Blog Entries [0 - 9]Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Music Week
May archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 42312 [42249] rated (+63), 22 [29] unrated (-7).
Major time sink last week was filling out the DownBeat Critics
Poll ballot. I took notes, and they're
here, but probably need to be
cleaned up a bit more. One thing that slowed me down was that I
copied off all of their nominee lists. I could write a sociology
dissertation on "How to Lie with Polls," where the most obvious
way is the questions you pick and those you leave out, so this
is data I've often wished I had kept (although whether I do
anything with it remains to be seen).
One thing I have done ever since they started inviting me was
to copy down their album lists, figuring I could use them as
checklists. Before I got into this year's lists, I calculated
that I had heard 84.4% of their new jazz album nominees, 57.5%
of their historical jazz albums, 22.5% of the blues albums, and
78.3% of their "beyond" albums. Most of the albums in this week's
haul came from the unheard parts of those lists, including a lot
of blues guitar-slingers I never bothered with before and probably
won't again.
After submitting the DownBeat ballot, I resumed work on
Speaking of Which. Sunday night I was mostly done, but still
meant to write something on a particularly offensive Jonathan
Chait piece, so decided to hold it an extra day. By the time
I posted Monday evening, it was 228 links, 11,661 words. I've
added a bit more today, flagged as usual.
The extra day added to the rated count (+11 to be precise),
as I rarely bothered to give even high-B+ albums a second play.
Jimmy Holmes and his protege Robert Connelly Farr were two I
wondered about. Much in the long Wes Montgomery and Keith Jarrett
sets sounded terrific, but I wound up demurring, partly because
I previously had Full House at B+, and Köln Concert
at A- (with no other Jarrett solo coming close).
One nice bit of news is that after complaining about Cox's
lack of service at some length
last week,
I got an unsolicited tweet-message from them pointing me to a web
page with an email address to appeal blocked mail. I wrote them.
They cleared the block a couple days later, and fixed my problem:
I can now send email that references my website.
A couple days later, I found another problem, this time with
Gmail. Turns out anything I send from my server to a Gmail account
gets automatically rejected as "likely suspicious due to the very
low reputation of the sending IP address." I've run across this
before, and (needless to say) they, too, make it very difficult to
get anything resembling service. I've yet to try troubleshooting
this particular problem -- which, among other things, means making
sure my server isn't committing the offenses charged. It's a pretty
low-grade problem right now, but will matter more if/when I revive
the Jazz Critics Poll.
I should also note that last week's much-hyped storm front almost
completely spared Wichita. We had a cold front that was sweeping
southeast across Kansas, and on its edge there developed an almost
straight line of storms from Texas into Nebraska. But the actual
storm cells were moving north-northeast up the edge of the front.
Just before the front passed through Wichita, the line broke, with
two larger storms coalescing, one passing north of Wichita, the
more southern storm passing to our south and east. The latter did
produce tornadoes, but mostly in Oklahoma. There were more tornadoes
later that night, around Kansas City and up into Iowa.
I expect to get very little work done in what's left of this
week, and none over the weekend. We have company coming, which
almost certainly means I won't be posting Speaking of Which then
(although I probably will open a draft file in case I do stumble
on something I'd want to link to). It will also be tempting to
skip a Music Week, although there's no minimum there: if I do post,
it will be much shorter than this one.
New records reviewed this week:
Matt Andersen: The Big Bottle of Joy (2023, Sonic):
Canadian blues guitarist-singer-songwriter, regular albums since
2004. I don't see credits, but the backup singers loom large here.
Actually, it's all big and joyful.
B+(**) [sp]
Anitta: Funk Generation (2024, Republic): Brazilian
"baile funk" singer-songwriter, Larissa de Macedo Machado, debut
2013, this follows a similarly named 2023 EP, repeats the first
single "Funk Rave," expanded to 15 short, hard-hitting tracks,
35:14.
B+(***) [sp]
Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud (2024, Hijinxx/Island):
British jungle DJ/producer, last name Hunt, has several EPs since 2021,
first album takes a big step toward turning her into a dance-pop star.
A- [sp]
Duane Betts: Wild & Precious Life (2023,
Royal Potato Family): Son of Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey
Betts (1943-2024), namesake obvious. First album under his own
name but he's been playing in Allman and/or Betts bands since
2005, and quite capably recycles their trademark sound.
B+(*) [sp]
Pat Bianchi: Three (2023 [2024], 21H): Organ
player, debut 2002, tenth or so album, back-to-basics trio with
Troy Roberts (sax) and Colin Stranahan (drums). Opens and closes
strong with "Love for Sale" and "Cheek to Cheek."
B+(***) [sp]
Muireann Bradley: I Kept These Old Blues (2021-23
[2023], Tompkins Square): Irish folkie, plays guitar, first album,
sings twelve old blues, three from Mississippi John Hurt, three
following arrangements by Stefan Grossman (plus one John Fahey).
B+(***) [sp]
Edmar Castańeda World Ensemble: Viento Sur (2023,
self-released): Harp player, from Colombia, ten or so albums since
2005. Not much info available, but I gather the singer is his wife,
Andrea Tierra, and the band includes Felipe Lamoglia (sax), Ryan
Keberle (trombone), Helio Alves (piano), Grégoire Maret (harmonica),
and Itai Kriss (flute), plus percussionists.
B+(***) [sp]
Layale Chaker & Sarafand: Radio Afloat (2023
[2024], In a Circle): Violinist, sings some, group with (Jake
Charkley (cello), Philip Golub (piano/keyboards), Sam Minais
(bass), and John Hadfield (drums). The occasional vocals lend
this a Middle Eastern air, while the variety in the instruments
frees the violin up as the engaging solo lead.
A- [cd] [05-17]
Gary Clark Jr.: JPEG RAW (2024, Warner):
Blues singer-songwriter, got a lot of hype with his 2012 major
label debut, can't say as I was much impressed. Title acronym
for "Jealousy, Pride, Greed, Rules, Alter Ego, Worlds." Five
(of twelve) songs feature guests, with Stevie Wonder and
George Clinton the big names.
B- [sp]
Chris Duarte: Ain't Giving Up (2023, Provogue):
Blues-rock singer-songwriter from Texas, regular albums since
1987, like so many his calling card is his guitar.
B+(*) [sp]
Tinsley Ellis: Naked Truth (2024, Alligator):
Blues-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist based in Atlanta, started
in the Heartfixers in 1982, went solo in 1988 and has 20+ albums
since. Wrote nine songs here, covers Son House (quite credibly),
Willie Dixon, and Leo Kottke.
B+(**) [sp]
William Lee Ellis: Ghost Hymns (2023, Yellow Dog):
Folkie singer-songwriter from Memphis, plays guitar, opens solo
with a front porch blues, picks up some banjo and fiddle for the
Jesus-namechecking second song, called "Flood Tale." Both of those
songs grabbed me immediately, but then he wandered into other less
immediately appealing fare. Still worth the thought.
B+(***) [sp]
Empirical: Wonder Is the Beginning (2022 [2024],
Whirlwind): British group, half-dozen albums since 2007, led by
bassist-composer Tom Farmer, with Jason Rebello (piano), Shaney
Forbes (drums), Lewis Wright (vibes), and Nathaniel Facey (alto
sax), plus Alex Hitchcock (tenor sax, 3 tracks).
B+(**) [sp]
Ethel & Layale Chaker: Vigil (2022 [2024],
In a Circle): As best I can tell -- my eyes have gotten so bad it
pains me to search out the recording date and credits, let alone
decipher the microscopic booklet -- Chaker is a violinist and
composer of half of this, and Ethel is her group -- three more
violins and a cello -- members of which composed most of the
rest. So a strings group, certainly qualifies as chamber jazz.
B+(***) [cd] [05-17]
Robert Connelly Farr: Pandora Sessions (2023,
self-released): Guitarist, growler, from "Bolton, Mississippi,
home of Charley Patton, Sam Chatmon & the Mississippi Sheiks,"
a protege of Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, plays "thunderous back alley
blues" that are "menacing, guttural." Indeed, the sound is very
striking at first, but then sort of shrinks, folding back on
itself.
B+(***) [sp]
Lawrence Fields: To the Surface (2023 [2024],
Rhythm 'N' Flow): Pianist, from St. Louis, "long-awaited" debut
album -- he has side credits back to 2007, including Joe Lovano
and Christian Scott -- a trio with Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and
Corey Fonville (drums), originals plus one cover ("I Fall in
Love Too Easily").
B+(**) [sp]
Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton: Death Wish Blues
(2023, Rounder): Blues singer-songwriter-guitarist from Kansas
City, a dozen or so albums since 2009, some with co-credits
(like 2011's Girls With Guitars), this her first with
Dayton, a rockabilly/outlaw country artist with more records
going back to 1995. They're rough enough to get on each other's
nerves, but the exception, a Fish ballad "No Apology," is an
oasis of calm in the enveloping chaos.
B+(**) [sp]
Sue Foley: One Guitar Woman: A Tribute to the Female
Pioneers of Guitar (2024, Stony Plain): Blues guitarist,
singer, has written most of her songs since her 1992 debut
(Young Girl Blues), mostly covers here, drawing songs
from Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter, Rosetta Tharpe, and
others.
B+(***) [sp]
Roberto Fonseca: La Gran Diversión (2023,
3čme Bureau/Wagram): Cuban pianist, a dozen or so albums
since 1999. A full roster of Cuban musicians, including
vocalists, with a guest spot for Regina Carter (violin).
Cover depicts a party. Music bears that out.
B+(**) [sp]
Amaro Freitas: Y'Y (2024, Psychic Hotline):
Brazilian pianist, from Recife, fourth album since 2016.
Nine tracks, some solo, some with a guest or two, including
Shabaka Hutchings (flute), Brandee Younger (harp), Jeff Parker
(guitar), and Hamid Drake (drums).
B+(**) [sp]
Gov't Mule: Peace . . . Like a River (2023, Concord):
Southern rock jam band, founded 1994 as an Allman Brothers spinoff,
Warren Haynes (guitar/vocals) and Matt Abts (drums) founders still
carrying on. This one is especially long.
B- [sp]
Makiko Hirabayashi Trio: Meteora (2022 [2023],
Enja): Japanese pianist, based in Copenhagen since 1990, side
credits since 1996, several own albums since 2006. Trio with
Klavs Hovman (bass) and Marilyn Mazur (drums).
B+(***) [sp]
Hiromi's Sonicwonder: Sonicwonderland (2023,
Telarc): Japanese pianist, last name Uehara, studied at Berklee,
debut album 2003, a dozen more since, has classical skills, likes
electronics, wrote jingles before moving into (and sometimes out
of) jazz. This one jams Adam O'Farrill (trumpet) into the sonic
tapestry, which helps. Some vocals.
B+(*) [sp]
Munir Hossn/Ganavya: Sister, Idea (2023, Ropeadope,
EP): Duo, recorded in Miami, the former a guitarist/vocalist from
Brazil, the latter a vocalist/bassist (last name Doraiswamy, born
in New York but raised in Tamil Nadu), each with a couple of
independent previous albums. Seven songs, 19:46.
B+(*) [sp]
Hovvdy: Hovvdy (2024, Arts & Crafts): Indie
rock duo from Austin, Charlie Martin and Will Taylor, fifth album
since 2016, tuneful, easy going, slight, just a whiff of country.
B+(*) [sp]
Ibibio Sound Machine: Pull the Rope (2024, Merge):
London-based afro-funk band, led by vocalist Eno Williams (UK-born,
of Nigerian parents), the band including a guitarist from Ghana
and a percussionist from Brazil. Choice groove: "Dance in the
Rain."
B+(**) [sp]
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram: Live in London (2023,
Alligator, 2CD): Blues singer-songwriter from Clarksdale, Mississippi,
plays guitar, has two previous studio albums. Pretty young (23), but
solid. Run time: 107.12.
B+(*) [sp]
Eric Johanson: The Deep and the Dirty (2023, Ruf):
Louisiana-born blues-rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, moved to
New Zealand after Katrina but returned to New Orleans in 2010, has
a half-dozen albums since 2017.
B+(*) [sp]
Rickie Lee Jones: Pieces of Treasure (2022 [2023],
BMG/Modern): Fifteenth studio album, going back to her eponymous
debut in 1979, with its jazzy freak hit single, produced by Russ
Titelman, who returns here for this collection of ten standards.
They picked great songs, but slowed them way down, exposing the
cracks in her voice, but little else.
B- [sp]
Live Edge Trio With Steve Nelson: Closing Time
(2023 [2024], OA2): Trio of Ben Markley (piano), Seth Lewis (bass),
and Andy Wheelock (drums), with the vibraphonist most prominent
as guest. Highlight is a Horace Silver cover (of course).
B+(**) [cd] [05-17]
John Lurie: Painting With John (2021-23 [2024],
Royal Potato Family): Founder of the Lounge Lizards, a jazzy
fusion group which recorded four studio and more live albums
1981-98; also did a shtick as Marvin Pontiac, and recorded a
few soundtracks, including Fishing With John for an
unscripted TV series he did in 1991. This collects music from
his more recent TV series, with three seasons on HBO Max.
Scattered pieces, most miniatures, some narrated, most minor
but often interesting, ends with a Lounge Lizards delight.
Spotify counts 56 songs, "about" 75 minutes.
B+(***) [sp]
The Taj Mahal Sextet: Swingin' Live at the Church in
Tulsa (2023 [2024], Lightning Rod): Folk blues great,
first record 1968, no recording date I can see here, but one
source had him at 81 in 2023, which is info enough. Six
originals, four covers (three blues, one Hawaiian). Seems
to be in strong voice, buoyed by a strong band.
B+(***) [sp]
Dom Martin: Buried in the Hail (2023, Forty Below):
Blues-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist, from Belfast, Northern
Ireland, third album, ten originals plus a power ballad rendition
of Willie Nelson's "Crazy."
B+(*) [sp]
Dave McMurray: Grateful Deadication 2 (2023,
Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, from Detroit, started with Albert
King, was in Was (Not Was) and Griot Galaxy, first solo album
1989, second 1996. Got the idea of doing a Grateful Dead tribute
after meeting Bob Weir in 2019, released one in 2021, and here's
a second. Pleasant-enough songs, some I recognize despite having
no interest in the band since the early 1970s, helped with organ
and a bit of grit in the sax. Some vocals, not sure whether they
hurt or help.
B+(*) [sp]
Coco Montoya: Writing on the Wall (2023,
Alligator): Blues guitarist-singer-songwriter, from California,
albums since 1995. Raw but unexceptional power.
B [sp]
Simon Moullier: Inception (2022 [2023], Fresh
Sound New Talent): Vibraphonist, from Nantes, France (although
web bio doesn't mention that, or anything specific other than
"being mentored" at Berklee), fourth album since 2020, trio with
bass (Luca Alemanno) and drums (Jongkuk Kim), on one original
and eight wide-ranging jazz standards (including a Jobim).
B+(**) [sp]
Nat Myers: Yellow Peril (2023, Easy Eye Sound):
Roots-blues singer-songwriter-guitarist from Kentucky, happens
to be Korean-American, an irony that is not lost on him. First
album. Good songs throughout, but "Pray for Rain" is exceptional.
A- [sp]
Parchman Prison Prayer: Some Mississippi Sunday Morning
(2023, Glitterbeat): Gospel recordings from inmates in a maximum
security prison in Mississippi.
B+(**) [sp]
Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra: Groove Junkies
(2023 [2024], Origin): Conventional big band, leader/composer
plays trombone, graduated from UNT, spent over a decade in the
USAF Airmen of Note, has at least two previous albums as leader,
his whole career leading right here. He has every reason to be
pleased with this one, although I'm not fully convinced by the
big Latin jazz number.
B+(**) {cd] [05-17]
Nicholas Payton: Drip (2023, PayTone): Trumpet
player, from New Orleans, plays keyboard and flugelhorn here,
fairly laid back funk tracks with guest vocals.
B [sp]
Jessica Pratt: Here in the Pitch (2024, Mexican
Summer): Singer-songwriter from San Francisco, based in Los Angeles,
fourth album since 2012, has a reputation but I disliked the only
previous album I've heard. I don't dislike this rather low key
"album of hypnogogic folk music," but didn't find the mysteries
intriguing enough to give it a second listen either.
B [sp]
John Primer & Bob Corritore: Crawlin' Kingsnake
(2024, VizzTone): Mississippi bluesman, played with Magic Slim
before going out on his own in 1991, picked up the harmonica
player in 2013, and they've been solic ever since.
B+(***) [sp]
Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers (2023 [2024],
Playscape): Saxophonist (tenor/soprano here, also alto flute),
albums since 1998, composed everything here, thinking about his
ancestors. Quintet with Michael Dessen (trombone), Joshua White
(piano), Drew Gress (bass), and Ches Smith (drums). Interesting
throughout, but took me a while to work through all of it.
A- [cd] [05-14]
Still House Plants: If I Don't Make It, I Love U
(2023 [2024], Bison): British art/experimental rock trio, singer is
Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, third or fourth album, has very positive
reviews from Guardian and Pitchfork, but not much notice elsewhere.
I could see her as some kind of jazz singer, only loosely tethered
to the off-kilter guitar/drums, but not the kind -- pace "remarkable
voice" -- I like.
B- [sp]
Natsuki Tamura/Jim Black: NatJim (2023 [2024],
Libra): Japanese trumpet player, husband to pianist Satoko Fujii,
has more albums with her but quite a few on his own, like this
dynamic but choppy improv duo with drums.
B+(***) [cd] [05-17]
Ralph Towner: At First Light (2022 [2023], ECM):
American guitarist, has recorded regularly for ECM since 1973,
also extensively in the group Oregon. Solo here, nice and easy.
B+(*) [sp]
Angela Verbrugge: Somewhere (2017-18 [2024], OA2):
Standards singer, from Canada, first album, starts a bit flat, and
the title song has little to recommend itself, but gets better --
I especially love the one en français, curiously the only one she
wrote, and oddly billed as a "remix."
B+(**) [cd] [05-17]
Bill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra: Time
Capsule (2023, Planet Arts): Trumpet player, has led big
bands since 1990, this his second album with this particular group.
Opens with a splashy Chrissi Poland vocal. Only a few more vocals,
but everything is splashy.
B+(**) [sp]
Randy Weinstein: Harmonimonk (2023 [2024],
Random Chance): Harmonica player (both chromatic and diatonic)
plays seven Monk tunes, 37:46, with various backing, but not
much on any given song.
B+(**) [cd] [05-15]
Dan Wilson: Things Eternal (2023, Brother
Mister/Mack Avenue): Guitarist, second album, leads a quartet
with electric piano (Glenn Zaleski), bass (Brandon Rose), and
drums (David Throckmorton), with guest organ on two tracks,
vocals on three -- a crossover pop move that works better than
expected.
B+(**) [sp]
Mark Winkler: The Rules Don't Apply (2024, Cafe
Pacific): Jazz singer, twenty-some albums since 1980 including
duos with Cheryl Bentyne, yet when you look him up in Wikipedia
you get some South African writer. Looks for postmodern standards --
"I.G.Y." sounds especially great here, and he does well by "Got
to Get You Into My Life" and "Mama Told Me Not to Come" -- and
writes some lyrics, mostly celebrating jazz. Recorded in five
groups, but dates not given.
B+(**) [cd]
Warren Wolf: Chano Pozo: Origins (2023, self-released):
Vibraphonist, from Baltimore, tenth album since 2005, including
a decade on Mack Avenue (also playing with Christian McBride).
Very little info on this, but back story seems to be that it's
a tribute to his late father, who nicknamed his son after the
legendary Cuban percussionist.
B+(*) [sp]
Xaviersobased: Keep It Goin Xav (2024, 34Ent):
Young (20) rapper Xavier Lopez, from NYC, first album.
B+(*) [sp]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
Terri Lyne Carrington: TLC & Friends (1981
[2023], Candid): Drummer, from Massachusetts, father and grandfather
were musicians (latter played with Fats Waller and Chu Berry), was
tutored by Alan Dawson, recorded this when she was 16 but had some
major league friends: George Coleman (tenor sax), Kenny Barron (piano),
Buster Williams (bass). She wrote one song, but otherwise went with
sure covers, slipping Billy Joel between two Sonny Rollins tunes on
the second side, "St. Thomas" and "Sonny Moon for Two" (with her
father guesting as the second tenor sax). They're all having
terrific fun.
A- [sp]
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl, August 18, 1967
(1967, Experience Hendrix/Legacy): Another installment, we're long
past surprises now, let alone amazement, but the quirks are still
fun to listen to. Set list: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band" to
open, two blues, four originals, "Like a Rolling Stone," and "Wild
Thing" to finish.
B+(**) [sp]
Keith Jarrett: Solo-Concerts Bremen/Lausanne
(1973 [2023], ECM, 2CD): Originally a daunting 3-LP box, but
this did much to establish Jarrett's reputation as a dazzling
pianist before his 1975 solo The Köln Concert became
a mega-seller. As with the latter, the CD length got dispensed
of the need to slice his long solos up, here giving us the
two-part Bremen in 63:10 and the single Lausanne set in 64:53.
