Well, only
if you call "an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at Madison Square
Garden on Saturday night" a "major sporting event."
Lisa Friedman:
EPA to roll back rules to control toxic ash from coal plants.
Dan Gearino:
Coal giant Murray Energy files for bankruptcy despite Trump's support.
Masha Gessen:
How Trump's supporters distort Alexander Vindman's very American origin
story.
Shirin Ghaffary:
Tara Golshan:
In Iowa, only 5 percent of Biden supporters are younger than 45. That
compares to Warren (62%), Sanders (55%), and Buttigieg (30%); Biden
also trails: Yang (12%), Harris (8%), and Don't Know/Refused (6%). Under
"no big surprise," Yang has the highest M-F ratio (7%-1%), followed by
Gabbard (3%-1%) and Klobuchar (7%-3%), skipping those with 0% F (Delaney
2% M, O'Rourke and Messam 1% M). Harris is the only candidate with a
major F-M skew: 5%-1%. More surprising, Yang also has the highest ratio
of High School or Less to Bach/Postgrad Degree, 10%-2% -- again, skipping
0% denominators for Delaney (4%) and Messam (2%); Biden is 35%-26%, and
Sanders is 25%-24%. Most candidates do better with college graduates,
like Booker 0%-5%, Harris 2%-7%, Klobuchar 4%-13%, and Buttigieg 9%-40%,
but by far the most extreme is Warren 3%-59%. Those with electability
concerns should be especially concerned about Biden's age skew. Most
polls show young people breaking strongly for Democrats, but they're
also the age group least likely to vote, and it stands to reason that
many fewer will vote if the Democrats nominate Biden, especially
compared to Sanders or Warren.
Kentucky's Republican governor is facing a tough race -- and he wants
Trump to save him.
Jeff Hauser/Eleanor Eagan:
The impeachable offense that Democrats should stop ignoring: "A
constitutional violation worthy of an impeachment probe has been sitting
under Democrats' noses since Trump took office -- his efforts to undermine
Obamacare."
Fred Kaplan:
The defeat of General Mattis: Review of Guy M Snodgrass: Holding
the Line: Inside Trump's Pentagon with Secretary Mattis, and Mattis'
own memoir (with Bing West): Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead.
Ed Kilgore:
Catherine Kim:
Trump stumps for himself during a Mississippi rally for a tight governor's
race.
Jen Kirby:
The future of Brexit will be decided in December 12 elections.
Ezra Klein:
Elizabeth Warren's plan to pay for Medicare-for-all, explained.
Let's group some more pieces on Warren's Medicare-for-all plan:
Michael Kruse:
The 5 people who could have stopped Trump: "Gambling regulators once
contemplated yanking Trump's casino licenses. Why they didn't holds a
lesson for lawmakers today."
Eric Levitz:
Marie Lodi:
Tasteless 'Build the Wall' decor seen at White House kids' Halloween
party.
Mike Lofgren:
'Republicans have become a cult run by crooks': "Former GOP congressional
staffer explains why the party 'has become a creepy mashup of grade B
totalitarianism' and 'Freudian manias.'"
Martin Longman:
Hope for humanity as Trump's base begins to leave him.
Denise Lu/Christopher Flavelle:
Rising seas will erase more cities by 2050, new research shows.
Ian Millhiser:
The most important part of the Democrats' impeachment resolution.
The most significant provision in the resolution exempts the Intelligence
Committee's impeachment hearings from a rule that ordinarily limits
questioning of witnesses to five minutes per committee member. Though the
resolution leaves the five-minute rule in place for most members, it allows
Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff to extend his own question time to as much
as 45 minutes, so long as he gives equal time to Republican ranking
committee member Devin Nunes.
These are important changes because they will allow Schiff and the team
of lawyers working for him to focus their time on the impeachment hearings
and to spend significant amounts of time asking probing questions during
those hearings. The new rules help ensure that the hearing will not be a
disjointed process, constantly jumping from one questioner to the next,
without giving anyone time to build a coherent narrative.
Nicole Narea:
Olivia Nuzzi:
Inside MAGA Country's hottest club: The Trump-Pence 2020 Halloween Eve
witch-hunt party.
Peter Osnos:
Editing Donald Trump: "What I saw as the editor of The Art of the
Deal, the book that made the future President millions of dollars and
turned him into a national figure."
Thomas Pepinsky:
Why the impeachment fight is even scarier than you think: "Political
scientists have studied what our democracy is going through. It usually
doesn't end well."
Andrew Prokop:
John Quiggin:
Arrogance destroyed the World Trade Organisation. What replaces it will
be even worse.
David Roberts:
The radical reform necessary to prepare California's power system for
the 21st century.
- Theodore Schleifer:
Silicon Valley billionaires keep getting richer no matter how much money
they give away.
Nathan Robinson:
Goodbye, Beto O'Rourke. What a sad end to a pointless campaign. Also:
Aaron Rupar:
Emmanuel Saez/Gabriel Zucman:
Make no mistake: Medicare for All would cut taxes for most Americans.
Michael D Shear, et al.:
How Trump reshaped the presidency in over 11,000 tweets.
Jack Shenker:
This wave of global protest is being led by the children of the financial
crash.
Katie Shepherd:
An ad smeared a Kansas Democrat for sexual harassment. The main charge
actually described a Republican. Wichita's nominally non-partisan
mayoral race makes the national news.
Alan Singer:
Historian explains what binds Trump's extremely rich and economically
struggling supporters together:
What I struggle with understanding is how Trump, who is so self-evidently
incompetent, morally repulsive, and biased in favor of the rich, holds
onto his support among the white working-class and religious voters who
attend his rallies and cheer hysterically for their hero. . . . What binds
Trump's extremely rich and economically struggling supporters together are
their cynical beliefs about the motives of others. They think everyone
else is out to steal what is rightfully theirs.
Matt Stieb:
Matt Taibbi:
Baghdadi story reveals divided -- and broken -- news media.
Alex Ward:
The White House's top Ukraine official confirms there was a quid pro quo:
"Tim Morrison tried not to make the president look bad. He failed."
Matthew Yglesias:
Health care is on the ballot in state elections starting next week.
Li Zhou:
The double standard at play in Katie Hill's resignation: Compared to,
e.g., Duncan Hunter (R-CA). Also on Hill:
Etc.
Picked up the following link during my search, before realizing that
it was old:
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Oct 2019 |
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