B+(***) [sp]
A Moi La Liberté: Early Electronic Raď, Algerie 1983-90
(1983-90 [2023], Serendip Lab): Algerian folk music, electrified
during the 1980s, spreading from Oran to Paris, accelerated by
the civil war (1991-2002), during which several singers became
international stars. For me, the introduction was Earthworks 1988
sampler, Rai Rebels, followed by individual albums by Cheb
Khaled, Chaba Fadela, and others. This goes a bit earlier, perhaps
a bit deeper.
B+(***) [bc]
Wes Montgomery: The Complete Full House Sessions
(1962 [2023], Craft, 2CD): Hugely influential jazz guitarist, cut
this album live at Tsubo in Berkeley, California, released in 1962
with six songs, 43:14, with one of his strongest groups: Johnny
Griffin (tenor sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass),
and Jimmy Cobb (drums). The 1987 CD picked up three alternate
takes, and a 2007 reissue found a few more. This adds a couple
more, giving us 14 takes of the original six songs.
B+(***) [sp]
Tell Everybody! 21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy
Eye Sound (2017-23 [2023], Easy Eye Sound): Blues label
sampler, label founded by Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) in Nashville,
major find to date has been Robert Finley, with most of the
artists here not even represented by albums (as far as I can
tell; dating previously released songs is also hard, but I did
find a couple).
B+(**) [sp]
Old music:
Jimmy "Duck" Holmes: Cypress Grove (2019, Easy
Eye Sound): 72-year-old blues singer-guitarist from Bentonia,
Mississippi, inherited the Blue Front Cafe ("on the Mississippi
Blues Trail") from his parents, but only started recording in
2006. Wrote three (of eleven) songs here, his favorite cover
source Skip James.
B+(***) [sp]
Rickie Lee Jones: Rickie Lee Jones (1979, Warner
Bros.): Singer-songwriter, first album, led off with a memorable
jive single, "Chuck E's in Love," which took the album platinum,
and finished in top 25 in Pazz & Jop that year -- I was
reminded of this, because it's the only one of the
top-40
I missed hearing. She's had a steady career ever since, but her
sales declined, with nothing after album four (1989) charting
top-100.
B+(*) [sp]
Rickie Lee Jones: Pirates (1981, Warner Bros.):
Second album, also went top-ten but the singles stiffed. She
does manage to generate some swing on the title cut, but the
credits she should have gotten more (rhythm from Victor Feldman,
Russell Ferrante, Chuck Rainey, Steve Gadd; horn spots from
Randy Brecker, David Sanborn, and Tom Scott; Donald Fagen on
synth).
B [sp]
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Adam Forkelid: Turning Point (Prophone) [03-05]
- Dave Rempis/Tashi Dorji Duo: Gnash (Aerophonic) [06-25]
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Speaking of Which
Started this mid-week, but spent most of two days working on that
stupid DownBeat Jazz Critics Poll, so I'm picking it up again Saturday
afternoon.
Late Sunday evening I pretty much completed my rounds, but still
wanted to circle back and write something about Jonathan Chait and
"punching left," so figured that could wait for Monday. That'll
probably push Music Week back another day, but in times like these,
who care about that? (With a normal cutoff, rated count would have
been +52.)
One thing I did manage to do was to spend some time reviewing,
ostensibly to catch accumulated formatting errors, but the exercise
let me write some section intros and identify some places where I
should seek out more reports. I'm always in such a rush to get this
over and done with that I rarely consider how much better it could
be with a little editing.
I wound up spending much of Monday on the long Chait comment.
That lead to a couple other section, but no time for a significant
review. On to Music Week tomorrow. Perhaps there will be a few
minor updates here as well, but don't expect much next week.
Initial count: 228 links, 11661 words.
Updated count [03-15]: 238 links, 12105 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
George Abraham/Sarah Aziza: [05-10]
Palestine is everywhere, and it is making us more free: "More
letters from the apocalypse." A series of letters from March 1 on,
both Palestinian-American writers, continuing from their previous [01-29]
Letters from the apocalypse.
Ruaida Kamal Amer/Mahmoud Mushtaha: [05-08]
'The scenes of the Nakba are repeating': Rafah in panic as Israeli
invasion begins.
Ramzy Baroud: [05-09]
Israel wants to destroy Gaza and annex the West Bank, but what do
the Palestinians want? Seems like not just a reasonable but a
necessary question, but Israel has excluded virtually everything
imaginable, leaving what?
Tamara Kayali Browne: [05-10]
How Israel turned hospitals into 'military targets' by lying about
international law.
Dave DeCamp: [05-09]
Israeli airstrikes target Syria, causing 'material damage':
"Israel has bombed Syria with impunity for years and significantly
escalated its air campaign after October 7."
Connor Echols: [05-06]
Israeli bombs drop on Rafah as Gazans flee their homes.
Jeremy R Hammond: [05-06]
How Israel supported Hamas against the PLO: This is old history,
and should be pretty well known and understood by now, but is worth
recalling. Lightly reported here is the period from 2001 on: one
story I found especially striking was how during the 2nd Intifada,
Sharon would retaliate against every Hamas bombing by shelling
Arafat's compound in Ramallah, gradually turning it into rubble;
and this was somehow supposed to deter Hamas?
Ellen Ioanes/Nicole Narea: The Vox journalists tasked
with explaining Israel and various other world affairs to us (don't
be surprised if these get updated during the week). These are
generally useful, but often give "both sides" arguments more
credit than they deserve:
Ioanes/Narea: [05-03]
What the backlash to student protests over Gaza is really about.
One section here is "It's all part of a broader fight over free speech
and antisemitism on college campuses." It's about whether students can
call out Israel for genocide and apartheid, and the desires of some
people with influence and power over the universities to shut down
any speech critical of Israel. To the extent that the latter have
been successful, yes, there may be a more general free speech issue,
but that's not what concerns either side. As for "antisemitism on
college campuses," there wasn't any before the protests, and there
isn't any now, and there won't be unless Israel supporters (most of
whom, at least in America, are not Jewish -- many of the loudest
are right-wing Republicans, but do count Joe Biden among them) are
able to stifle the protests and convince protesters to blame Jews
for their authoritarianism.
Ioanes: [05-04]
The UK's controversial Rwanda deportation plan, explained.
Narea: [05-06]
What Israel's shutdown of Al Jazeera means.
Ioanes: [05-07]
Israel's Rafah operation, explained: "The Israel-Hamas war went
from a potential short-term ceasefire to strikes on Rafah on Monday."
Israel maintains that four Hamas battalions are operating from the
southern city. Rafah is also one of the only places in Gaza that
Israeli forces have not destroyed and is the site of two border
crossings -- critical routes for the humanitarian aid people in
Gaza so desperately need.
"Battalion" conventionally means a formation of 400-1200 heavily
armed troops. Hamas has never had battalions. Nor is Rafah "not
destroyed." It has been bombed frequently, even when it was designated
as a "safe" retreat as other parts of Gaza were being leveled. The
purpose of Israel's ground offensives elsewhere was to make sure, at
close range, to make sure critical infrastructure was destroyed, to
render Gaza as uninhabitable as possible. (This included things like
flooding tunnels with sea water, as well as destroying hospitals. It
has involved taking prisoners, and mass executions.)
Narea: [05-07]
What does divesting from Israel really mean? "And is it feasible?
Plus three other questions about the student protesters' demands."
Narea: [05-09]
Biden is threatening to withhold some weapons from Israel. Is it a
real shift in policy?
Jake Johnson:
Jeremy Scahill:
600,000 Palestinian kids in Rafah can't "evacuate" safely, UNICEF
official says.
Adam Schrader: [05-12]
Israel detains journalists on suspicions of working for Al Jazeera.
Israel recently banned Al Jazeera from reporting from Israel.
Richard Silverstein:
[05-12]
Netanyahu lied, Gazans died: Most Hamas fighters not outside Rafah:
"Final blow to Hamas is impossible, majority of its forces no longer
there." But the city is still there. This all makes more sense if you
understand that the point isn't to destroy Hamas -- for Israeli
purposes, they are high-value propaganda targets -- but to demolish
infrastructure, rendering Gaza uninhabitable.
[05-10]
The campus as nexus of resistance: "Violent pro-Israel backlash
against student protesters seeks to discredit them." This is worth
quoting as some length (see the article for embedded links):
Their mass violence and racist chants recall similar tactics of
Israeli settlers. They rampage through West Bank villages under the
protection of the IDF. They kill livestock, burn homes and attack
inhabitants. They expel them from their homes. Entire villages have
been emptied with over 1,000 ethnically cleansed. All under the
watchful gaze of the army and police. Thousands of Palestinians
from scores of communities have been expelled.
These are similar tactics US police departments learn from their
Israeli counterparts when they tour the country in what the Jewish
Voice for Peace calls the Deadly Exchange. It's no accident that
campuses have been militarized -- occupied by police acting at the
behest of university administrators.
The pro-Israel group which mounted the UCLA pogrom set up a
GoFundMe account which raised nearly $100,000 to pay expenses for
their operation. The sponsoring group was called "Bruins for
Israel." That is a university-sponsored group advocating for
Israel on campus. Among the donors were billionaire hedge fund
manager, Bill Ackman. He is a major donor to Harvard University
who announced he would stop his giving in protest of the
anti-Semitism on campus. His Twitter tirades against the
African-American Pres. Claudine Gay, led to her ouster.
Jeffrey St CLair: [05-10]
Medicide in Gaza: the Killing of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: [05-07]
Israel launches Rafah operation hours after Hamas accepts deal:
"The IDF has taken over key Rafah crossing to Egypt, shutting down
key aid pipeline."
Qasem Waleed: [05-07]
What it's like to be used as a human shield by the Israeli army:
"Israeli soldiers rounded up Ahmad Safi and his male family members
in Khan Younis and made them stand atop a sand dune for 12 hours as
the soldiers took cover behind them during a firefight with Palestinian
resistance fighters. This is their story."
Oren Ziv: [05-10]
Israel razes entire Bedouin village to expand a highway: "The
demolition of Wadi al-Khalil, an unrecognized village in the
Naqab, left over 300 citizens homeless despite their attempts to
reach a compromise."
Israel and America: The relationship got rockier as Israel
rejected a cease-fire/hostage deal Biden was banking on, and insisted
on going through with their ground operations in Rafah, where many
refuges from elsewhere in Gaza had fled. Biden, in turn, held back
certain arms shipments, leading Israel to turn up domestic pressure
on American politicians.
Yasmeen Abutaleb: [05-11]
US offers Israel intelligence, supplies in effort to avoid Rafah
invasion: What was it Moshe Dayan said? Something like: "The
US offers us arms, money, and advice. We take the arms and money,
and ignore the advice." Israelis are so accustomed to the advice
being optional they've lost the ability to sense when it isn't.
And Americans are so used to being ignored, they can't bother to
get upset when it happens again.
Peter Baker: [05-10]
Biden is not the first US president to cut off weapons to Israel:
"Other presidents, including, Ronald Reagan, used the power of American
arms to influence Israeli war policy. But the comparisons underscore
how much the politics of Israel have changed over the years."
Nick Cleveland-Stout: [05-06]
Wall Street ignores own rules while investing in arms bound for
Israel: "Transparency around the weapons industry could reveal
some uncomfortable truths."
Connor Echols: [05-07]
Drafter of Leahy law says it was never applied to Israel:
Interview with Tim Rieser, who says: "If a government doesn't want
to comply with the law, they shouldn't receive US assistance."
Brett Heinz: [04-23]
The US military is embedding its officers in corporate America:
"A new report exposes a largely unknown fellowship that gives major
arms companies outsized influence in defense policy." The report is
here:
Murtaza Hussein:
They used to say Arabs can't have democracy because it would be bad
for Israel. Now the US can't have it either.
Jake Johnson: [05-09]
Republicans funded by arms industry fume over Biden threat to withhold
bombs from Israel. Daring you to imagine some kind of analogy,
Sen. Lindsey Graham said: "What did we do after we were attacked
in Pearl Harbor? We dropped two nuclear weapons on two Japanese
cities." More from Graham:
Ed Kilgore: [05-09]
Republicans want to give Netanyahu a blank check. Biden's hint
(or feint?) at restraint has already triggered a rabid Republican
response as they try to steal the pro-genocide vote away, and just
showcase their own most vicious, racist, and (for all practical
purposes) anti-semitic core beliefs. Needless to add, Netanyahu
is again openly siding with Republicans against the US president
who controls his purse strings. It's instinct for him: Netanyahu
always bets on the far right, and has usually come out on top.
Meanwhile, Biden is proving himself to be a better friend to
Israel than the tantrum-driven Netanyahu ever was.
Blaise Malley: [05-10]
When it comes to Israel, this 'dissent channel' is broken:
"Washington's civil servants have been doing everything from
raising formal grievances to resigning. Nothing is working,
and here's why."
Shawn Musgrave/Prem Thakker:
Israel "likely" used US-supplied weapons in violation of international
law. That's ok, though, State Department says.
Stavroula Pabst: [05-06]
The US gives Israel $1.2B for giant laser beam weapon: "The new
'defensive' technology, unsurprisingly, could go horribly wrong in
practice."
Mitchell Plitnick: [05-11]
Biden's shifting 'red line' allows Israel to keep getting away with
murder.
Jon Queally: [05-10]
Former officials say US arms transfers to Israel unlawful.
Robert Satloff: [05-10]
Why and how Biden should walk back his suspension of weapons delivery
to Israel: The author wants more arms for Israel, taking pains
to complement Biden for all he has done so far ("Joe Biden has proven
since Oct. 7 to be the most committed friend of Israel ever to serve
in the White House") but chiding him for "missteps" but promising
that if he gets back in line, all will be well ("there is a powerful
U.S. interest that the war end with a clear Hamas defeat, which is
the only outcome that opens the possibility of non-Hamas governance
of Gaza, renewed Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy and, with luck, a
blockbuster U.S.-Saudi-Israel peace, security and normalization
deal"). But the author also wars of something clear clearly Netanyahu
doesn't grasp: "If, come November, it is universally perceived that
Biden lost the election because of his support for Israel, it will
be a blow to the bilateral strength of the relationship which will
take a generation to recover." The logic here is so convoluted it's
hard to imagine anyone following it. Like all Israeli thinking, it
veers wildly from reality.
Bill Scher: [05-02]
If you want a two-state solution for Mideast peace, you have only
one choice for president: And if you simply want peace, you
have no choice (although Cornel West may beg to disagree). Sure,
Trump is bought and paid for whatever Netanyahu wants. Biden will
talk "two states," but doesn't have the will power to press the
issue on Israel, which has systematically made it impossible to
disentangle the West Bank (although, as I've long insisted, a
clean break from Gaza is possible and necessary, although Biden
has yet to move beyond undemocratic PA-administered reservation
schemes).
David Sirota:
Why does America provide so much support to Israel? Podcast,
mostly with Arjun Singh, although other voices appear in the
transcript.
Sina Toossi: [05-08]
Biden had a chance to undo Trump's mistakes. He dropped the ball.
"He squandered the chance to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal, and
instead doubled down."
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: [05-08]
Mark Milley throws US military under the bus for Israel: "Funny
how our four stars never mentioned American atrocities until they
figured it would help their friends in the IDF." As Max Blumenthal
tweeted:
Ret. Gen. Mark Milley says the US has committed so many war crimes
over the years, it has no right to criticize Israel's devastation
of Gaza.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp chimes in: "The peace activists are
actually the war activists, and we're the peace acvisists."
Karp says of Gaza anti-genocide protesters, "You are an
infection inside our society!"
Blumenthal continues, as Karp breaks new ground in Orwellian
doublespeak:
Palantir CEO Alex Karp presents the Palestine solidarity campus
protest movement as an existential threat to American empire: "If
we lose the intellectual battle, we will not be able to deploy any
army in the West, ever."
Sounds good to me. By the way,
Palantir is a data analytics firm founded by Chairman Peter
Thiel which works for the CIA, DHS, NSA, FBI, CDC, and most arms
of the Defense Department. Among their products is an AI-based
"predictive policing" system.
Brett Wilkins: [05-09]
Netanyahu says Israel 'will stand alone' as Biden threatens to
withhold arms.
William Youmans: [02-08]
The Sunday talk shows on Israel-Gaza: The blob still reigns:
"Unsurprisingly, numbers show how one-sided and detached America's
elite newsmakers really are."
Israel vs. world opinion: Includes reports on US campus
protests/encampments, sometimes met with police violence as Israel
would rather suppress dissent than to face criticism.
Rania Abouzeid: [05-12]
The other side of the river: "Millions of Palestinians live in
Jordan, where rage about the suffering in Gaza has reached a
boiling point. Can the country's leaders, who have a long-standing
peace agreement with Israel, keep things under control?"
Christine Ahn: [05-12]
This Mother's Day, take a stand against war in Gaza and everywhere.
Al Jazeera:
Perry Bacon Jr:
[05-08]
The crackdown on campus protests has gone way too far: "The
backlash has been intense, aggressive and almost entirely wrongheaded."
Almost as if it's being masterminded by the same people who decided
genocide was the appropriate response to Oct. 7? This is what happens
when the guardians of power are unable to reason and can only think
of reasserting their power, harsher than ever. Of course, it's not
exactly the same response. Gaza was preconditioned by decades of
systematic dehumanization, while universities, regardless of decades
of right-wing hatred, remain, as they always were, integral and
essential to America's "power elite" (recalling C Wright Mills'
still-relevant term).
[05-10]
Social media has played a huge role in the coverage of the Gaza
conflict.
I'm skeptical of the motives of many social media critics. Shaping
narratives and ideas is a form of power. Powerful people and
institutions on the center-left (such as Blinken) and center-right
(Romney) are frustrated because their power is being diminished by
social media. . . .
In the Trump era, center-left people who are very pro-Biden are
constantly talking about the virtues of democracy. But they are
often quite dismissive of social media users (because some of
them are very left-wing). Democracy actually means giving more
power to more average people. Social media has been a democratizing
force in politics. We should celebrate its democratic value --
particularly when it pushes policy in the right direction, as it
has over the past seven months.
Jinan Bastaki/Lena El-Malak: [05-11]
Israel is obliged to let Gaza refugees in: a response to Alice
Edwards: "UN special rapporteur on torture Alice Edwards is
asking Arab states to shoulder the responsibility for the refugees
that Israel created. Israel must let them in as the state that is
responsible for their displacement and the denial of their
rights."
Julian Borger/Lorenzo Tondo: [05-10]
UN general assembly votes to back Palestinian bid for membership:
"Assembly votes 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, signalling Israel's
growing isolation on the world stage."
More:
Giorgio Cafiero: [05-06]
Erdogan v. Netanyahu: Where does this go? "Turkey has cut off
trade with Israel over Gaza. This could hurt."
Jonathan Cook: [05-10]
Biden's war on Gaza is now a war on truth and the right to protest:
"The media's role is to draw attention away from what the students
are protesting -- complicity in genocide -- and engineer a moral
panic to leave the genocide undisturbed."
Mohammed El-Kurd: [05-25]
How the western media missed the story of Shireen Abu Akleh's
death: "From the fact of Abu Akleh's murder to the true,
liberatory meaning of her funeral, the media proved yet again
that it's not equipped to cover Palestine."
Yves Engler: [05-11]
Toronto school promoting Israeli military deemed 'charity':
"Canada's largest private high school recently organized a genocide
solidarity trip in which students cooked for Israeli soldiers. In a
sane world, the school's charitable status would be revoked."
Graylan Scott Hagler: [05-12]
Outside agitators: How the power elite talk about dissent:
"Mayors, police chiefs, and university heads have defended their
violent attacks on student protests by claiming 'outside agitators'
are the cause of unrest. This racist trope was used during the civil
rights movement and is equally obscene today."
Emily Jacobs: [05-13]
Jewish Democrats concerned over Maryland's Democratic party's leftward
tilt: "Pro-Israel Democrats in Maryland are wondering how a state
with one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country is
represented by one of the Senate's leading Israel critics." Sen.
Chris Van Hollen.
Ed Kilgore: [05-08]
Poll finds most college students aren't focused on Gaza War:
This is a pretty chintzy attempt to change the subject, showing
again how wedded liberal-centrists are to excusing anything Biden
does, because who has time to care about anything but the Trump
threat to democracy? By the way, the numbers were 45% support
the protests and encampments, 30% were neutral, and 24% were
opposed. It took years of Vietnam to reach those numbers. "But
they also seem inclined to frown upon disorderly protests."
No data on how many support police riots against students.
"The label 'Genocide Joe' would not appear to have a large
number of subscribers on college campuses." He should work
on keeping it that way.
Natasha Lennard:
I've covered violent crackdowns on protests for 15 years. This
police overreaction was unhinged.
Naim Mousa: [04-30]
Inside NYU's generation-defining protests for Palestine.
Britt Munro: [05-11]
The students did not invent the encampments. We inherited them.
Princeton Alumni for Palestine: [05-12]
Princeton Alumni call on university to divest and end complicity
in genocide.
Aja Romano: [05-10]
Macklemore's anthem for Gaza is a rarity: A protest song in an era
of apolitical music: The song is called
"Hind's
Hall," and it's much more worth your time than this article
is. Also see:
Olivia Rosane: [05-12]
Israel 'has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people':
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says, adding "Any objective observer knows
Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and,
in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S.
military aid."
Anne-Marie Slaughter: [04-25]
Gaza-Israeli peace will come only by putting people before states:
It can be hard to be a "humanitarian interventionist" and retain your
faith in the beneficence of states like Israel and the US. Maybe, for
now, let's spare the states, and just have a good cry for the people.
But she can't help but compare anyway, more than balancing the scales
by contrasting what Israel actually has done with what Hamas might
have fantasized about doing:
The Israeli government has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian
men, women and children and could kill tens of thousands more in its
quest to eradicate Hamas. Hamas and its backers seek to kill or expel
the more than 7 million Jews living in Israel. Following the Oct. 7
attack, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
announced that Hamas intended to follow up the attack "with a
crushing defeat that will expel [the enemy] from our lands." Hamas
alone cannot possibly do that. Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran combined
could, if no other nations support the Israeli government in
pushing them back.
The quote is from a Wilson Center piece, "Doctrine of Hamas,"
which diligently collects every vile and scabrous thing anyone in
Hamas has said about Israel -- handy for culture-warriors like
Slaughter -- but it actually says nothing of the sort. Regardless
of the intentions of a spokesman not even in the country, Hamas
had no capacity to sustain its Oct. 7 account, nor did their
supposedly capable allies in Hezbollah and Iran lift a finger
to help. Hamas didn't even get a sympathetic rising out of
Palestinians in the West Bank, despite them having no shortage
of good reasons for opposing Israel. And the notion that the
world would stand by meekly while Hamas goes about killing or
expelling "more than 7 million Jews living in Israel" is even
more ridiculous. Nor is it just that the US had ample military
forces already stationed in the region. Had Biden refused to
help, he would be confronted with anti-genocide demonstrations
every bit as committed as the ones he's facing today.
Norman Solomon: [05-09]
War culture hates the ethical passion of the young.
Esther Sun: [05-10]
Students at universities across Jordan are protesting for Gaza.
Philip Weiss:
[05-10]
Biden panders to pro-Israel Jews, who are as reactionary on Israel
as evangelicals.
For all of Jonathan Greenblatt's and Alan Dershowitz's warmongering,
media need to focus on such Jewish leaders as Norman Finkelstein.
The 70-year-old son of Holocaust survivors, Finkelstein has for 40
years created a body of work of harsh criticism of the Jewish state
that he continues to this day. He will one day be lauded as a Jewish
hero. As will Rebecca Vilkomerson of Jewish Voice for Peace, Simone
Zimmerman of IfNotNow, and Marc Ellis, the author and liberation
theologian.
[05-12]
Weekly Briefing: The pro-genocide lobby is on the defensive:
"Anti-Palestinian racism is the dominant form of bigotry on the
Gaza issue. It determines our policy. All mainstream discussions
are tainted by an unconscious assumption that Jewish feelings in
the US matter more than Palestinian feelings and for that matter,
Jewish feelings matter more than Palestinian lives."
Brett Wilkins: [05-10]
South Africa urges ICJ action as Israeli war cabinet expands Rafah
assault.
The Wire: [05-08]
BREAKING: The U.S. ultimatum to Israel. ACT NOW. A message from
Jewish Voice for Peace focuses on:
- Israel's push to continue its genocide.
- The cataclysmic potential of an invasion into Rafah.
- Repression in the streets and from Congress means we are
scaring them.
Robert Wright: [05-11]
Protest tips from boomers: He cites pieces by Nicholas Kristof,
Steve Walt, and John Judis offering advice from the '60s, but also
admits that "Sometimes suboptimal protests are much better than no
protests at all."
Maura Zurick: [04-30]
65-year-old man 'lucky to be alive' after arrest at campus protest:
Steven Tamari, a history professor, "was brutally beaten by police"
at Washington University, in St. Louis.
Antisemitism: Looks like we have enough this week to
break this out separately, especially the notion that any criticism
of Israel, even for crimes against humanity as grave as genocide,
should be rejected as promoting anti-semitism. So says a bill
passed a week ago by the House, a view that Biden embraced in
his big Holocaust Museum speech.
Myah Ward/Adam Cancryn/Jonathan Lemire: [05-07]
Biden warns of a 'ferocious' surge in antisemitism in the US and
across the globe: This was his "big speech" on Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
Will Alden: [05-10]
A new Jewishness is being born before our eyes: "The future of
our people is being written on campuses and in the streets. Thousands
of Jews of all ages are creating something better than what we
inherited."
Omer Bartov: [05-10]
Antisemitism, then and now: a guide for the perplexed: "President
Biden's remarks at the Holocaust Memorial Museum's Days of Remembrance
betrayed a total misunderstanding of what antisemitism actually is --
and how it must be resisted."
Ellen Cantarow/Jennifer Loewenstein: [05-11]
Weaponizing antisemitism.
Maura Finkelstein: [05-08]
Don't be fooled -- Biden is the real antisemite: "Biden doesn't
care about Jews unless they share his support for Zionism. The rest
of us are enemies of the state." That's a bit harsh, because Biden
is very unlikely to understand how someone so loyal and dedicated
to Israel could possibly be promoting antisemitism. After all, for
50 years as a working politician in Washington, he's constantly been
pounded by lobbyists equating Israel with Jewish hopes and desires.
That doesn't make him a Zionist in any of the senses and degrees
that -- to pick the last three icons in Avineri's book -- Ben-Gurion,
Jabotinsky, and Kook were. That mostly just means he's internalized
going with the flow so thoroughly he can't imagine any other view.
He's been trained as thoroughly as an AI bot, like 90+% of all the
other Washington politicians of his era.
Robert Kuttner: [05-07]
Can Biden save the Jews from Netanyahu? Evidently written in
advance of Biden's Holocaust Museum speech on antisemitism, so no.
Rick Perlstein: [05-08]
The new anti-antisemitism: "The response to college protests against
the war on Gaza exemplifies the darkness of the Trumpocene."
Yakov M Rabkin: [05-10]
Antisemitism and antizionism: A dangerous conflation.
Brandon R Grafius: [05-03]
Distorted gospel: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jesus and the Jews.
Of course, on the right more conventional forms of antisemitism
occasionally resurface.
Karen Yourish/Danielle Ivory/Jennifer Valentino-DeVries/Alex
Lemonides: [05-09]
How Republicans echo antisemitic tropes despite declaring support
for Israel: "Prominent Republicans have seized on campus protests
to assail what they say is antisemitism on the left. But for years
they have mainstreamed anti-Jewish rhetoric." Commenting on this:
America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:
William Bruno: [05-13]
US policy toward Gaza continues a long history of fraudulent
humanitarianism: I'm sorry, but nothing in America's treatment
of Gaza since Oct. 7, or for that matter since the Hamas coup in
2006, made me think of humanitarianism, even as a cynical conceit.
I'm fully aware that quite
often Americans throws out "humanitarian" rationales to promote
politics that are ultimately destructive of humanity, but with
Gaza, the US has never felt the need to excuse itself beyond
pledging our blind worship of Israeli power. And Israel, on its
own, has never felt the need to suggest that anything they do
was intended to benefit Palestinians. Bruno does come up with
the example of "pitifully inadequate airdrops," so maybe one
can credit the occasional odd gesture, but nothing that amounts
to anything, or even barely inconveniences Israel. (Annoys them,
maybe. I'll never forget the expresion on Sharon's face when Bush
called him a "man of peace.")
Tom Collina: [05-08]
Killing the Iran nuclear deal was one of Trump's biggest failures:
"Six years after the US withdrew from the JCPOA, prospects for its
resurrection are dim and Tehran is closer than ever to a bomb."
Also:
Mark Episkopos: [02-12]
The isolationism specter is such a canard: "Paul Poast is wrong
when he says US foreign policy has always 'hinged on the debate
between engaging or not engaging with the world.'"
Dan M Ford: [05-01]
The daunting challenges facing Biden's Sudan envoy: Interview
with Tom Perriello.
Also on Sudan:
Melvin Goodman: [05-10]
Washington Post's David Ignatius remains clueless about the Middle
East.
Eldar Mamedov: [05-09]
Rep. Cuellar's bribery charges expose Azerbaijan's influence
game: "The US lawmaker's alleged illegal work on behalf of
Baku is just the tip of the iceberg."
James Park: [04-29]
The shortsighted US-Japan-South Korea military pact.
Hadley Spadaccini: [05-10]
Banning TikTok isn't the flex proponents think it is: "Beijing
can access Americans' data without the popular social media app
and the prohibition will only harm US-China relations."
Jake Werner: [04-24]
Blinken goes to China to maintain the illusion of stability.
Election notes:
Nate Cohn: [05-13]
Trump leads in 5 key states, as young and nonwhite voter express
discontent with Biden: "A new set of Times/Siena polls, including
one with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reveal an erosion of support for
the president among young and nonwhite voters upset about the economy
and Gaza." I probably wouldn't have bothered with this, except that
Astra Taylor
tweeted:
Worth reading the whole confounding piece (probably with a big
grain of salt) but this is notable. Contrary to what is often
implied (that progressives are the weak link in the coalition),
defectors from Biden are more likely to be moderate/conservative
Democrats.
The quote she spotted:
And while many liberal or progressive voters want major changes,
relatively few of those voters are defecting from Mr. Biden.
Instead, Mr. Biden's losses are concentrated among moderate and
conservative Democratic-leaning voters, who nonetheless think
that the system needs major changes or to be torn down altogether.
Nonetheless, DP flaks will blame the left, because that's the
only tune they know. Hasn't it ever occurred to them that there
may be a story about Trump and/or Republicans they can terrify
people with?
While we're at it, here's another tweet responding to the poll:
James Surowiecki:
Most amazing result in this poll is that in all six states, 70-79%
of voters say they're very or somewhat satisfied with how their
lives are going. But in every state other than Wisconsin, more
than 50% of voters say the economy is "poor." Not even "fair" --
poor!
Steve M: [05-11]
If the election were held today, dump-Biden pundits would feel
vindicated.
Susanne Craig: [05-08]:
RFK Jr. says doctors found a dead worm in his brain. The
article also mentions other health problems, including atrial
fibrillation (which has required hospitalization four times),
elevated mercury levels, hepatitis C, and spasmodic dysphonia.
More stories follow. I was surprised not to see any mention
Thomas Eagleton, who was George McGovern's initial VP nominee
but was force off the ticket when disclosure that he had had
psychiatric treatment for depression was deemed disqualifying.
Adam Wren/Elena Schneider/Natalie Allison: [05-11]
Nikki Haley keeps racking up votes in final stretch of the GOP
primary, and Donald Trump keeps ignoring them. Haley got
21.7% in
Indiana, vs. 78.3% for Trump.
Trump, and other Republicans:
Jeremy Childs: [05-11]
Trump says he'd deport 'anti-American' protesters in bizarre rally
speech. He also had some thoughts about:
Joe Conason: [05-10]
Mind-blowing corruption -- with more to come: "Nobody likes Big
Oil, a monopolistic and heavily polluting industry with a legendary
history of abusing its excessive power that can be traced back over
the past hundred years. But Donald Trump has promised to be the oil
industry's best friend -- if its bosses give him a billion dollars."
Which leads to:
David Corn: [04-24]
The GOP's grand plan: minority rule: But not just any minority;
only itself. Interview with Ari Berman, who wrote
Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People -- and
the Fight to Resist It.
Paul Glastris: [05-10]
About that Time Magazine interview of Donald Trump . . . Title
on the cover teases us: "If He Wins." Article includes many links
to coverage, which somehow I hadn't noticed, but link to article
(and anything related) follows:
Sabrina Haake: [05-06]
How Donald Trump is making America stupid.
Margaret Hartmann:
[05-06]
Who's the Trump VP pick? Latest odds for every shortlist candidate.
Tagline is "early and often," which was never more appropriate than
for this oft-updated article [now 05-10] --
one I'm pretty sure I haven't bothered to link to before, or even
looked at, as I was surprised to find it doesn't offer betting odds.
To save you the trouble, here's the list in order (presumably rank):
- Tim Scott
- Elise Stefanik
- Doug Burgum
- Marco Rubio
- J.D. Vance
- Tulsi Gabbard
- Kristi Noem
- Vivek Ramaswamy
- Greg Abbott
- Ben Carson
- Byron Donalds
- Sarah Huckabee Sanders
- Katie Britt
- Kari Lake
- Marjorie Taylor Greene
- Tucker Carlson
- Ron DeSantis
I don't care who he picks, but why can't the shortlisters see
that they're just projecting their own rather silly intersectional
concerns onto someone who doesn't value them at all? I seriously
doubt that Trump wants a woman on his ticket, or a non-white (or
Rubio? not sure how he is viewed). Rubio is, in any case, a bit
too much of a rival, and a loser (traits also weighing against
DeSantis, perhaps even more so).
I could see Burgum as attractive, as he brings money. Vance
seems to have some real political skills, but Trump is unlikely
to think he needs help in that department. And Abbott is Trump's
kind of asshole, plus planted in his wheelchair Trump's not
likely to view him as some kind of threat. Carlson would be
the closest to Trump in style and ideology, but that might
make him too much of a threat. One thing Trump doesn't need
now is a bridge to the mainstream GOP, which is a big part
of why Pence got the job in 2016. It's not even clear who
would fit that bill this year.
[05-07]
Kristi Noem attacks 'fake news' for questioning fake Kim Jong-un
Story.
[05-10]
Trump will bolt from Barron's graduation to a fundraiser.
[05-11]
The Kristi Noem dog-killing story is actually worse in context.
Of course, this story is far from dead:
Thom Hartmann: [05-09]
Trump keeps dragging America into more moral sewers than we can
count.
Jacob Heilbrunn: [04-07]
How Trump survived January6: "After the insurrection, everyone
was disavowing him. But thanks to his old buddy Steve Bannon and a
coterie of strategists, Donald Trump regained dominance over the
Republican Party." Reviews
Isaac Arnsdorf: Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's
Ground War to End Democracy. Also:
Ben Lefebvre: [05-08]
'A little bold and gross': Oil industry writes executive orders for
Trump to sign.
Ashley Parker: [05-11]
Narrative of Trump snoozing in court takes hold -- much to his
annoyance.
Heather Digby Parton:
Rick Perlstein: [05-01]
A republic, if we can keep it: "There'll be time enough to worry
about presidential polling. Right now, more fundamental questions
beckon."
Nia Prater: [05-10]
What happened in the Trump trial today: More from Aide Madeleine:
"A running recap of the news." Most useful daily recap of the trial
news, although for my purposes, I get most of what I need from Jimmy
Kimmel. Anything else I find follows:
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Garphil Julien: [04-03]
Biden's smart case against the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel:
"While presidential allies worry that he's become protectionist, or
even Trumpist, his opposition to the sale adheres to his policies
for protecting supply chains, fighting climate change, and expanding
American manufacturing."
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Around the world:
Other stories:
Alex Abad-Santos: [05-08]
Eurovision is supposed to be fun and silly. This year is different.
"Eurovision doesn't want to be about Israel-Palestine, but amid
protests and boycotts, it might not have a choice."
Sam Adler-Bell: [05-06]
Between victory and defeat: "How can the left escape burnout?"
Review of
Hannah Proctor: Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political
Defeat.
Perry Bacon Jr/Kate Cohen/Shadi Hamid: [05-09]
Are politics replacing religion in American life? "And what is
gained and lost as our country stops going to churches, synagogues
and mosques?"
Claire Biddles: [05-10]
Steve Albini believed in a democratic music industry: Albini
(1962-2024), who was best known as an engineer and rock producer,
died last week. Here's a
discogrpaphy.
Jonathan Chait: [05-10]
In defense of punching left: The problem with 'Solidarity':
Less a review of than a polemic against the recent book by
Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor: Solidarity: The Past,
Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea. I bought
the book, and will get to it in due course, but I hardly needed
them to caution me against "punching left" or especially to
point out that Chait is a prime example of a liberal pundit
who seems to show much more passion and take much more delight
in not merely criticizing but flat-out attacking the left than
he ever shows when he reacts to the right. He's far from alone
in this regard, and he's nowhere near the worst, but I've had
to call him on it numerous times of late. It happens often
enough I could probably collect the cases and turn them into
a full essay like the Anti-Dühring.
I don't have the appetite to attempt that here, but can't
help but leave a few scattered notes. First thing to point out
is that here, at least, he is careful to present well-organized
and respectable arguments. He is very clear on what he believes.
Even where I disagree, I find no reason to doubt his sincerity
or integrity. I do have some doubts about his characterization
of the book and of the left in general. I haven't read this one,
but I've read most of Taylor's books, and have rarely found fault
in them, and often been impressed by her brilliance. As for the
rest of the left, there is a wide range of reasonable opinion,
especially as you move away from the core principle, which is
that we favor equality and mutual aid, and oppose hierarchy and
forced order.
A personal aside may be in order here. My politics firmed up
in the late 1960s when, largely driven by opposition to the Vietnam
War, I discovered the New Left -- which had no truck with the old
left, but still embraced core left principles, and came equipped
with a sophisticated critique of capitalism, its liberal ideology,
its conservative detritus, and its fascist activists. Within the
New Left, I was relatively sympathetic to anarcho-libertarians
(probably because I had absorbed some of the hyper-individualism
and anti-statism that ran deep in the American West) but I also
had a keen sense of the value of unions and solidarity (my father
was in the union, although he was not very heroic about it). I've
been pretty consistent in those views for more than fifty years,
but I've evolved in several respects. The most relevant here is
that I've become more tolerant of well-intentioned liberals --
except when they go to work for the war party (as Chait did in
endorsing the Bush war in Iraq).
One suspicious thing Chait writes here is this:
One important distinction between the two tendencies is that
liberals tend to understand policy as a search for truth and
politics as a struggle to bring a majority around to their
position, while leftists understand politics as a conflict to
mobilize the political willpower to implement the objective
interests of the oppressed.
Leaving the first clause aside for the moment, the second
is equally true of conservatives if you replace "oppressed" with
"rich and powerful." It's less clear what the replacement would
be for liberals, but it's probably something more self-interested
than "truth." Historically, liberals fought against aristocracy
by appealing to universal benefits as rights -- probably what
Chait meant by "truth" back there -- but as they gained power,
they started to find they had more common bonds with the owners,
who tempted them to turn on the workers. This habit of "punching
left" emerged as early as the revolutions of 1848, where workers
supported liberal challenges to aristocracy and autocracy, only
to be betrayed.
The left is no less concerned with truth than liberals think
they are, but we do have cause to be wary of people who spout
high-minded rhetoric but don't deliver results beyond their own
elite aspirations. We don't deplore "punching left" because we're
thin-skinned and unwilling to debate reason, but because we see
it as a signal to the right that liberals are happy to serve the
right by marginalizing and controlling the left.
And please note here that under "punching left" I'm not talking
about airing out differences over tactics -- the ever-roiling
debates over when to compromise on what and with whom -- or even
over principles. I'm talking about cases where liberals like Chait
deliberately distort arguments to support right-wing programs and
to impugn the integrity and principles (and sometimes even sanity)
of the left. For example, Chait writes:
An additional problem is that each activist issue-group can itself be
pulled left quickly by its most committed members. (The stakes for
staying on good terms with the left on Israel have quickly escalated
from opposing the occupation to opposing Israel's existence in any
form to, increasingly, refusing to condemn the murder of Israeli
civilians). The dynamic is magnified when every component of the
left is expected to endorse the demands of every other.
The parenthetical is essential here, as a cascading series of
ridiculous assertions backed by nothing more than the escalating
torrent of rhetoric. As someone, typically of people on the left,
opposed to war, I certainly condemn the murder of Israeli citizens;
likewise, I have no problem whatsoever with an Israel that provides
equal rights to everyone who lives there (or for that matter who
has a reasonable claim to return there); and my one complaint on
the occupation is that it deprives people of those equal rights --
one might imagine a counterfactual where occupation of the West
Bank might have afforded Palestinians more equitable rights than
they enjoyed under the Jordanian monarchy, but that is not what
Israel did ever since the 1967 war.
The before and after sentences are simply Chait's way of
complaining that extreme-leftists use "solidarity" as a means
of ever-radicalizing thought control, driving them away from
the "truth" and "enlightenment" of his pristine liberalism.
That he refuses to be bullied like that is, well, respectable,
but that he thinks that's what is happening is paranoid and
more than a little vile. Maybe the old CP had that kind of
disciplined followers, but today's left is as scattered and
unorganizable as Will Rogers' Democrats. I take it that the
point of Solidarity (the book) is to try to convince
people that a little effort at coherence would be of practical
value, but I find it impossible to believe that veterans of
Occupy Wall Street open democracy meetings -- David Graeber
wrote about them in The Democracy Project -- can fancy
themselves as the new bolsheviks. (The only "new bolsheviks"
are whoever's crafting right-wing talking points these days --
it used to be Grover Norquist's weekly roundtable -- which are
then picked up and dutifully repeated by Fox News, politicians,
social media, and whoever else is on the party line.)
PS: Even before I finished the above, Chait attacked
again: [05-13]
No, your pet issue is not making Biden lose: "It's inflation,
not Israel or class warfare." Chait and Ed Kilgore (see his article
above) are like tag-team
wrestlers, jumping in one after another with their assertions that
hardly anyone really cares about genocide in Gaza, so, like, nothing
to look at here, just "the desire of a tiny number of left-wing
activists to leverage the issue," and that "siding with the unpopular
protesters would not address the source of Biden's unpopularity."
(Bill Scher is another one, over at
Washington Monthly.)
The question of why Biden is so unpopular is complicated and, as
far as I can tell, poorly understood by anyone (myself included).
But I can tell you two things of which I am fairly certain.
One is
that even being proximate to a disaster leaves you with an odor that
is hard to shake, and there is no way to spin any possible outcome
of Israel/Gaza as anything but a disaster. Everyone involved looks
bad, some for what they did, some for what they didn't do, some for
just witnessing, the rest for ignoring the obvious. Israel has set
impossible goals for itself, and even if they could achieve those
goals, they wouldn't solve their problem, which is ultimately that
they've turned their whole country, and everyone associated with
them, into a colossal embarrassment. It's going to take decades,
and that means decades of new people, to recover. Biden will never
erase this stain from his reputation. All he can do now is to
change course, and start to make amends.
The other thing is that, unlike inflation or class warfare,
Israel is something he can actually do something about. Israel
cannot afford to continue this war, at this level, without
American support, and Biden can stop that. Netanyahu has a
very weak hold on power, and Biden can nudge him down and out.
Israel's leadership may be evil, but they're not stupid. They
can see there's no way out of this. They're just playing on
borrowed time, because no one has stepped in to put an end
to this insanely horrible war. But Biden can do that. And the
real problem with Chait, Kilgore, et al., is that they're
trying to give Biden cover, allowing him to waste time and
dig himself an ever deeper grave. This has turned into the
world's deadliest "Emperor's New Clothes" parable. If you
can't see that, all I can do is pity you.
And while writing these last paragraphs, this tweet came in:
David Klion:
Speaking for myself at least, I am not happy about this. I do not
want Trump to be president again, and I do believe he would be worse
in all respects including on Palestine. That's why I've been sounding
the alarm about Biden's indefensible approach to Palestine for 7
months.
Steve Chawkins/Hailey Branson-Potts: [05-08]
Pete McCloskey, antiwar candidate who took on Nixon, dies at
96. I remember when he was first elected to the House, and
quickly established himself as one of the Republicans' firmest
opponents of the Vietnam War.
Bryce Covert: [04-09]
The toxic culture at Tesla: "The factory floors at America's
top seller of electric vehicles are rife with racial harassment,
sexual abuse, and injuries on the job."
Thomas B Edsall: [05-08]
The happiness gap between left and right isn't closing:
"Why is it that a substantial body of social science research finds
that conservatives are
happier than liberals?" This isn't a new discovery (or should
I say conceit, as it's invariably advanced by conservatives?): the
article here links back to a 2012 piece by Arthur C Brooks:
Why conservatives are happier than liberals, and more recently
to Ross Douthat: [04-06]
Can the left be happy?. (Liberals and leftists may well concede
the point as individuals but point to studies of whole societies,
which always show that more people are happier in more equitable
societies.) Steve M asks the key question on the Edsall
piece:
If right-wingers are happy, why are they so angry?
Edsall devotes most of his lengthy column to the question of whether
liberals are miserable because they think the world treats certain
groups poorly. He seems to agree that that's the case.
He points out that conservatives also have problems with the world
as it is. However, they don't turn sad -- they just get angry:
[examples]
So research suggests that they're angrier than liberals,
but they're also happier than liberals. Edsall seems to accept
the notion it's possible to stew in anger while feeling quite happy.
So, why not? Don't people get some kind of adrenalin rush out
of fighting? Even I got some kind of charge as the anti-genocide
demonstrations turned more confrontational. And while I perhaps
should be worried about the repression, it mostly just makes me
want to fight back. It's not that I don't understand the dialectics
of violence and non-violence well enough, but one does get sick and
tired of being lectured that "when they go low, we go high." That
doesn't seem fair.
Right-wingers seem to be able to escape the inhibitions of reason
and taste, and just indulge their passions. They've found a way to
take pleasure in other people's pain. We're not like that. We can
anticipate, and rue, consequences of our actions. We see problems
before they're widely acknowledged, and sure, that makes us sad --
especially given the blissful ignorance of those who fancy themselves
as conservatives (or, back when I was growing up, as establishment
liberals) -- but it also makes us determined, and that requires us
to temper the anger that comes with recognizing injustice. But humans
are wired to pursue happiness, so sometimes we do that too. And when
that does happen, forgive us. We mean well, and would do better if
only we weren't so often confronted with happy-angry mobs who hate
us and most everyone else.
Abdallah Fayyad: [05-06]
America's prison system is turning into a de facto nursing home:
"Why are more and more older people spending their dying years behind
bars?"
Jacqui Germain: [05-13]
Student debt stories: High interest, debt strikes, generational debt,
and more.
Constance Grady: [05-07]
Why the Met Gala still matters: "Turns out the first Monday in
May is the perfect value for celebrity image-making." I generally
like Vox's "explainers," not least because they offer a suitably
balanced hook upon which to hang more specific articles. But whatever
degree of wry amusement this hideous event may have held for me in
the past, that moment has long passed.<
By the way:/p>
Aljean Harmetz: [05-12]
Roger Corman, 98, dies; prolific master of low-budget cinema.
John Herrman: [05-05]
Google is staring down its first serious threats in years.
Subheds: A monopoly at risk; The AI search dilemma; Search is a
nightmare now.
Harold Meyerson: [05-06]
Who created the Israel-Palestine conflict? "It wasn't really
Jews or Palestinians. It was the US Congress, which closed American
borders 100 years ago this month." Blaming the Johnson-Reed Act of
1924 is kind of a cheap shot, but bear with him. Before 1914, 85%
of Jewish emigres moved to the US, vs. 3% to Palestine. After 1924,
the number of Jewish immigrants to the US fell, as the bill designed,
to a trickle.
Nicole Narea: [05-12]
America's misunderstood border crisis, in 8 charts: "For all
the attention on the border, the root causes of migration and the
most promising solutions to the US's broken immigration system
are often overlooked."
By the way, this is just a stray thought that occurred to me
and seemed worth jotting down -- although I can't begin to do it
justice here. The US immigration system covers two distinct cases,
and their mix does much to confuse the issue. On the one hand, we
have immigrants seeking opportunities (mostly economic), coming
from stable and even wealthy nations as well as more troubled ones
(from which the advantages may seem more obvious). On the other,
we have refugees seeking asylum. In theory, the latter could be
just as happy somewhere (anywhere?) else. As one of the charts
here shows, applications for asylum have trended up since 2014
(except for a 2020-21 Covid dip, but sharply thereafter), so
they're a bit part of why immigration (especially "the border")
has become a hot blowback issue.
If we actually had, or wanted, some kind of "rules-based
international order," a pretty simple way of dealing with the
global refugee problem would be to implement a "pay-or-play"
scheme, where rich countries could pay poorer countries --
presumably that's the way it would actually work -- to provide
sanctuary as needed. Refugees would have rights, including an
option of applying for legal immigration to any country willing
to consider them. The expense would provide some motivation to
negotiate terms for returning refugees, and for curtailing the
wars and discriminatory processes that generate most refugees,
as well as economic and climate impacts. If we do nothing to
better manage migration, the latter will almost certainly make
the current crisis even worse.
I'm not a big fan of "pay-or-play" schemes, but they're
relatively flexible, easy to implement, minimally intrusive.
It could partly be funded by imposing taxes on trade and/or
currency of countries producing refugees, which would give
them incentive to treat their people better and stop driving
them away. This would also be a start toward a much needed
system of capital transfers from rich to poor countries, and
could provide a framework for equalizing labor markets -- the
EU has been a pioneer in both -- but wouldn't require buy in
from the start.
I should also mention that I've long been pushing the idea
of a "right to exile," which would provide a safety valve for
people in countries that are prone to mistreating their people.
That would allow anyone who is being incarcerated or punished
to appeal to go into exile, provided there is another country
willing to accept that person. Again, many details need to be
hashed out, and universal agreement will be take some work --
e.g., such a right would almost certainly empty Guantanamo; the
US regularly complains about people it thinks are being detained
unjustifiably, but also practices what it preaches against.
Nathan J Robinson:
[05-09]
A "tradwife" discovers the anti-feminist lifestyle is miserable and
oppressive: Lauren Southern, "one of the alt-right's nastier
pieces of work, a troll who tells white people there is a plot to
replace them with immigrants who will undermine the foundations of
civilization, and who is prone to doing repugnant, idiotic things
like handing out flyers that say 'Allah is gay,' or saying Hitler
'fawned over Muslims more sycophantically than Justin Trudeau.'"
So, she sounds like one of those "happy-angry" people I noted
under Edsall (above), until she realized that something else was
making her unhappy: her marriage to a typical chauvinist jerk.
[05-12]
How the dollar became America's most powerful weapon: Interview
with Saleha Mohsin, author of
Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World
Order.
[05-14]
We need solidarity now more than ever: Interview with Leah
Hunt-Hendrix, co-author with Astra Taylor of Solidarity: The
Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea (see link,
and my comment, under Chait, above).
[04-17]
What Jane McAlevey has taught us: "The labor organizer and writer
is approaching the end of her life. She leaves behind vital organizing
lessons that will reverberate over the next decades." Reviews her
books. Also cites:
[2023-08-25]
How labor movement can win at the bargaining table: An interview
with Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor, authors of
Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiation.
Kenny Torrella:
Dan Weiss: [05-06]
The definitive guide to hating Drake: "Enjoy the rap battle of
the century, because we've never seen anything like this before." I
don't doubt that he's right, but I've never ran across a rap feud I
couldn't ignore before, and it saddens me should prove the exception.
I am minimally aware that many critics dislike Drake (with at least
some sinking into hate). I've heard most of his records, though his
early ones sounded promising, his later ones not so much, but I've
never heard reason to rail against him. Part of that may be because
I'm pretty oblivious to popular success, and barely cognizant of
celebrity gossip press -- I gather he's had quite a bit of both.
Colin Woodard: [04-06]
Disordering our national myths: "The Founders, the Pioneers, the
Movement, the Lost Cause -- the more driving myths one identifies,
the more our true national character is obscured." Review of
Richard Slotkin: A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle
for America. I'm midway through this book, and thus
far I'm very impressed and pleased with what I've read on subjects
I've read a lot on recently (as well as long ago). As for the
reviewer's complaints, I'll have to withhold judgment, but for
now I'm very skeptical of the notion that there is any such thing
as "our true national character": these states may be united, but
never without dissent, and many countercurrents run deep,
mythologized or not. But intuitively, trying to understand
current politics through its mythic dimensions makes a lot
of sense to me.
PS: Reading further, I see that Woodard's unhappiness derives
in large part from his own competing theory, which he lays out
in his own book
Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States
Nationhood, where his "different paradigm" reduces the
story to "a struggle between two national myths," so between
uplifting faith in liberal democracy and the dead weight of
slavery, racism, and authoritarianism. (Here's a review by
David W Blight.) Slotkin's "disorder" is due to his attempt to
trace more mythic threads, and show how they're used by later
politicians (Trump, of course, but also Obama) like a readymade
toolkit.
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Monday, May 6, 2024
Music Week
May archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 42249 [42200] rated (+49), 29 [31] unrated (-2).
Pretty substantial
Speaking
of Which last night, updated today to 208 links, 12085 words.
Mostly got the updates from Twitter and Facebook, which I hadn't had
much time for in the crush.
I'll forego any attempt at an introduction here, hoping to get
this up before the storm line hits (6-7 PM CDT). No reports of
tornadoes in Kansas yet, but there are some in Oklahoma, and
that's where this is coming from.
One note I will make is that I've refined the problem with Cox
email a bit more. It now looks like any email that I send with any
HTML link to
tomhull.com is generating the
AUP#CXSNDR error. I'm curious whether any email from other domains
with links to my website are generating similar errors. I need to
do some research on email block lists, and how to fight them. Cox
is pretty useless, and they're working to dump all of their email
customers on Yahoo, which seems to have an even worse reputation.
For now, I'm avoiding the problem by watching what I say.
New records reviewed this week:
Melissa Aldana: Echoes of the Inner Prophet (2024,
Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, from Chile, seventh album since 2010,
second on Blue Note, quintet with piano (Fabian Almazan), guitar
(Lage Lund), bass, and drums.
B+(**) [sp]
Karrin Allyson: A Kiss for Brazil (2023 [2024],
Origin): Jazz singer, originally from Kansas but she's given her
heart to Brazil, and she's credible enough for this native Kansan.
Cover notes Rosa Passos as "special guest," but credits only show
two vocals and one rhythm guitar track. The essential guitarist is
Yotam Silberstein, with Harvie S on bass, Vitor Gonçalves keyboards,
and Rafael Barrata percussion.
[cd] [05-17]
Roxana Amed: Becoming Human (2024, Sony Music Latin):
Jazz singer from Argentina, half-dozen albums since 2004, based in
US since 2013, originals in English and Spanish, backed by piano
(Martin Bejerano), sax (Mark Small), trombone (Kendall Moore), bass,
and drums. One choice cut here is "We Built a Home," which reminds
me of Roswell Rudd and Sheila Jordan.
B+(***) [cd]
Byron Asher's Skrontch Music: Lord, When You Send the Rain
(2022 [2024], Sinking City): Clarinetist, originally from Maryland,
based in New Orleans since 2011, group name from a 2019 album,
credit here is "reeds," same for three others, brass section is
cornet-trombone-sousaphone, rhythm piano-bass-drums-live electronics.
B+(**) [bc]
Black Lives: People of Earth (2024, Jammin' Colors):
A "large and humanistic ensemble" combining musicians from "the U.S.,
Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe," bassist Reggie Washington seems
to have been the catalyst, assembling the album Black Lives: From
Generation to Generation in 2021 in response to the Black Lives
Matter demonstrations. He took the evolving group on tour of Europe
in 2022-23, and they returned with this second album. Mostly names I
recognize, but too many to list here (start with Cheick Tidiane Seck
and Immanuel Wilkins, with seven more vocals/spoken word artists).
B+(***) [sp]
Carsie Blanton: After the Revolution (2024,
self-released): American singer-songwriter, based in New Orleans,
albums since 2005, lefty politics, no complaints from me on that
score, but I wish there more songs like "Cool Kids" I don't have
to think about.
B+(***) [sp]
Carsie Blanton: The Red Album Vol. 1 (2024,
self-released, EP): Six songs, 13:25, first appeared as a thing
(I think) as a bonus CD packed along with the LP of After the
Revolution, though it may have had some virtual existence
earlier -- "Rich People" has reportedly "gone viral," which
Blanton herself claims didn't earn her a dime. Jazzy, explicitly
political (first two songs are "Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch" and
"You Ain't Done Nothing (If You Ain't Been Called a Red", but
the one about "Democrats" shooting in you in the back hits
ever harder. I don't know whether she wrote or found them,
but I'd like to hear more.
B+(***) [yt]
Cedric Burnside: Hill Country Love (2024, Provogue):
Blues singer-songwriter, grandson of R.L. Burnside, his debut was
their 2001 Burnside on Burnside, started as a drummer but
plays guitar here, as does Luther Dickinson.
B+(**) [sp]
Nicola Caminiti: Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait
(2022 [2024], self-released): Italian saxophonist (alto/soprano),
born in Messina, several side credits from 2018 but this appears
to be his first album leading. Quartet with piano (Lex Korten),
bass (Ben Tiberiti), and drums (Miguel Russell). Impressive.
B+(***) [cd] [05-10]
James Carter: Un (Unaccompanied Baritone Saxophone)
(2023 [2024], J.M.I.): Originally a tenor saxophonist, emerged as
a prodigiuos star in the 1990s, but (unlike David Murray, similarly
dominant in the 1980s) allowed himself to be limited by major labels
with their focus on fewer, fancier releases, and struggled when the
labels dried up on him -- he has little to show under his own name
since his last EmArcy in 2011 (other than a 2018 Organ Trio as his
one shot on Blue Note). But he's still working, still impressive
when he gets an airing. Along the way, he picked up every other
saxophone, and developed enough of a reputation for baritone that
that's the one slot he regularly places high in DownBeat's
polls. Hence this solo album, eight tracks, 41:06, pretty much as
awesome and aggravating as you'd expect.
B+(**) [sp]
Yelena Eckemoff: Romance of the Moon (2023 [2024],
L&H Production): Russian pianist, moved to US in 1991, got into
jazz and has recorded regularly since 2010. Very nice quintet,
"inspired by the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca," recorded in Italy
with Paolo Fresu (trumpet), Riccardo Bertozzi (guitar), Luca
Bulgarelli (bass), and Stefano Bagnoli (drums).
B+(***) [cd] [05-10]
Nicole Glover: Plays (2024, Savant): Tenor saxophonist,
from Oregon, First Record self-released in 2015, this is her
second on Savant, trio with Tyrone Allen and Kayvon Gordon plus guest
Steve Nelson (vibes). Found line fits: "a deep, rich tone, but also
lots of modern edges." Opens strong, but holds you with ballads.
A- [sp]
Aaron Yale Heisler: Zoot's Soprano EP [Alternate Takes and
Remixes From the Bechet Century] (2022-23 [2024], Bathurst
Manor, EP): Guitarist, from Toronto, released an album called The
Bechet Century in 2023, on the 100th anniversary of the soprano
saxophonist's first recordings. Solo guitar with some vocals, mostly
leftovers, nine tracks, 20:49, not that close to the model anyway (or
maybe I just have trouble imaging Bechet without his rhythm?).
B [sp]
Aaron Yale Heisler: Guitar Sketches (Toronto 2008-24)
(2008-24 [2024], Bathurst Manor): Solo guitar again, with a bit
of vocal, did a Sidney Bechet tribute last time, adds Charles Gayle
to his list of inspirations, which he handles in a uniquely low-key
way.
B+(***) [sp]
Jazz at the Ballroom: Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who
Soared (2024, Jazz at the Ballroom): Standards from the
big band era, open with an instrumental "On the Sunny Side of the
Street," followed by fourteen songs by six vocalists: Gretje Angel,
Carmen Bradford, Olivia Chindamo, Jane Monheit, Vanessa Perea, and
Champian Fulton, who plays piano throughout, leading two bass-drums
trios.
B+(***) [cd]
Dawn Landes: The Liberated Woman's Songbook (2024,
Fun Machine Music): Folkie singer-songwriter, debut 2005, moved
from Kentucky to NYC to North Carolina, found these eleven songs,
going as far back as 1830, in a book published in 1971, and finds
them "as timely today as they were then."
B+(**) [sp]
Lauren Alaina: Unlocked (2023, Big Loud, EP):
Country singer-songwriter, from Georgia, real name continues:
Kristine Suddeth, had a run on American Idol at 17, got her an
album that year (2011), two more since (one I panned), now this
credible-sounding six song, 18:40 EP. Sample: "you ain't in the
heels she's walkin' in, so don't judge a book by its cover."
B+(**) [sp]
Li'l Andy: The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter
(1925-1930) (2022, Back-to-Wax): This is the work of
Canadian Andrew McClellan, touted as "Montreal's best country
songwriter," his music as "roots-based Americana that actually
deserves to be made." Procter is a fiction, the hero of the
singer's debut novel, who not only wrote all of this "two-disc,
29-song box set" (ok, not all -- not "Lovesick Blues," and I'm
not sure what else), but took pains to get the primitive sound
by recording it on a 1937-vintage Webster-Chicago wire recorder
(with eleven songs also recorded on a Tascam 38 half-inch analog
tape machine, if you care to compare). I'm quite impressed, but
also a bit overwhelmed, and not having the box leaves me tempted
to hedge a bit.
B+(***) [sp]
Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism (2024, Warner):
Albanian, moved to London to model, switched to dance-pop for
her multi-platinum 2017 debut, third album preceded by the
breakout single "Houdini." Eleven snappy, upbeat songs, just
fine for 36:35.
A- [sp]
Lloyiso: Seasons (2023, Universal, EP): South
African singer-songwriter, Loyiso Gijana, singles since 2018,
first album but just seven songs, 23:02, slow, soulful ballads.
B+(*) [sp]
Leyla McCalla: Sun Without the Heat (2024, Anti-):
Folk singer-songwriter, born in New York, raised in New Jersey,
parents from Haiti, played cello and banjo in Carolina Chocolate
Drops and Our Native Daughters, fifth solo album. But doesn't folk
music need some roots to locate itself? I'm not sure I recognize
any here, which may make it more interesting but less immediately
satisfying. For that, you need the message. Title expands to "you
want the crops without the plow/ you want the rain without the
thunder/ you want the ocean without the roar of its waters, can't
have the sun without the heat"; also: "And there's so much wrong/
only we can change ourselves." And finally: "I want to believe in
the light/ I have been given."
A- [sp]
Charles McPherson: Reverence (2023 [2024], Smoke
Sessions): Alto saxophonist, started with Charles Mingus and Barry
Harris in 1961, first album as leader was Bebop Revisited!
(1965), has worked steadily ever since, recording this date at 83,
still revisiting bebop, with Terell Stafford (trumpet), Jeb Patton
(piano), David Wong (bass), and Billy Drummond (drums). Ends with
his "Ode to Barry."
B+(***) [sp]
Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice (2024, Matador):
Multiple sources refer to artist as a band, but name started as
an alias for its leader, a Tuareg guitarist-singer from Niger,
Mahamadou Souleymane, with albums starting on Sahel Sounds in
2013, then breaking out on American indie label Matador in 2021,
with this one racking up a Metacritic 91 from 12 reviews in its
first week. Reviews use words like "incendiary" and "blazing,"
which make me wonder how long they've been following.
B+(***) [sp]
Mike Monford: The Cloth I'm Cut From (2021 [2024],
self-released): Alto saxophonist, with spoken word, from Detroit
(I gather; sorry but I can't read anything on the CD, and I'm not
doing much better with the hype sheet). Website adds Composer and
Jazz Historian, and notes "over 30 years to practicing, performing,
and experimenting with the universal language of music," but I'm
only seeing one previous album. This one is billed as "a musical
autobiography," a live set most certainly, because that's where
social music comes from. Special credit for the violin solos.
A- [cd] [05-04]
Mute: After You've Gone (2021 [2024], Endectomorph
Music): Quartet of Kevin Sun (C melody sax/clarinet/suona), Christian
Li (piano), Jeonglim Yang (bass), Dayeon Seok (drums); second album,
song credits scattered, including a standard for the title, a nice
touch.
B+(***) [cdr] [05-13]
Pierrick Pédron/Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Pedron Rubalcaba
(2022 [2023], Gazebo): French alto saxophonist, dozen-plus albums
since 2001, duets with the Cuban pianist, who started in the 1980
with Orquesta Aragón and has long been based in Florida. Nice mix
and match here.
B+(***) [sp]
Jeremy Pelt: Tomorrow's Another Day (2024,
Highnote): Trumpet player, debut 2002, a regular on this label
since 2010, mainstream player with considerable chops, calls
this his "most experimental recording to-date." That involves
electric as well as acoustic bass (Leighton McKinley Harrell)
and keyboards (Frank LoCastro), with vibes (Jalen Baker) and
drums (Allan Mednard or Deantoni Parks).
B+(*) [sp]
Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless (2024, Parlophone):
Fifteenth studio album, since 1986. Formula by now, but it's a
great formula, dancey and dreamy, clever and profound, their
best in some time, most likely.
A- [sp]
Jeanfrançois Prins: Blue Note Mode (2024, GAM):
Belgian guitarist, debut 1993 with Judy Niemack, "sharing his
time between NYC and Berlin for over 20 years," moved back to
Brussels in 2016. Sees this as a tribute marking the 85th
anniversary of the Blue Note label, "the centennial of Rudy
Van Gelder, and the 65th anniversary of his mythical studio."
So he convened a hard bop revival -- Jeremy Pelt (trumpet),
Jaleel Shaw (alto sax), Danny Grissett (piano), Jay Anderson
(bass), and E.J. Strickland (drums) -- mediated with guitar.
B+(**) [sp]
Tutu Puoane: Wrapped in Rhythm, Vol. 1 (2023
[2024], SoulFactory): South African singer-songwriter, based in
Brussels, debut album 2007, lyrics taken from South African poet
Lebo Mashile's anthology, In a Ribbon of Rhythm. Band is
mostly Belgian, plus Larry Goldings (organ).
B+(*) [sp]
Xavier Richardeau: A Caribbean Thing (2023,
Continuo Jazz): French baritone/soprano saxophonist, albums
back to 1996, seventh per Discogs, joined here by Jocelyn
Ménard (tenor sax) and a suitably evocative rhythm section.
B+(*) [sp]
Luke Stewart Silt Trio: Unknown Rivers (2022-23 [2024],
Pi): Bassist, works in a number of DC-based groups, most notably
Irreversible Entanglements. Second Silt Trio album, with Brian
Settles (tenor sax) and either Trae Crudup or Chad Taylor on drums
(second half here is a live set with Taylor).
A- [cd]
Rosie Tucker: Utopia Now! (2024, Sentimental):
Singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, fifth album since 2015,
alt-rock guitar with some hook craft.
B+(**) [sp]
Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance (2021 [2024],
self-released): Second album, 22-piece orchestra. Nominally a love
story, with the final song featuring lyrics by Zuar's wife Anne,
sung by Emma Frank.
B+(**) [cd] [05-11]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
Afrika Muye Muye! Tanzanian Rumba & Muziki Wa Dansi
1968-1970 (1968-70 [2023], Recordiana): South African
reprint label, ventures into Tanzania for a narrowly sourced
but quite pleasant "dance music" (to translate the Swahili)
collection: six groups, 17 songs (5 by Nuta Jazz).
B+(***) [bc]
Les Belgicains: Na Tango Ya Covadia 1964-70
(1964-70 [2024], Covadia): Covadia was a Belgian label founded
by Nikiforos Cavvadias, a Greek who had produced records in
Congo for the Ngoma label. In Belgium, he organized groups of
Congolese students, releasing singles, a selection of which
are featured in this revived label sampler.
B+(**) [bc]
Old music:
Carmen Bradford: Home With You (2004, Azica):
Jazz singer, daughter of trumpet player Bobby Bradford, her
grandfather, Melvin Moore, sang with big bands and the Ink Spots
in the 1940s. She has a half-dozen albums since 1992, following
side credits with Count Basie and Benny Carter, but I didn't
really notice her until the Jazz at the Ballroom album. This is
the only album of hers I could stream. She's accompanied here by
pianist Shelly Berg. Remarkable voice, a bit strained here, and
not really the ideal set of songs and support (though this does
have its moments) -- but I'd like to hear more.
B+(**) [sp]
Dicks: These People/Peace? (1984-85 [2012],
Alternative Tentacles): Austin-based punk band, recorded two
albums 1983-85, plus some singles and EPs -- this tacks a
three-track EP from 1984 onto their second album. I decided
to check this out after leader Gary Floyd's death -- superb
jazz critic Tim Niland named their first album, Kill From
the Heart (1983), as an all-time favorite, but I already
had it at B+(***). Choice cut is from the EP:
"No
Fuckin' War."
B+(***) [sp]
Dicks: 1980-1986 (1980-86 [2010], Alternative
Tentacles): Career-spanning compilation, starts with their first
single ("Dicks Hate the Police"), samples their two albums (5 and
6 tracks), their 1984 EP ("No Fuckin' War" and "I Hope You Get
Drafted"), plus some previously unreleased tracks. Total: 21
songs, 51:23, which can get a bit excessive.
B+(**) [sp]
Nicole Glover & Nic Cacioppo: Literature
(2020, self-released?): Tenor sax and drums duo, 14 pieces in 30:32,
not her first album (that was 2015, titled First Record),
also not in any discography I can find (but does appear on a couple
of streaming sites), so I'm guessing here. What I do know is that
she grew up in Portland; studied at William Patterson in NJ; "is
on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music, Princeton University,
and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music"; plays in Christian
McBride's quintet and in "supergroup" Artemis; has two later albums
on Savant; and gets confused by Google with "a writer of historical
fantasy and other speculative fiction" -- presumably a different
Nicole Glover. This is considerably more free than her résumé
suggests, but she clearly has the talent to go anywhere she wants.
B+(***) [sp]
Nicole Glover: Strange Lands (2020 [2021], Savant):
Tenor sax trio, with Daniel Duke (bass) and Nic Cacioppo (drums),
plus "special guest" George Cables (piano) on four tracks (on one
of those, the bass and drums drop out). Mostly a solid mainstream
outing, but gets exciting for a couple stretches where they break
free.
B+(***) [sp]
Grand Kallé & African Jazz: Joseph Kabaselle and the
Creation of Surboum African Jazz (1960-1963) (1960-63 [2021],
Planet Ilunga): Congolese bandleader Kabaselle, aka Grand Kallé,
led one of the first major soukous bands, its ranks including Dr.
Nico, Rochereau, and Manu Dibango -- the latter evidently featured
here. Surboum African Jazz was a label which released these singles
and compiled them into albums in the 1970s. I'm not sure how these
intersect with the later Sonodisc compilations, or the 2-CD Sterns
set from 2013, Le Grand Kallé: His Life, His Music, which
most likely is still the one to look for.
B+(***) [bc]
Li'l Andy & Karaoke Cowboy: Home in Landfill Acres
(2008, self-released): Montreal country singer-songwriter Andrew
McClellan, first album, set in a (probably fictitious) town "where
the straightened street meets the knotted pine." Not just trad,
with pedal steel and such, but almost old-timey.
B+(**) [sp]
Li'l Andy: All Who Thirst Come to the Waters (2010,
self-released): Second album, still country but ventures into gospel
in a dark vein.
B+(*) [sp]
Li'l Andy: While the Engines Burn (2014, self-released):
Third album, sounds less country but the concepts are rustic, one
song dated 1917, another "Fin De Sičcle," with several referencing
trains and the cover picturing a smoke-belching, steam-driven
tractor -- a massive engine with wheels. As a songwriter, he's
starting to remind me of Sufjan Stevens, but not yet in a good way.
B [sp]
Li'l Andy: All the Love Songs Lied to Us (2019,
self-released): The country touches help, although it's all
rather subtle, and seriously historical.
B+(**) [sp]
Mike Monford: Perseverance (2012, self-released):
Alto saxophonist from Detroit, first album although he must have
some history to get to that title, not much to go on but Herb Boyd's
liner notes, which identify Marc Cary (piano/organ), Tarus Mateen
(bass), Steve Williams (drums), and Rayse Biggs (trumpet). Solid
groove, with spiritual jazz flashes.
B+(**) [sp]
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- The Bobby Broom Organi-sation: Jamalot Live (Steele) [05-24]
- Live Edge Trio With Steve Nelson: Closing Time (OA2) [05-17]
- William Parker/Cooper-Moore/Hamid Drake: Heart Trio (AUM Fidelity) [06-21]
- William Parker & Ellen Christi: Cereal Music (AUM Fidelity) [06-21]
- Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra: Groove Junkies (Origin) [05-17]
- Angela Verbrugge: Somewhere (OA2) [05-17]
- Alan Walker: A Little Too Late (Aunt Mimi's) [06-28]
- Matt Wilson: Matt Wilson's Good Trouble (Palmetto) [06-14]
- Mark Winkler: The Rules Don't Apply (Cafe Pacific) [01-12]
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Speaking of Which
Opened draft file on Thursday. First thing I thought I'd note was
some weather stats here in Wichita, KS. High Wednesday was 89°F, which
was 17° above "normal" but still 2° below the record high (from 1959;
wild temperature swings from year to year are common here). Should be
cooler on Thursday, but above average for the rest of the forecast.
Year-to-date precipitation is 5.48 in (well below 7.50 normal; average
annual is 34.31, with May and June accounting for 10.10, so almost a
third of that; last year was 3.29 at this point, finishing at 30.8).
Year totals seem to vary widely: from 2010, the low was 25.0 (2012),
the high 50.6 (2016), where the median is closer to 30 than to 35.
Growing degree days currently stands at 435, which is way up from
"normal" of 190. That's a pretty good measure of how warm spring has
been here. As I recall, last year was way up too, but the summer didn't
get real hot until August. The global warming scenario predicts hotter
and dryer. I figure every year we dodge that, we just got lucky. The
more significant effect so far is that winters have gotten reliably
milder (although we still seem to have at least one real cold snap),
and that we're less likely to have tornados (which seem to have moved
east and maybe south -- Oklahoma still gets quite a few).
I started to write up some thoughts about global warming, but got
sidetracked on nuclear war: my initial stimulus was George Marshall's
2014 book, Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to
Ignore Climate Change, but when I groped for a title, all I came
up with was Herman Kahn's "Thinking About the Unthinkable," so I did.
I got eight pretty decent paragraphs in, without finding a way to
approach my point.
The next thing I thought I'd do was construct a list of the books
I had read on climate change, going over how each contributed to the
evolution of my thought. But that proved harder than expected, and
worse still, I found my thinking changing yet again. So I took a
break. I went out back and planted some pole beans. My parents were
displaced farmers, so they always kept a garden, and I remember their
Kentucky Wonders as much better than any grocery store green beans.
So I've had the model idea forever, but never acted on it before. No
real idea what I'm doing, but when it's 89° on May 1, I'm certainly
not planting too early.
I should have felt like I accomplished something, but I came back
in feeling tired, frustrated, and depressed. I decided to give up on
the global warming piece, and spent most of the rest of the day with
the jigsaw puzzle and TV. Hearing that Congress passed a law banning
criticism of Israel as antisemitic added to my gloom, as I contemplated
having to take my blog down, as I can't imagine anything as trivial as
publishing my thoughts being worth going to jail over.
But for the moment, I guess I can still publish the one new thought
I did have about global warming, or more specifically about how people
think about global warming. I've always meant to have a section on it
in the political book -- it would be one of 5-8 topics I would examine
as real problems. I'm constantly juggling the list, but it usually
starts with technological change, which is the principal driver of
change independent of politics, then on to macroeconomics, inequality,
market failures (health care, education, monopolies), externalities
(waste byproducts, not just climate change), something about justice
issues (fraud, crime, freedom), and war (of course).
The purpose of the book isn't to solve all the world's problems.
It's simply to help people think about one very limited problem, which
is how to vote in a system where Democrats alone are held responsible
for policy failures, and therefore need to deliver positive results.
(Republicans seem to be exempt because they believe that government
can only increase harm, whereas Democrats claim that government can
and should do things to help people. Earlier parts of the book should
explain this and other asymmetries between the parties.)
Anyhow, my new insight, which Marshall's book provides considerable
support for without fully arriving at, is that climate change is not
just a "wicked issue" (Marshall's term) but one that is impossible to
campaign on. That's largely because the "hair suit" solutions are so
broadly unappealing, but also because they are so inadequate it's hard
to see how they can make any real difference. Rather, what Democrats
have to run on is realism, care, respect, and trust.
Which, as should be obvious by now, is the exact opposite of what
Republicans think and say and do. Showing that Republicans are acting
in bad faith should be easy. What's difficult is offering alternatives
that are effective but that don't generate resistance that makes their
advocacy counterproductive -- especially given that the people who know
and care most about this issue are the ones most into moralizing and
doomsaying, while other Democrats are so locked into being pro-business
that they'll fall for any promising business plan.
Obviously, there is a lot more to say on this subject -- probably
much more than I can squeeze into a single chapter, let alone hint at
here.
PS: Well after I wrote the above, but before posting Sunday
evening, I find this:
40 million at risk of severe storms, "intense" tornadoes possible
Monday. The red bullseye is just southwest of here, which is
the direction tornadoes almost invariably come from. I'm not much
worried about a tornado right here, but it's pretty certain there
will be some somewhere, and that we'll get hit by a storm front
with some serious wind and hail.
I'm also seeing this in the latest news feed:
Wide gaps put Israel-Hamas hostage deal talks at risk of collapse,
which is no big surprise since Netanyahu is making a deal as difficult
as possible. Little doubt that he still rues that Israel didn't kill
all the hostages before Hamas could sweep them away, as they've never
been the slightest concern for him, despite the agitation of the
families and media.
I saw a meme that a Facebook friend
posted: "If you object to occupying buildings as a form of protest,
it's because you disagree with the substance of the protest." He added
the comment: "No, you don't have some rock-solid principle that setting
up tents on grass is unacceptably disruptive to academic life. You just
want people to continue giving money to Israel." I added this comment:
Not necessarily, but it does suggest that you do not appreciate the
urgency and enormity of the problem, or that university
administrators, who have a small but real power to add their voices to
the calls for ceasefire, have resisted or at least ignored all
less-disruptive efforts to impress on them the importance of opposing
genocide and apartheid. This has, in its current red-hot phase, been
going on for six months, during which many of us have been protesting
as gently and respectfully as possible, as the situation has only
grown ever more dire.
I was surprised to see the following response from the "friend":
Wait, what? It sounds like we're on the same side of this one. My post
just points out that people critiquing the protest methods don't actually
care about that and just oppose the actual goals of the protests.
To which I, well, had to add:
Sounds like we do, which shouldn't have come as a surprise had you
read any of the thousands of words I've written on this in every
weekly Speaking of Which I've posted since Oct. 7, on top of much more
volume going back to my first blogging in 2001. I've never thought of
myself as an activist, but I took part in antiwar protests in the
1960s and later, and have long been sympathetic to the dissents and
protests of people struggling against injustice, even ones that run
astray of the law -- going back to the Boston Tea Party, and sometimes
even sympathizing with activists whose tactics I can't quite approve
of, like John Brown (a distant relative, I've heard). While it would
be nice to think of law as a system to ensure justice, it has often
been a tool for oppression. Israel, for instance, adopted the whole of
British colonial law so they could continue to use it to control
Palestinians, while cloaking themselves in its supposed legitimacy
(something that few other former British colonies, including the US,
recognized). Now their lobbyists and cronies, as well as our homegrown
authoritarians, are demanding that Americans suppress dissent as
Israel has done since the intifada (or really since the first
collective punishment raids into Gaza and the West Bank in
1951). Hopefully, Americans will retain a sufficient sense of decency
to resist those demands. A first step would be to accept that the
protesters are right, then forgive them for being right first. I'm
always amused by the designation of leftist Americans in the 1930s as
"premature antifascists." We should celebrate them, as we now
celebrate revolutionary patriots, abolitionists, and suffragists, for
showing us the way.
In another Facebook
post, I see the quote: "Professional, external actors are involved
in these protests and demonstrations. These individuals are not
university students, and they are working to escalate the situation."
This is NYPD commissioner Edward Caban, and is accurate as long as
we understand he is describing the police. The posts pairs this
quote with one from Gov. Jim Rhodes in 1970: "These people move
from one campus to the other, and terrorize a community. They're
the worst type of people that we harbor in America. These people
causing the trouble are not all students of Kent State University."
As I recall, the ones with guns, shooting people, were Ohio National
Guard, sent into action by Gov. Rhodes.
More on Twitter:
Tony Karon: Israel's ban of Al Jazeera is 2nd time I've been part
of a media organization banned by an apartheid regime. (1st was SA '88)
I'm so proud of that! It's a sign of panic by those regimes at the
their crimes being exposed, a whiff of the rot at the heart of their
systems . . .
Jodi Jacobson: [Replying to a tweet that quotes Netanyahu: "if we
don't protect ourselves, no one will . . . we cannot trust the promises
of gentiles."] For the 1,000th time: Netanyahu Does. Not. Care. About.
The. Hostages.
He never did. They said so at the outset.
He wants to continue this genocide and continue the war because without
it, he will be out on his ass, and (hopefully) tried for war crimes.
Joshua Landis: Blinken and Romney explain that Congress's
banning of TikTok was spurred by the desire to protect #Israel
from the horrifying Gaza photos reaching America's youth that
has been "changing the narrative."
[Reply to a tweet with video and quote: "Why has the PR been so
awful? . . . typically the Israelis are good at PR -- what's
happened here, how have they and we been so ineffective at
communicating the realities and our POV? . . . some wonder why
there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially
TikTok."]
Nathan J Robinson: [Also reacting to the same Romney quote}:
In this conversation, Romney also expresses puzzlement that people
are directing calls for a cease-fire toward Israel rather than
Hamas. He says people don't realize Hamas is rejecting deals. In
fact, it's because people know full well that Israel refuses to
agree to end the war.
There's an incredibly unpersuasive effort to portray Hamas as
"rejecting a ceasefire." When you read the actual articles, inevitably
they say Hamas is rejecting deals that wouldn't end the war, and
Israel refuses to budge on its determination to continue the war
and destroy Hamas
What Romney is really wondering, then, is how come Americans
aren't stupid enough to swallow government propaganda. He thinks
the public is supposed to believe whatever they're told to believe
and is mystified that they are aware of reality.
Jarad Yates Sexton: [Reposted by Robinson, citing same
Romney/Blinken confab]: This is an absolutely incredible,
must-watch, all-timer of a clip.
The Secretary of State admits social media has made it almost
impossible to hide atrocities and a sitting senator agrees by
saying outloud that was a factor in leveraging the power of the
state against TikTok.
Yanis Varoufakis:
Israel's banning of Al Jazeera is one aspect of its War On Truth.
It aims at preventing Israelis from knowing that what goes on in
Gaza, in their name, which is no self defence but an all out massacre.
An industrial strength pogrom. Genocide. The West's determination
to aid & abet Israel is a clear and present danger to freedoms
and rights in our own communities. We need to rise up to defend
them. In Israel, in our countries, everywhere!
[PS: Varoufakis also pinned
this tweet promoting his recent book, Technofeudalism, with
a 17:20 video.]
Initial count: 192 links, 11,072 words.
Updated count [05-06]: 208 links, 12,085 words.
Top story threads:
Israel: Before last October 7, a date hardly in need of
identification here, I often had a section of links on Israel,
usually after Ukraine/Russia and before the World
catchall. Perhaps not every week, but most had several stories
on Israel that seemed noteworthy, and the case is rather unique:
intimately related to American foreign policy, but independent,
and in many ways the dog wagging the American tail.
Oct. 7 pushed the section to the top of the list, where it has
not only remained but metastasized. When South Africa filed its
genocide charges, that produced a flurry of articles that needed
their own section. It was clear by then that Israel is waging a
worldwide propaganda war, mostly aimed at keeping the US in line,
and that there was a major disconnect between what was happening
in Gaza/Israel and what was being said in the UN, US, and Europe,
so I started putting the latter stories into a section I called
Israel vs. World Opinion (at first, it was probably just
Genocide -- Robert Wright notes in a piece linked below
that he is still reluctant to use the word, but I adopted it
almost immediately, possibly because I had seriously considered
the question twenty-or-so years ago, and while I had rejected it
then, I had some idea of what changes might meet the definition).
I then added a section on America and the Middle East,
which dealt with Israel's other "fronts" -- Iran and what were
alleged to be Iranian proxies -- in what seemed to be an attempt
to lure the US into broader military action in the Middle East,
the ultimate goal of which might be a Persian Gulf war between
the US and Iran, which would be great cover for Israel's primary
objective, which is to kill or expel Palestinians in Gaza and the
West Bank. (Israel's enmity with Iran has always had much more to
do with manipulating American foreign policy than with their own
direct concerns -- Trita Parsi's book, Treacherous Alliance:
The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States
explained this quite adequately in 2007. The only development since
then is that the Saudis have joined the game of using America's
Iran-phobia for leverage on America.) As threats there waxed and
waned, I wound up renaming the section America's increasingly
desperate and pathetic empire, adding more stories on military
misdeeds from elsewhere that would previously have fallen under
Ukraine or World.
Now campus demonstrations have their own section, a spin-off
but more properly a subset of genocide/world opinion. Needless
to say, it's hard for me to keep these bins straight, especially
when we have writers dropping one piece here, another there. So
expect pieces to be scattered, especially where I've tried to
keep together multiple pieces by the same author.
Also note that TomDispatch just dusted off a piece from 2010:
Noam Chomsky:
Eyeless in Gaza.
Mondoweiss:
Netta Ahituv: [05-04]
'Suddenly I realize that I'm burning': Israelis who fought in Gaza
share what they saw. In Haaretz, so paywalled. Sample quote:
Like the Middle Ages. "In the humanitarian corridor from the northern
Gaza Strip to the south, what's known as the 'drain,' there was a line
of thousands, like for an outdoor concert. They came on donkeys and
carts. I remember one cart being pulled by a boy, with two adults
lying in it. It felt like the Middle Ages. Destruction all around.
The road itself was no longer asphalt, but sand and glass. Some of
the kids were barefoot. They were all holding a white flag in one
hand and pressing an ID card against their forehead with the other.
I'm considered a humanist leftist, but until that moment I also wanted
revenge. Now I'm looking at barefoot little girls running on glass that
we had broken. I understand that the only difference between them and
girls in Ramat Gan is that these were born here and those were born
there.
Juan Cole:
Haidar Eid: [05-01]
The genocide in Gaza will also be the end of Israel:
"The more resistance that the colonized shows, the more brutal the
colonizer becomes. Genocidal Israel is now walking in the footsteps
of all other settler colonies on their deathbed." I doubt that, but
Israel's reputation has already been seriously marred, and is unlikely
to recover even if they make amends, which no one can force them to
do.
Kareem Fahim/Sufian Taha: [05-04]
Residents accuse Israeli forces of executions during West Bank
raid: "Palestinian residents of the Nur Shams refugee camp said
at least three people were summarily executed or used as human
shields, claims Israel's military denies." The photos of Tulkarm
here could just as well come from Gaza.
Rebecca Gordon: [04-30]
Birding in Gaza: "Celebrating links across species, amid a
nightmare of war."
Tareq S Hajjaj: [05-03]
Palestinians in Gaza's displacement camps face rampant disease due
to destroyed infrastructure: "Those who survived Israel's deadly
bombardment now have to contend with the rising environmental disaster
in Gaza's displacement camps, including insect infestations, dangerous
amounts of garbage and human waste, and the spread of infectious
disease." Quotes Dr. Rana Dawoud: "This is one of the occupation's
war objectives. To make living impossible, and to make various
causes of death of people in Gaza many and numerous."
Madeleine Hall: [04-29]
Israel is waging a war on all Palestinians, not just Gazans.
Joshua Keating: [05-03]
The longshot plan to end the war in Gaza and bring peace to the
Middle East: "The US and Saudi Arabia say they're close to a
historic mega-deal. There's just one problem." Israel (duh!), but
somehow the author never gets around to that. Presumably Israel's
concession would be to agree to the proverbial "two-state solution"
that Washington has long embraced but never enough to bother Israel.
That's been official Saudi policy since 2002, so the issue is how
badly you can muck up the implementation and still satisfy Saudi
Arabia, which we're assured don't really care about Palestinians
anyway. Still, that leaves a lot of space between them and Israel,
where the preferred solution is to kill as many as it takes to
drive the rest of them into exile. That's already gone down bad
enough to squirrel the deal on the couldn't get done before Oct.
7, when Israel moved from apartheid-state to genocide-state. Why
Biden considers any version of this as desirable is impossible to
figure -- does he really want to provide NATO-like security pledge
to an only-marginally stable dictatorship with a history of starting
foreign wars? and for that matter, does he really want to underwrite
its nuclear program? -- but I guess the lure of arms sales is all
it takes these days. Still, isn't it obvious that both Saudi Arabia
and Israel are just gaming him? The smart move would be to make a
peace deal with Iran, and cut them both down a peg or two -- after
which they might both be more willing to back away from their very
embarrassing imperial fantasies.
Meg Kelly/Hajar Harb/et al.: [04-16]
Palestinian paramedics said Israel gave them safe passage to save
a 6-year-old girl in Gaza. They were all killed.
Maya Krainc: [04-29]
New Israeli military outposts risk even bigger crisis in Gaza:
"As an invasion of Rafah looms, the IDF is tightening control over
Palestinians and may be establishing a long term presence."
Arwa Mahdawi: [05-04]
The adultification of children has consequences from Palestine to
the US: "Hind Rajab was six years old when she was killed in
Gaza. So why did a CNN host refer to her as 'a woman'?" And other
notes from "The Week in Patriarchy."
Mohammed R Mhawish:
We've shown Gaza's suffering for over 200 days. Don't look away
now.
Qassam Muaddi: [04-29]
Recent settler violence in the West Bank: "Recent settler attacks
against the villages bordering the Jordan Valley between Nablus and
Ramallah aren't random. They are part of a historic Israeli policy to
annex the Jordan Valley and expel the Palestinian communities that
live there."
Qassam Muaddi/Tareq S Hajjaj: [05-02]
Gaza's collapsing health system is one of the goals of Israel's
genocide: "Israel is deliberately destroying the entire health
sector in Gaza as only 4 hospitals remain operational. 'If these
hospitals stop working, they will turn into mass graves, like Nasser
and al-Shifa,' Muhammad Zaqout, General Director of Hospitals in
Gaza, told Mondoweiss."
Shahrazad Odeh: [04-30]
The orchestrated persecution of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian: "A
Vicious campaign by Israeli academia, police, and media to silence
the professor shows Palestinians they have no safe place in Zionist
institutions."
Mitchell Plitnick: [05-05]
Inside the Biden administration sham to convince the world Netanyahu
wants a ceasefire: "Antony Blinken claims that Hamas is blocking
a ceasefire in Gaza, but it is Israel which has vowed to invade Rafah
regardless of an agreement and is absolutely unwilling to declare an
end to its genocidal operation." Biden cannot stand to recognize
Israel for what it is, because he cannot face what that admission
would say about America. (Feel free to substitute Netanyahu there,
but the drive to genocide is much deeper than one stubborn PM.)
Liam Stack/Aaron Boxerman/Amanda Taub/Ken Belson: [05-04]
Parts of Gaza in 'full-blown famine,' UN aid official says.
Nilo Tabrizy/Imogen Piper/Miriam Berger: [05-03]
Israel's offensive is destroying Gaza's ability to grow its own
food. This is one part of a systematic effort to render Gaza
uninhabitable, forcing those who are not killed directly to have
to go into exile.
Yossi Verter: [05-05]
Netanyahu hoped Hamas would reject the cease-fire offer. When it
didn't, he turned to sabotage: "Israel's criminal defendant
prime minister, more focused on saving his incompetent far-right
government than saving the hostages who have spent seven months
trapped in Gaza, is doing everything he can to torpedo Israel's
last and best chance at bringing the hostages home."
Evan Hill/Imogen Piper/Meg Kelly/Jarret Ley: [2023-12-23]
Israel has waged one of this century's most destructive wars in
Gaza: "The damage in Gaza has outpaced other recent conflicts,
evidence shows. Israel has dropped some of the largest bombs
commonly used today near hospitals." I'm reminded of this piece
from December, which could use an update as the situation on the
ground has only gotten worse for Gazans.
- The Wire:
A newsletter put out by Jewish Voice for Peace,
a group that has been doing heroic work since long before October 7:
Anti-genocide demonstrations: in the US (and elsewhere),
and how Israel's cronies and flaks are reacting:
Spencer Ackerman: [05-01]
Warrantless spying on pro-Palestine protesters is easier than ever.
Michael Arria:
Habib Badawi: [05-05]
Student resistance to the Gaza genocide is spurring a crisis for
Democrats and the progressive coalition: "The student protests
erupting across American universities represent something far beyond
a cyclical wave of campus activism. They reflect a profound political
crisis that has laid bare the fractures within the Democratic Party."
I think that's true, but also mostly irrelevant. Biden can safely
ignore the protests. What he cannot do is to allow Israel to continue
its current war path. Finding a way to do that without forcing some
kind of rupture is very difficult, especially given how subservient
Washington politics has become to Israel. But if he can end the war,
the students will stop protesting, the divisions will scab over, and
Trump will reunite the Democrats. And if he doesn't, well,
isn't
the worse thing that can happen the thing that's already happening?
Neil Bedi/Bora Erden/et al.: [05-03]
How counterprotesters at UCLA provoked violence, unchecked for
hours: "The New York Times used videos filmed by journalists,
witnesses and protesters to analyze hours of clashes -- and a
delayed police response -- at a pro-Palestinian encampment on
Tuesday."
Helen Benedict: [05-02]
The distortion of campus protests over Gaza: "How the right has
weaponized antisemitism to distract from Israel's war."
Tim Dickinson: [04-30]
College crackdown shines spotlight on violent cops -- yet again.
Thea Renda Abu El-Haj: [05-02]
Pro-Palestinian student protesters are enacting the highest ideals of
education.
Yves Engler: [05-01]
Pro-Israel groups vs. student democracy at McGill: "Liberal MP
Anthony Housefather is clamoring for the violent suppression of McGill
students protesting Israel's genocide in Gaza. It is an odious escalation
in the Israel lobby's bid to suppress democracy at the prestigious
university."
Abdallah Fayyad: [05-03]
The lessons from colleges that didn't call the police: "Deescalating
conflict around protests was possible, but many colleges turned to law
enforcement instead."
Michael Hudson: [04-30]
"Have you no sense of decency?" McCarthyism returns to campus.
Ellen Ioanes/Nicole Narea: [04-30]
What the backlash to student protests over Gaza is really about:
"The Columbia protests and the debate over pro-Palestinian college
students, explained." Originally published April 24, since updated.
Razia Iqbal: [05-04]
I teach democracy at Princeton. Student protesters are getting an
education like no other: "Students across the US are forging
bonds in the face of brutal power structures."
Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian
Church (USA): [05-05]
Open letter to university heads: Listen to your courageous students
and divest from Israel.
Jake Johnson: [05-01]
Pro-Israel mob attacks students in violent assault on encampment at
UCLA: "Campus security stood aside as the mob unleashed bricks,
fireworks and pepper spray."
Rashid Khalidi:
Patrick Mazza: [05-02]
Vilification and violence hurled against Gaza protests shows they
hit a nerve.
Lex McMenamin: [05-05]
Campus protests: Police clashes at Columbia University and UCLA
prove they don't belong there.
Naim Mousa: [04-30]
Inside NYU's generation-defining protests for Palestine.
Cas Mudde: [04-30]
Why are US campuses facing an orgy of state repression in the 'land
of the free'?
Aryeh Neier: [05-03]
The real "outside agitators" of these protests are members of
Congress: "There's blame to go around here, but this started
because a showboating GOP congresswoman lit the match that started
this fire."
James North: [05-05]
The mainstream media distorted our anti-Vietnam War protests 50
years ago. They're following the same strategy today.
Stop LAPD Spying Coalition's Youth Working Group: [04-30]
Meet the 'homegrown violent extremism' researcher behind the crackdown
on pro-Palestinian students at USC:
"Erroll Southers is a top USC administrator facing demands to resign
after canceling a valedictorian commencement speech and cracking down
on protestors. He has also produced research labeling identifying with
Palestinians as a sign of radicalization."
Anat Saragusti: [04-29]
Israeli media's inevitable hysteria over US campus protests:
"The media's unbending self-censorship in covering Gaza has made
Israelis incapable of seeing foreign criticism as anything other
than antisemitism."
Richard Silverstein: [04-29]
"Campus panic" over Gaza protests obscures Israeli genocide:
"Inflamed GOP-Israel lobby rhetoric induces 'moral panic,' which
distracts from Israeli crimes."
Arjun Singh: [05-03]
Big brother is watching the protesters, sponsored by corporate
America: "The intelligence community is using consumer tracking
tools to spy on student protesters and everyone else they deem a
threat."
Astra Taylor/Leah Hunt-Hendrix: [05-04]
We need "outside agitators": "The presence of community members and
experienced activists in the protests is nothing to be ashamed of:
we need outside agitators to build a better world." Also: "The phrase
'outside agitator' came into common usage as a way to smear the civil
rights movement. but outsiders were crucial to the fight." Actually,
it goes back to the labor movement: union organizers were invariably
decried as "outside agitators." After all, who could imagine workers
wanting to organize on their own? Everybody struggling needs help,
and people who have worked through similar issues often have the
experience and discipline to help most. We're much better off when
a demonstration can be advised by people who understand what works
and what doesn't. What "outside agitators" cannot provide is the
inspiration and commitment that fueled the organization in the
first place.
Let's also note that universities -- even snooty, elitist ones
like Columbia -- are not isolated enclaves. They are in and involved
with the community around them, a community that they provide social,
cultural, and intellectual services to, and that community naturally
looks to them. That makes them a natural locus not just for student
and faculty but for community organizing. Also see:
Philip Weiss:
Michael D Yates: [05-03]
Letters of protest: Colleges suppress dissent while closing their yes
to genocide.
Israel vs. world opinion:
Rowaida Abdelaziz:
Ahmed Alqarout: [05-04]
The land and sea blockade against Israel is working as Israel takes
a strategic hit: "Netanyahu's plans to turn Israel into a regional
transportation hub connecting Asia with Europe has just suffered a
major setback."
Michael Arria: [05-02]
The Shift: House passes bill that tags Israel criticism as
antisemitic: "Amid violent police sweeps of student encampments,
arrests, and suspensions of pro-Palestine activists comes the
Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill ostensibly about antisemitism
but of course, it's actually about stifling criticism of Israel."
It passed 320-91, with 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans opposed.
The definition adopted comes from IHRA (International Holocaust
Remembrance Association), and would be applied to "the enforcement
of federal anti-discrimination laws in education programs." The
article quotes the definition's author, Kenneth Stern, as
explaining: "The definition was intended for data collectors writing
reports about anti-Semitism in Europe. It was never supposed to
curtail speech on campus."
Zack Beauchamp: [05-02]
Why America's Israel-Palestine debate is broken -- and how to fix
it: "It's time to take back the Israel-Palestine debate from the
radicals on both sides." What debate? Israel is spreading a lot of
PR bullshit, but they're not debating anyone. They're acting. They're
bombing. They're destroying housing, infrastructure, agriculture,
everything that people need to survive in the modern world. They're
preventing anyone else from offering help -- even food to allay the
mass starvation they've caused. They never went to the UN, Congress,
or public media and said, "This is what we think we should do. What
do you think?" No. They just did it. Sure, they also sent out some
PR flaks to dissemble and confuse the issue, exaggerating what they
cold, making inflammatory shit up, and spreading aspersions about
anyone with the temerity to object ("they're just antisemities, so
what are you going to do to protect us from them?").
Beauchamp goes looking for "the reciprocal extremism on college
campuses," and he claims to have found a few "far-left maximalists
[who] have been able to praise or sanitize Hamas's actions on
October 7 without meaningful pushback on their own side." (Links
are in the article, although beware that the one to
Judith Butler says no such thing, and that one could come
up with hundreds of left or pro-Palestinian links condemning Hamas
and the October 7 attacks but which, sure, fall short of endorsing
genocide as justice).
[PS: Also see Parul Sehgal:
Who's afraid of Judith Butler?]
Beauchamp is right that "the conversation is broken," but that's
simply because the Israel billionaire lobby has been so successful
at shutting down any serious debate over Israel's discriminatory
policies, their police state, their militarism, and now their
genocide. If there was a healthy debate, demonstrations, much less
tactics like the encampments, wouldn't be necessary. That students
have moved to act like this shows two things: that the problem is so
very real that reasonable people feel the need to take extraordinary
measures, and that no other path has proven practical. Still, that
the demonstrations so far have stayed well within the lines of our
long and generally noble tradition of peaceful dissent rests on
the hope that in the end Americans will side with justice. We
should take comfort in that hope, and be careful not to dash it,
for beyond that only lies despair and chaos.
Janelle Carlson: [05-02]
This is why the students are protesting: Eyes on Israel's killing
fields in Gaza.
Julia Conley: [05-06]
Romney and Blinken admit Tiktok ban sought to censor Gaza news:
"Biden's secretary of state said that content shared on the platform
had 'a very challenging effect on the narrative.'" This is the story
behind several of the tweets I added late, so I thought it should
have an anchor here. Of course, the same could be said of any other
social media company, but TikTok is uniquely susceptible to team
Red Scare.
Kareem Fahim/Adela Suliman: [05-05]
Israel shuts down Al Jazeera's operations, raids Jerusalem office:
"Israel's Foreign Press Association called it a 'dark day for democracy'."
This has been in the works since
April 2. More reaction:
Hebh Jamal: [05-04]
Reflections on the German state's silencing of the Berlin Palestine
Congress.
Ben Metzner: [05-03]
Can you be anti-Zionist but pro-Israel?: Interview with Shaul
Magid, who "thinks it's possible to resist Zionism without rejecting
the state. He calls this 'counter-Zionism.'" Magid is a Harvard
professor of Jewish Studies, and author of a book The Necessity
of Exile: Essays From a Distance.
Andy Lee Roth: [05-03]
Pro-Israel legislators have concocted a dangerous ruse to shut down
nonprofits: "Bipartisan legislation threatens the tax-exempt
status of nonprofits that incur the disapproval of government
officials."
Kenneth Roth: [04-29]
What will happen if the ICC charges Netanyahu with war crimes?
Arundhati Roy: [03-07]
Arundhati Roy on Gaza: Never Again:
Brought to my attention by
Laura Tillem, who picked out these quotes:
Racism is of course the keystone of any act of genocide. The rhetoric
of the highest officials of the Israeli state has, ever since Israel
came into existence, dehumanised Palestinians and likened them to
vermin and insects, just like the Nazis once dehumanised Jews. It is
as though that evil serum never went away and is now only being
recirculated. The "Never" has been excised from that powerful slogan
"Never Again." And we are left only with "Again". . . .
President Joe Biden, head of state of the richest, most powerful
country in the world, is helpless before Israel, even though Israel
would not exist without US funding. It's as though the dependent has
taken over the benefactor. The optics say so. Like a geriatric child,
Joe Biden appears on camera licking an ice-cream cone and vaguely
mumbling about a ceasefire, while Israeli government and military
officials openly defy him and vow to finish what they have started.
Jeremy Scahill/Ryan Grim:
New York Times brass moves to stanch leaks over Gaza coverage.
Kathleen Wallace: [05-03]
It's more than just protests for Palestine, it is existential hope
for the world.
America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:
Election notes:
Trump, and other Republicans:
Rachel M Cohen: [04-30]
The astonishing radicalism of Florida's new ban on abortion:
"A six-week ban takes effect this week, though voters could overturn
it in November."
Also:
Jeremy Childs: [05-02]
Arizona has officially killed its 1864 abortion ban: That leaves
the Republican's 2022 abortion law in place, which limits abortions
after 15 weeks. Despite early reports of Republicans being upset with
the State Supreme Court ruling that reinstated the 1864 law, only two
in each house broke ranks to pass the repeal, which was signed by a
Democratic governor.
Kevin T Dugan: [05-03]
Who could have ever seen that Trump Media's auditor is a 'massive
fraud'?
David A Graham:
Ed Kilgore: [05-02]
Are Libertarians MAGA-adjacent now? Occasion of this is the
announcement [05-01]
Trump to address Libertarian Party convention. The Libertarian
Party candidate drew 3% of the vote in 2016, dropping to 1% in 2020,
so it's fair to wonder whether the Party has lost its mission --
not that they ever had one, as they always seemed willing to drop
their presumed focus on personal liberty whenever opportunity
knocked to help make the rich richer.
Joel Mathis: [05-03]
If Trump wins and carries out mass deportations, Kansas' economy will
take a big hit.
Dana Milbank: [05-03]
To the Gaza protesters helping to elect Trump: Give it a rest:
"You must have been doing for the past eight years what Trump has
been doing in court the past three weeks: napping." Really? Nobody
who care enough to protest against genocide committed by America's
"closest ally" with American arms and diplomatic support is lifting
a finger to help elect Trump. Most realize that Trump's toadying
support for Netanyahu contributed to the problem, and that a return
to power by Trump would make the situation even worse. But Biden
has had six full months to rein Netanyahu in, or failing that to
make it clear to everyone that America rejects genocide as a final
solution to Israel's long-term inability to forge any sort of
acceptable or workable relationship with its Palestinian subjects.
I originally thought of filing this nonsense under Biden, but
Milbank is so obsessed with Trump he scarcely even mentions
Biden (I suppose one reference to "Genocide Joe" counts), where
nearly every paragraph has damning details on Trump. I won't
mind if he continues his line of inquiry all year long. But
nothing Trump did or might do excuses what Biden is actually
doing (and often not doing) right now.
Heather Digby Parton: [05-01]
Trump's disturbing Time interview shows he has no idea abortion is
a ticking time bomb for the GOP: "Donald Trump thinks he's
brilliantly found a way to evade responsibility for the backlash
to overturning Roe."
Nia Prater: [05-03]
What happened in the Trump trial today: Hope Hicks cries: "A
running recap of the news." Pretty much everything that happened
over the whole trial-to-date is covered here. Anything else worth
mentioning?
Greg Sargent:
Matt Stieb: [05-05]
The time the Trump campaign blamed Microsoft for his antisemitic
tweet: "The Star of David in front of a pile of money didn't
mean what you thought it meant!"
Li Zhou: [04-30]
The Kristi Noem puppy-killing scandal, explained: "Noem wanted to
look decisive. That's not what happened."
For more (in particular, The Guardian can't let this story go).
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Stan Cox: [04-28]
Eco-collapse hasn't happened yet, but you can see it coming:
"Degrowth is the only sane survival plan." Author of a couple books:
The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While
We Still Can (2020, pictured, foreword by Noam Chomsky), and
The Path to a Livable Future: A New Politics to Fight Climate
Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic (2021). I'm sympathetic
to degrowth arguments, but liberals/progressives have long taken as
axiomatic that the only path to equality is through focusing on
growth, so the mental shift required is massive. Still, as Cox
points out, there is a lot of thinking on degrowth. I'll also add
isn't necessarily a conscious decision: every disaster is a dose
of degrowth, and there are going to be plenty of those. What we
need is a cultural shift that looks to rebuild smarter (smaller,
less wasteful, more robust). Growth has been the political tonic
for quite a while now, it's always produced discontents, which
we can and should learn from.
Jan Dutkiewicz: [05-02]
How rioting farmers unraveled Europe's ambitious climate plan:
"Road-clogging, manure-dumping farmers reveal the paradox at the
heart of EU agriculture."
Umair Irfan: [05-01]
How La Nińa will shape heat and hurricanes this year: "The current
El Nińo is
among the strongest humans have ever experienced," leading to its
counterpart, which while generally less hot can generate even
more Atlantic hurricanes. To recap,
2023 experienced record-high ocean temperatures, and an above-average
number of hurricanes, but fewer impacts, as most of the storms steered
well out into the Atlantic. The one storm that did rise up in the Gulf
of Mexico was
Idalia, which actually started in the Pacific, crossed Central
America, reorganized, then developed rapidly into a Category 4
storm before landing north of Tampa. The oceans are
even hotter this year.
Mike Soraghan: [05-05]
'Everything's on fire': Inside the nation's failure to safeguard
toxic pipelines.
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Around the world:
Other stories:
Michelle Alexander: [03-08]
Only revolutionary love can save us now: "Martin Luther King Jr.'s
1967 speech condemning the Vietnam War offers a powerful moral compass
as we face the challenges of out time."
Maria Farrell/Robin Berjon: [04-16]
We need to rewild the internet: "The internet has become an
extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using
lessons learned by ecologists."
Further discussion:
Steven Hahn: [05-04]
The deep, tangled roots of American illiberalism: An introduction
or synopsis of the author's new book, Illiberal America: A History.
(I noted the book in my latest
Book Roundup,
and thought it important enough to order a copy, but haven't gotten
to it yet.)
Alfred Soto wrote about the book
here and
here (Soto also mentions Manisha Sinha: The Rise and Fall of the
Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, and Tom
Schaller/Paul Waldman: Whire Rural Rage: The Threat to American
Democracy). Also see:
John Herrman: [05-05]
Google is staring down its first serious threats in years:
"The search giant now faces three simultaneous challenges: government
regulators, real competition, and itself."
Sean Illing: [04-28]
Everything's a cult now: Interview with Derek Thompson "on what
the end of monoculture could mean for American democracy." This
strikes me as a pretty lousy definition:
I think of a cult as a nascent movement outside the mainstream that
often criticizes the mainstream and organizes itself around the idea
that the mainstream is bad or broken in some way. So I suppose when
I think about a cult, I'm not just thinking about a small movement
with a lot of people who believe something fiercely. I'm also
interested in the modern idea of cults being oriented against the
mainstream. They form as a criticism of what the people in that
cult understand to be the mainstream.
Given that "cult" starts as a term with implied approbation,
this view amounts to nostalgia for conformism and deprecation of
dissent, which was the dominant ("mainstream") view back during
the 1950s, when most Americans were subject to a mass culture
("monoculture," like a single-crop farm field, as opposed to
he diversity of nature). Thompson goes on to castigate cults as
"extreme" and "radical" before he hits on a point that finally
gets somewhere: they "tend to have really high social costs to
belonging to them."
I'd try to define cults as more like: a distinct social group
that follows a closed, self-referential system of thought, which
may or may not be instantiated in a charismatic leader. One might
differentiate between cults based on ideas or leaders, but they
work much the same way -- cults based on leaders are easier, as
they require less thinking, but even cults based on ideas are
usually represented by proxy-leaders, like priests.
By my definition, most religions start out as cults, although
over time they may turn into more tolerant communities. Marxism,
on the other hand, is not a cult, because it offers a system of
thought that is open, critical, and anti-authoritarian, although
some ideas associated with it may be developed as cults (like
"dictatorship of the proletariat"), and all leaders should be
suspect (Lenin, Stalin, and Mao providing obvious examples). Nor
is liberalism fertile ground for cults, nor should conservatism
be, except for the latter's Führersprinzip complex.
Since the 1950s mass monoculture has fragmented into thousands
of niche interests that may be as obscure as cults but are rarely
as rigid and self-isolating, and even then are rarely threats to
democracy. The latter should be recognized as such, and opposed
on principles that directly address the threats. But as for the
conformism nostalgia, I'd say "good riddance." One may still wish
for the slightly more egalitarian and community-minded feelings
of that era, but not at the price of such thought control.
Whizy Kim: [05-03]
Boeing's problems were as bad as you thought: I've posted this
before, but it's been updated to reflect the death of a second
whistleblower.
Annika Merrilees/Jacob Barker: [05-05]
Why Boeing had to buy back a Missouri supplier it sold off in
2001: So, Spirit wasn't the only deal where Boeing outsmarted
themselves? "Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's administration is
pushing an $18 billion deal with Israel for up to 50 F-15EX fighter
jets, one of the largest arms deals with the country in years."
(And guess who's paying Israel to pay Boeing to clean up one of
their messes?)
Rick Perlstein: [05-01]
A republic, if we can keep it.
Nathan J Robinson: Catching up with his articles and
interviews, plus some extra from his Current Events:
[04-09]
Gated knowledge is making research harder than it needs to be:
"Tracking down facts requires navigating a labyrinth of paywalls
and broken links." Tell me about it. Specific examples come from
Robinson writing an afterword to a forthcoming Noam Chomsky book,
The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers
the World. He also cites an earlier article of his own: [2020-08-02]
The truth is paywalled but the lies are free: "The political
economy of bullshit." Actually, lots of lies are paywalled too.
Few clichés are more readily disprove than "you get what you pay
for."
[04-11]
Can philosophy be justified in a time of crisis? "It is morally
acceptable to be apolitical? Is there something wrong with the
pursuit of 'knowledge for knowledge's sake'?" Talks about Bertrand
Russell and Noam Chomsky, as distinguished academics who in their
later years -- which given their longevity turned out to be most
of their lives -- increasingly devoted themselves to antiwar work,
and to Aaron Bushnell, who took the same question so seriously he
didn't live long at all.
[04-16]
What everyone should know about the 'security dilemma':
The security dilemma makes aspects of the Cold War look absurd and
tragic in retrospect. From the historical record, we know that after
World War II, the Soviet Union did not intend to attack the United
States, and the United States did not intend to attack the Soviet
Union. But both ended up pointing thousands of nuclear weapons at
each other, on hair-trigger alert, and coming terrifyingly close to
outright civilization-ending armageddon, because each perceived the
other as a threat.
Some people still think that deterrence was what kept the Cold
War cold, but it wasn't fear that prevented war. It was not wanting
war in the first place, a default setting that was if anything
sorely tried by threat and fear. If either country actually wants
war, deterrence is more likely to provoke and enable.
[04-18]
The victories of the 20th century feminist movement are under constant
threat: Interview with Josie Cox, author of
Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality.
[04-19]
Palestine protests are a test of whether this is a free
country.
[04-23]
You don't have to publish every point of view: "It's indefensible
for the New York Times to publish an argument against women's basic
human rights." Which is what they did when they published an op-ed
by Mike Pence.
[04-26]
We live in the age of "vulture capitalism": Interview with
Grace Blakely, author of
Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the
Death of Freedom. Evidently Boeing figures significantly
in the book.
[05-02]
The Nicholas Kristof theory of social change: "The New York
Times columnist encourages protesters to stop atrocities by, uh,
studying abroad." This is pretty scathing, admitting that Kristof
seems to recognize that what's happening in Gaza is horrific, but
with no clue of how it got this way or how to stop it. Robinson
writes:
Actually, I'm giving him too much credit here by suggesting he
actually has a theory of change. For the most part, he doesn't
even offer a theory for how his proposed actions are supposed
to make a difference in policy, even as he patronizingly chides
protesters for their ineffectiveness. He doesn't even try to
formulate a hypothetical link between studying abroad in the
West Bank and the end of Israel's occupation, even as he says
university divestment from Israel will do nothing. (He seems
to demonstrate no appreciation of how a plan to try to isolate
Israel economically resembles the strategy of boycotts and
sanctions against South Africa, which was important in the
struggle against that regime's apartheid. But divestment from
Israel will only, he warns, "mean lower returns for endowments.")
He pretends to offer them more pragmatic and effective avenues,
while in fact offering them absolutely nothing of any use. (The
words "pragmatism" and "realism" are often used in American
politics to mean "changing nothing.")
Also worth reiterating this:
In fact, far from being un-pragmatic, the student Gaza protesters
have a pretty good theory of power. If you can disrupt university
activity, the university administration will have an interest in
negotiating with you to get you to stop. (Brown University
administrators did, although I suspect they actually got the
protesters to accept a meaningless concession.) If you can trigger
repressive responses that show the public clearly who the fascists
are, you can arouse public sympathy for your cause. (The civil
rights movement, by getting the Southern sheriffs to bring out
hoses and dogs, exposed the hideous nature of the Jim Crow state
and in doing so won public sympathy.) It's also the case that if
protesters can make it politically difficult for Joe Biden to
continue his pro-genocide policies without losing support in an
election year, he may have to modify those policies. Politicians
respond to pressure far more than appeals to principle. . . .
The protesters are doing a noble and moral thing by demonstrating
solidarity with Gaza and putting themselves at risk. Because Israel
is currently threatening to invade the Gazan city of Rafah, where
well over a million Palestinians are sheltering, it's crucially
important that protesters keep up the pressure on the U.S. government
to stop Israel from carrying out its plans. Given the Palestinian
lives at stake, I would argue that one of the most virtuous things
anyone, especially in the United States, can do right now is engage
in civil disobedience in support of the Gaza solidarity movement.
And correspondingly, I would argue that one of the worst things one
can do right now is to do what Nicholas Kristof is doing, which is
to undermine that movement by lying about it and trying to convince
people that the activists are foolish and misguided.
[05-03]
The ban on "lab-grown" meat is both reprehensible and stupid:
I must have skipped over previous reports on the bill that DeSantis
signed in a fit of performative culture warring, and only mention it
here thanks to Robinson, even though I dislike his article, disagree
with his assertion that "factory farming is a moral atrocity," and
generally deplore the politically moralized veganism he seems to
subscribe to. (Should-be unnecessary disclaimer here: I don't care
that he thinks that, but think it's bad politics to try to impose
those ideas on others, even if just by shaming -- and I'm not
totally against shaming, but would prefer to reserve it for cases
that really matter, like people who support genocide.) But sure,
the law is "both reprehensible and stupid."
[PS: Steve M has
a post on John Fetterman (D-PA) endorsing the DeSantis stunt.
I've noticed, but paid little heed to, a lot of criticism directed
at Fetterman recently. This also notes Tulsi Gabbard's new book.
I'm not so bothered by her abandoning the Democratic Party, but
getting her book published by Regnery crosses a red line. Steve M
also has
a post on Marco Rubio's VP prospects. I've always been very
skeptical that Trump would pick a woman, as most of the media
handicappers would have him do, nor do I see him opting for Tim
Scott. I don't see Rubio either, but no need to go into that.]
Alex Skopic/Lily Sánchez/Nathan J Robinson: [04-24]
The bourgeois morality of 'The Ethicist': "The New York Times
advice column, where snitching liberal busybodies come to seek
absolution, is more than a mere annoyance. In limiting our ethical
considerations to tricky personal situations and dilemmas, it
directs our thinking away from the larger structural injustices
of our time." I'm sure there's a serious point in here somewhere,
but it's pretty obvious how much fun the authors had making fun
of everyone involved here.
Jeffrey St Clair: [05-03]
Roaming Charges: Tin cops and Biden coming . . . "As America's
liberal elites declare open warfare on their own kids, it's easy to
see why they've shown no empathy at all for the murdered, maimed and
orphaned children of Gaza. Back-of-the-head shots to 8-year-olds seem
like a legitimate thing to protest in about the most vociferous way
possible . . . But, as Dylan once sang, maybe I'm too sensitive or
else I'm getting soft." I personally have a more nuanced view of Biden,
but I'm not going to go crosswise and let myself get distracted when
people who are basically right in their hearts let their rhetoric get
a bit out of hand.
After citing Biden's tweet -- "Destroying property is not a
peaceful protest. It is against the law. Vandalism, trespassing,
breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation
of classes and graduations, none of this is a peaceful protest." --
he quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham
Jail.":
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's
great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White
Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate
who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative
peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is
the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the
goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;"
who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's
freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the
Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
I think it's safe to say that no protester wants to break the law,
to be arrested, to go to jail, to sacrifice their lives for others.
What protesters do want is to be heard, to have their points taken
seriously, for the authorities to take corrective action. Protest
implies faith and hope that the system may still reform and redeem
itself. Otherwise, you're just risking martyrdom, and the chance that
the system will turn even more vindictive (as Israel's has shown to
a near-absolute degree). We all struggle with the variables in this
equation, but the one we have least control over is what the powers
choose to do. As such, whether protests are legal or deemed not,
whether they turn destructive, whether they involve violence, is
almost exclusively the choice of the governing party. And in that
choice, they show us their true nature.
Some more samples:
Columbia University has an endowment of $13.6 billion and
still charges students $60-70,000 a year to attend what has become
an academic panopticon and debt trap, where every political statement
is monitored, every threat to the ever-swelling endowment punished.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: "We must obliterate
Rafah, Deir al-Balah, and Nuseirat. The memory of the Amalekites must
be erased. No partial destruction will suffice; only absolute and
complete devastation." While chastizing college students for calling
their campaign an "intifada," Biden is shipping Israel the weapons to
carry out Smotrich's putsch into Rafah . . .
The pro-Israel fanatics who attacked UCLA students Tuesday
night with clubs and bottle rockets, as campus security cowered
inside a building like deputies of the Ulvade police force, shouted
out it's time for a "Second Nakba!" Don't wait for Biden or CNN to
condemn this eliminationist rhetoric and violence.
In the last 10 years, the number of people shot in road
rage incidents
quadrupled. Two of the three cities with the highest [number]
of incidents are in Texas, Houston and San Antonio.
This week's books:
Michael Tatum: [05-04]
Books read (and not read): Looks like more fiction this time.
David Zipper: [04-28]
The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with ridiculously
large cars: "Dangerous, polluting SUVs and pickups took over
America. Lawmakers are partly to blame."
Li Zhou: [05-01]
Marijuana could be classified as a lower-risk drug. Here's what that
means.
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Monday, April 29, 2024
Music Week
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Expanded blog post,
April archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 74 albums, 17 A-list
Music: Current count 42200 [42126] rated (+74), 31 [30] unrated (+1).
Two weeks of listening here, although it seems like much longer,
so much so that I can barely remember hearing the earliest entries,
let alone why. I mean, where did all those Walter Davis albums come
from? Probably Clifford Ocheltree, but didn't that start with Billy
Boy Arnold? I think Ride came from a list of Pitchfork reviews --
that's certainly where I noticed Austin Peralta. Little things like
that set me off on various tangents.
One thing that helped is that I finally sorted my demo queue by
release date (as opposed to order received, with variations), so I
could be reasonable sure I could just grab something and not worry
about it not being released for 2-3 months. Still, new records came
in almost as fast as old ones got played, so the unrated count
barely moved. And it should be noted that several top-rated albums
this week only got reviewed because I was sent CDs -- most obviously:
Broder, Core, Four + Six, Schwartz, Shner.
Still, I've largely lost track of new releases that don't find
me. And I'm nearly helpless when it comes to downloads (although
I did manage to dig out a batch of Ivo Perelmans -- no idea whether
I managed to catch up, but another one came in the mail today, so
definitely not). I may have to break my 2024 resolution not to do
tedious projects like the
EOY list (which in some
earlier iterations also tracked review grades or in some cases mere
mentions). I've already let my
tracking list spread out, but I
haven't maintained it regularly enough for it to be very useful.
Last week's Music Week was the victim of an executive decision to
first finish a
Book
Roundup post that I started several weeks earlier, but kept
researching ever deeper on. Even so I didn't manage to notice
a single one of the books Michael Tatum reviewed in his first
Books Read (And Not Read) column. (Note to self: check out
that
New York Times list he cites. The fiction half is beyond my ken,
but I have previously noted seven of the non-fiction fifty, with one
more in the draft file.)
After Book Roundup, I had to finish a
Speaking of Which, also started but held up. It's fair to say
that we're living in what the Chinese would call "interesting times" --
so much so that nearly everywhere I turned I ran into pieces that
seemed like noting (317 by the time I posted Sunday evening) and
commenting on (15302 words). And even while I'm trying to knock
this out by end-of-Monday, every break I take results in me adding
more notes to Speaking of Which. (Look for red stripes on right
border.)
I appear to have recovered from my big tech problem of the last
few weeks: I haven't been able to send email, with all efforts
producing a "AUP#CXSNDR" error, which is some kind of dirty look
the system gives you without ever explaining why. I contacted Cox
to find out why, and, well, I didn't. I did learn a bunch about
their customer service department, exploring endless variations
of five or six basic scripts for not helping you while eventually
steering the conversation around to "it must be your fault" and
"why don't you bug someone else about it?"
First, there's "Oliver," their chatbot, occasionally relieved by
"live people," who seem to be playing a Turing game to see if you
can discern whether their stupidity is artificial or organic. Then
there's their phone service, which starts with a gauntlet of menu
options and numbers you have to peck in, before you arrive at a
"level one" person, who acknowledges your problem, thanks you
profusely for being such a good customer, and ultimately passes
you off to a "level two" person, who presumably will actually
help you.
Mostly what "level two" people do is fill out tickets that get
passed to supposedly more technical people who are firewalled from
customer contact, presumably because their time is so precious, or
because your time is deemed without value or utility. You are then
advised that it takes them 72 hours to get to the ticket, and even
then never on a weekend or after business hours. Eventually, they
write one line in the ticket and close it, and someone (probably
a "level two") calls you once and leaves you a garbled message in
your voice mail. (Never once did we actually catch a callback.)
When you call them back for more information, the number they leave
is the original gauntlet number, and all they can wind up doing is
reading you the one-liner, which they don't understand either, and
open another ticket, where you have to repeat all the information
again.
This took over two weeks, with frustration levels rising,
especially when they got sidetracked on clearly irrelevant
asides. (I could do four more paragraphs on them, but the details
hardly matter. In the end, I recalled one garbled message, and
gave it enough thought to devise a test. It was "your email is
working, but there is a security problem with tomhull.com." The
obvious, and still unaswered, question is what is that security
problem? But the right question was what does my email have to
do with "tomhull.com"?
The answer to that seems to be that I had included a link to
my website in my email signature, which evidently they scanned
and did something wholly improper with. The reason they might do
something like that is because normally all of their customers
look like Cox, but some of them may be bad actors, so Cox would
like to give their customers other identities they can then
discriminate against. So, once Cox decided to treat my email
like it came from tomhull.com, they then consulted their various
email blacklists, saw tomhull.com on one, and rejected it (with
no explanation or evident recourse). As far as I know, there was
no good reason for them to do so, but I'll probably never find
out, because the people who decide these things are insulated
from feedback, much like Cox is.
I tested this hypothesis by removing my signature line, and
hitting send. It hung, I canceled, and hit send again, and then
it worked. Losing the signature line is a small price to pay
compared to dealing with what Scott Adams caricatured as "the
preventers of information services." Now I have a month's backlog
of email to go through and reply to as still seems relevant. If
you were expecting to hear from me but didn't, try again.
Last Monday in April, so the monthly archive (link above) is done,
but not yet indexed. I also still need to index the Book Roundup,
among lots of unfinished business. Stil have house projects, and
much more tidying up. Book writing is on hold, and I'm beginning
to wonder if that will ever change. I've had to do little bits of
programming lately, which remain fun although a bit nerve-racking.
Weather is nice here, for a short while until the heat comes.
New records reviewed this week:
Nicki Adams/Michael Eaton: The Transcendental
(2023 [2024], SteepleChase LookOut): Piano and tenor saxophone
duo, based in Brooklyn, second album together. They relate this
to Gunther Schuller's "third stream" movement, for reasons not
obvious to a classical-phobe like myself, and pick their way
through several Joe Henderson pieces, expertly.
B+(**) [r]
John Basile: Heatin' Up (2024, StringTime Jazz):
Guitarist, ten or so albums since 1985, thoughtfully called the
first one Very Early.
B+(*) [cd]
Owen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. Two
(2021 [2024], Outside In Music): Alto saxophonist, also plays
baritone, more from the sessions that generated Vol. One
in 2022, four songs Johnny Hodges had a hand in writing, four
more he left his indelible mark on. Comparing them against the
originals would be hopeless, but they certainly evoke the swing
era Hodges towered over. With Riley Mulkerkar (trumpet), Carmen
Staaf (piano), Barry Stephenson III (bass), and Bryan Carter
(drums).
A- [cd]
Paul Brusger: A Soul Contract (2022 [2023],
SteepleChase): Bassist, several albums since 2000, mainstream
quintet here with Eric Alexander (tenor/alto sax), Steve Davis
(trombone), Rick Germanson (piano), and Willie Jones III (drums).
B+(*) [sp]
Caporaso Ensemble: Encounter (2023 [2024],
Psychosomatic): Guitarist André Caporaso, who has some records
going back to 1984, leads a quintet with Jim Goetsch (soprano sax),
David Strother (electric violin), Tony Green (bass), and Breeze
Smith (drums). Effective fusion.
B+(*) [cd] [04-26]
The Castellows: A Little Goes a Long Way (2024,
Warner Music Nashville, EP): Three sisters from Georgetown, Georgia,
last name Balkcom (Eleanor, Lily, and Powell), moved to Nashville,
signed a contract, released two catchy singles late 2023, expanded
into this 7-song, 22:10 mini-album.
B+(**) [sp]
The Core: Roots (2022 [2024], Moserobie): Norwegian
jazz group, founded 2001, released eight albums 2004-10, back for
one more here. Saxophonist Kjetil Mřster is the best-known member,
but Espen Aalberg (drums) wrote four (of six) pieces, with one each
for Mřster and Steinar Raknes (bass), zero for Erlend Slettevoll
(piano). Expansive, like Coltrane's legendary quartet.
A- [cd]
Arnaud Dolmen/Leonardo Montana; LéNo (2023 [2024],
Quai Son): French duo, Guadeloupian drummer and Brazilian pianist,
"long-time collaborators," several separate albums each. I'm not
seeing any other credits here, other than "chorus." The rhythm
tracks sweep one along, the piano commenting thoughtfully.
B+(**) [cdr]
Dave Douglas: Gifts (2023 [2024], Greenleaf Music):
Trumpet player, one of the most acclaimed since the mid-1990s, I've
often been unmoved by his albums but never doubted his chops, or
his commitment to forming challenging groups. Here he adds James
Brandon Lewis to a long list of heavyweight champ saxophonists,
as well as two younger players we'll hear more from: Rafiq Bhatia
(guitar) and Ian Chang (drums). Slips a four-song Billy Strayhorn
medley as the sweet center of a sandwich of originals, blurring
the edges so they all flow together.
A- [cd]
Four + Six: Four + Six (2024, Jazz Hang):
The Four is a saxophone quartet of Mark Watkins, Ray Smith, Sandon
Mayhew, and Jon Gudmundson. Their names adorn the top border of the
cover, so by one convention I often follow, I could have listed them
for the artist credit, but then I should also follow the "Plus Six"
named in the other borders, from left to bottom to right: Derrick
Gardner (trumpet), Vincent Gardner (trombone), Corey Christiansen
(guitar), Justin Nielsen (piano), Braun Khan (bass), Kobie Watkins
(drums). But only three or four of those names ring a bell for me --
I'm a bit confused on my Gardners -- and I usually save the
cover-listed instruments for the body. Saxophonist Mark Watkins
composed and arranged this, upbeat, richly textured, superb big
band lacking only the conventional brass overload.
A- [cd]
Eric Frazier: That Place Featuring "Return of the Panther
Woman" (2024, EFP Productions): Percussionist (congas here,
trap drums, djembe, piano, tap dance elsewhere), sings, based in
Brooklyn, website offers ten albums but Discogs comes up far short,
at least under "(4)." His Carribbean funk is loosely engaging, Gene
Ghee's sax helps, no complaints when a piano-conga duet stretches
out.
B+(***) [cd]
Kenny Garrett & Svoy: Who Killed AI? (2024,
Mack Avenue): Alto/soprano saxophonist, a breakout star in the
1990s, back here with a duo with Russian electronica producer
Mikhail Tarasov, who has several albums since 2005 (they seem
to be most popular in Japan). Some vocals. Some interesting
ideas that don't go very far.
B+(**) [sp]
María Grand With Marta Sánchez: Anohin (2024,
Biophilia): Saxophonist-vocalist from Switzerland, based in New
York, fourth album since 2017, a duo with the pianist. Emphasis
is more on voice, but I prefer the saxophone.
B+(*) [sp]
Frank Gratkowski/Ensemble Modern: Mature Hybrid Talking
(2022 [2024], Maria de Alvear World Edition): German avant-saxophonist,
many albums since 1991, plays flute and alto here, conducting the
twelve-piece chamber jazz group -- flute/clarinet/oboe/bassoon,
trumpet/trombone, piano, violin/cello/bass, no drums -- through the
single 45:08 composition.
B+(**) [sp]
Noah Haidu: Standards II (2023 [2024], Sunnyside):
Piano trio, with Buster Williams (bass) and Billy Hart (drums),
following up on their 2023 album, itself preceded by a 2021 Keith
Jarrett tribute.
B+(**) [cd]
Alexander Hawkins/Sofia Jernberg: Musho (2023 [2024],
Intakt): British pianist, rather prolific since 2011, accompanies
the Ethiopian-born but (sources agree) Swedish jazz singer, most
often showing up with avant-leaning groups like Fire! Orchestra
and Koma Saxo. Has some moments, but mostly fairly arch art song.
B+(*) [sp]
Ill Considered: Precipice (2024, New Soil):
British group, dozen-plus albums since 2017, looks like this
iteration is back-to-basics, with just sax (Idris Rahman), bass
(Liran Donin), and drums (Emre Ramazanoglu).
B+(***) [sp]
Matt Lavelle/Claire Daly/Chris Forbes: Harmolodic Duke
(2023, Unseen Rain): Trumpet player, credits start in 2001, including
large groups led by Butch Morris and William Parker, developed bass
clarinet as a second instrument, plays alto and piccolo clarinet here,
with Daly on baritone sax and Forbes on piano. Did a Harmolodic
Monk album in 2014, again the aim here is to put an Ornette twist
on a classic. Needs more study than I can muster, or more swing than
they're willing to allow.
B+(**) [sp]
Matt Lavelle: In Swing We Trust (2022, Unseen Rain):
Trio, names below the title are Phil Sirois (bass) and Tom Cabrera
(drums), so this has rhythm even if it is somewhat at odds with what
I think of as swing. Lavelle plays trumpet, bass and E-flat piccolo
clarinets.
B+(**) [sp]
Matt Lavelle: The House Keeper (2022 [2023], Unseen
Rain): Quintet, other names on cover mostly familiar from recent albums:
Claire Daly (baritone sax), Chris Forbes (piano), Hilliard Greene
(bass), Tom Cabrera (drums).
B+(**) [sp]
Matt Lavelle & the 12 Houses: The Crop Circles Suite Part
One (2022 [2024], Mahakala Music): Starting from an idea he
first articulated in the 1990s, the trumpeter-composer describes this
as his "life's work," or half of it anyway, the first six pieces in
a 12-piece suite, with "Crop Circles 7-12" still in development.
B+(***) [sp]
Andy Laverne: Spot On (2023 [2024], SteepleChase):
Pianist, from New York, started with Woody Herman 1973, debut 1978,
36th album on this label, quartet with Mike Richmond (bass), Jason
Tiemann (drums), and impressive newcomer Ben Solomon (tenor sax).
B+(**) [sp]
Shawn Maxwell: J Town Suite (2023 [2024], Cora Street):
Alto/soprano saxophonist (also flute), seventh album since 2005,
this one backed by electric bass, keyboards, and drums. Nice
ending.
B+(**) [cd] [05-01]
Ron McClure: Just Sayin' (2024, SteepleChase):
Bassist, started in 1960s, has close to two dozen albums as leader,
composed eight (of ten) songs here, a quartet with Anthony Ferrara
(tenor sax), Michael Eckroth (piano), and Steve Johns (drums). Very
solid mainstream outing, especially for Ferrara.
B+(***) [sp]
Ava Mendoza/Dave Sewelson: Of It but Not Is It
(2021-22 [2024], Mahakala Music): Duets, guitar and baritone sax,
two Mendoza arrangements of William Parker lyrics, so voice too --
Sewelson a gruff blues declaimer, Mendoza adds some harmony and
callback.
B+(***) [sp]
Cornelia Nilsson: Where Do You Go? (2022-23 [2024],
Stunt): Swedish drummer, based in Copenhagen, first album as
leader, combines two trio sessions, one with pianist Aaron Parks,
the other with tenor saxophonist Gabor Bolla, both with Daniel
Franck on bass. Both sides are pretty impressive.
B+(**) [sp]
The Michael O'Neill Sextet: Synergy: With Tony Lindsay
(2021 [2024], Jazzmo): Saxophonist (tenor/soprano, bass clarinet), sextet
with Erik Jekabson (trumpet), John R. Burr (piano), bass, drums, and
extra percussion, swings, swaggers even, with Lindsay singing eleven
songs -- a Burr original, some standards, three songs from Stevie
Wonder, one from Bill Withers.
B+(**) [cd]
Chuck Owen & Resurgence: Magic Light (2019-23
[2024], Origin): Pianist (also accordion and hammered dulcimer),
based in Florida, started his Jazz Surge as a big band in 1995,
this edition is slimmed down -- a no-brass sextet, with Jack
Wilkins (sax), Sara Caswell (violin), Corey Christiansen (guitar),
bass, and drums, plus Kate McGarry singing five (of eight) songs,
the only non-original being the opener, "Spinning Wheel."
B+(*) [cd]
Charlie Parr: Little Sun (2024, Smithsonian Folkways):
Folk/blues singer-songwriter from Duluth, plays resonator guitar and
banjo, couple dozen albums since 2002.
B+(*) [sp]
Ivo Perelman Quartet: Water Music (2022 [2024],
RogueArt): Avant tenor saxophonist from Brazil, started releasing
albums in 1989, did a duo with pianist Matthew Shipp in 1996, and
they've released scores of albums ever since, probably more than
the years Lincoln counted at Gettysburg. Both not only play a lot
together, they're happy to let others join in, especially when
they contribute as much as Mark Helias (bass) and Tom Rainey
(drums) do here.
A- [cdr]
Ivo Perelman/Chad Fowler/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille:
Embracing the Unknown (2024, Mahakala Music): Tenor
sax, stritch/saxello, bass, and drums.
B+(**) [sp]
Ivo Perelman/Barry Guy/Ramon Lopez: Interaction
(2017 [2024], Ibeji Music): Tenor sax, bass, drums/tabla. An
exceptionally fine outing for the saxophonist, divided into two
parts (73:52 + 55:18).
A- [dl]
Ivo Perelman/Mark Helias/Tom Rainey: Truth Seeker
(2022 [2024], Fundacja Sluchaj): Tenor sax/bass/drums trio, his
ideal format (apologies to Shipp), especially when he gets a bassist
this remarkable.
A- [dl]
Ivo Perelman/Tom Rainey: Duologues 1: Turning Point
(2024, Ibeji Music): Tenor sax and drum duets, seven unnamed files,
no telling how many more "duologue" albums are planned.
B+(***) [dl]
Rich Perry: Progression (2022 [2023], SteepleChase):
Tenor saxophonist, from Cleveland, mainstream, regular albums since
1993, quartet here with Gary Versace (piano), Jay Anderson (bass),
and John Riley (drums).
B+(**) [sp]
PNY Quintet: Over the Wall (2022 [2024], RogueArt):
Free jazz meeting in France: Steve Swell (trombone), Rob Brown (alto
sax), Michel Edelin (flutes), Peter Giron (bass), John Betsch (drums).
Most brought songs, and the rest they improvised.
B+(**) [cdr]
Dave Rempis/Pandelis Karayorgis/Jakob Heinemann/Bill Harris:
Truss (2023 [2024], Aerophonic/Drift): Alto/tenor/baritone
saxophone, with piano, bass, and drums. Two long pieces. I've grown
accustomed to the free jazz thrash, finding it both stimulating and
relaxing, heightened, of course, by the fascinating various stretches
of foreplay.
A- [cd] [04-23]
Ride: Interplay (2024, Wichita): English shoegaze
band, four albums 1990-96, third album since they regrouped in 2017.
B+(*) [sp]
Angelica Sanchez/Chad Taylor: A Monster Is Just an Animal
You Haven't Met Yet (2023 [2024], Intakt): Piano and drums
duo.
B+(***) [sp]
Marta Sanchez Trio: Perpetual Void (2023 [2024],
Intakt): Spanish pianist, based in New York, albums since 2008,
trio here with Chris Tordini (bass) and Savannah Harris (drums).
B+(***) [cd]
Radam Schwartz: Saxophone Quartet Music (2023 [2024],
Arabesque): Keyboard player, mostly organ, first album 1988, second
on Muse 1995, maybe a half-dozen approximately soul jazz albums since.
This one is something else, with Schwartz not playing but arranging
for a saxophone quartet (Marcus G Miller, Irwin Hall, Anthony Ware,
Max Schweber), with isolated guest spots (guitar, vocal, percussion).
Starts off delightful, mixes it up from there, ends with "My Ship."
A- [cd] [05-01]
Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
(2022 [2024], Impulse!): British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, parents
from Barbados, bills this as "his solo debut album," but I've counted
one previous one as Shabaka (now deemed an EP, at 28:36), two as Shabaka
& the Ancestors, plus his dominant presence in groups Sons of Kemet,
Melt Yourself Down, and The Comet Is Coming. Limits his tenor sax here
to one track, as he plays clarinet (3), shakuhachi (2), flute (6), and
svirel (1), with a rotating cast of guests, leaning hard on the harps
(Brandee Younger and Charles Overton), exotic instruments (André 3000,
Rajna Swaminathan), electronics (Surya Botofasina, Floating Points),
and spot vocalists (Elucid, Eska, Anum Iyapo, Laraaji, Lianne La Havas,
Moses Sumney, Saul Williams). I'm tempted to slag this off as new agey,
but it's not so bad
B+(**) [sp]
Idit Shner & Mhondoro: Ngatibatanei [Let Us Unite!]
(2023 [2024], OA2): Alto saxophonist, based in Oregon, as is her
group, although they channel Zimbabwe, most directly through
percussionist John Mambira (and vocal on the title cut), but
with music far more universal.
A- [cd]
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: Revelations (2024,
Abeyance): Grew up as a homeschooled fundamentalist in North Carolina,
didn't turn out that way, fourth album, more rock than country.
B+(**) [sp]
Skee Mask: ISS010 (2024, Ilian Tape): German techno
producer Bryan Müller, from Munich, also released records as SCNTST
(2013-18), title denotes 10th album in this series. Steady beats.
B+(*) [sp]
Geoff Stradling & the StradBand: Nimble Digits
(2023 [2024], Origin): Pianist, also plays electric and synths,
leads a very raucous big band here with occasional extras (mostly
Latin percussion) through nine originals plus "Poinciana."
B+(***) [cd]
Jordan VanHemert: Deep in the Soil (2023 [2024],
Origin): Alto saxophonist, Korean-American, based in Oklahoma,
has several previous albums, leads a very flash all-star sextet
of Terrel Stafford (trumpet), Michael Dease (trombone), Helen
Sung (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums),
through two originals, two from the band, and four more or less
standards.
B+(**) [cd]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
Chet Baker & Jack Sheldon: In Perfect Harmony: The Lost
Album (1972 [2024], Jazz Detective): Two West Coast trumpet
players, both sing sometimes -- Baker more often, or at least more
famously, but I like Sheldon's extra swing -- backed by Jack Marshall
(guitar), Dave Frishberg (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), and Nick Ceroli
(drums). Eleven tracks, 36:16.
B+(**) [cd] [04-20]
John Coltrane Quartet + Stan Getz + Oscar Peterson:
Live/Dusseldorf March 28, 1960 (1960 [2024], Lantower):
Another live set from a much recorded European tour, the Quartet
at this point with Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass),
and Jimmy Cobb (drums). This sounds like Peterson dominates the
piano (does Kelly even play?), while Getz is less imposing on
tenor sax.
B+(*) [r]
Franco & OK Jazz: Franco Luambo Makiadi Presents Les
Editions Populaires (1968-1970) (1968-70 [2024], Planet
Ilunga): Like James Brown, Franco's earliest recordings date from
1956, but he didn't really hit his stride until the 1970s, so
this late-'60s compilation can still be considered early, rough,
not quite ready, but it's pretty exciting nonetheless. Belgian
label looks to have much more worth checking out.
A- [bc]
Gush: Afro Blue (1998 [2024], Trost): Scandinavian
trio -- Mats Gustafsson (reeds), Sten Sandell (piano), Raymond Strid
(drums) -- mostly recorded 1990-99 with a couple later reunions.
This one recorded live in Stockholm, with two variations of Sandell's
"Behind the Chords" (27:22 + 18:53) and 19:17 of the Mongo Santamaria
title song.
B+(***) [bc]
Yusef Lateef: Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert From Avignon
(1972 [2024], Elemental Music, 2CD): Tenor/soprano saxophonist
(1928-2013), originally Bill Evans, one of the first major jazz
figures to adopt a Muslim name and a pan-African worldview, also
one of the first to incorporate flute as a major part of his
sonic toolkit. Quartet with Kenny Barron (piano), Bob Cunningham
(bass), and Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums).
B+(**) [cd]
Merengue Típico, Nueva Generación! (1960s-70s [2024],
Bongo Joe): From the Dominican Republic: "Curated by Xavier Daive, aka
Funky Bompa, the compilation unveils rare '60s and '70s gems, providing
a glimpse into a transformative period following the fall of the
Trujillo regime." The genre dates back to the 19th century, when
accordions came over on German trade ships. Just ten brief singles,
32:13, hard to resist, like polka or cajun played dizzyingly fast.
A- [sp]
Austin Peralta: Endless Planets [Deluxe Edition]
(2011 [2024], Brainfeeder): Jazz pianist, also plays soprano sax,
regarded as a prodigy, moved from classical to jazz at 10, won a
prize at 12, released his first album at 16, died at 22, a year
after this third album, touted now as the first jazz release on
the label (executive producer aka Flying Lotus). Hints at fusion
but never gets too comfortable, repeatedly fracturing the rhythm,
filling with Strangeloop electronics, and giving the saxophonists
(Zane Musa and Ben Wendel) free reign. Adds a vocal by Heidi Vogel
toward the end. Deluxe edition adds a second LP of variations --
doesn't add much, other than cost, but reminds us of the loss.
A- [sp]
Rail Band: Buffet Hotel De La Gare, Bamako (1973
[2024], Mississippi): Band from Bamako in Mali founded 1970, lead
singer to 1982 was Salif Keita, who went on to Les Ambassadeurs
and a successful solo career, at least through 2018. The band
carried on as Super Rail Band, but their 1970-83 period is best
documented on three 2-CD Syllart/Sterns sets. Both Discogs and
the label list this LP reissue as Rail Band, but Christgau
reviewed it as Buffet Hotel de la Gare, which is how I
parsed the cover, adding the smaller-print Bamako -- it
is a venue they played regularly at -- but I stopped short of
other splotches of print.
A- [r]
Sonic Youth: Walls Have Ears (1985 [2024], Goofin'):
Official release of a 1986 bootleg drawn from three UK concerts,
situated between Bad Moon Rising and Evol -- in my
database, their two weakest albums, well before the albums I took
to be breakthroughs (Daydream Nation and Dirty). So,
songwise, nothing here rings a bell, but soundwise, which is what
really matters with them, it's mostly here, and there are really
terrific stretches -- basically, any time they real momentum going,
especially when Kim Gordon is on a rant.
B+(***) [sp]
Sun Ra: At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977
(1976-77 [2024], Jazz Detective, 2CD): Two shows, long on their
space shtick, judging from audience response must have been much
more fun to witness than they are to listen to now. Your mileage
may vary, but in my favorite Sun Ra discs the groove finds some
miraculous way to escape Earth's gravity. This feels more like
a revival, which can be tough on non-believers.
B+(*) [cd]
Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago
Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (1953 [2024], Resonance, 3CD):
Legendary pianist (1909-56), remarkable facility -- a friend noted
that he often sounds like three guys playing at once -- starting
with his 1933 solos (later collected as Piano Starts Here)
up to the remarkable series recorded by Norman Granz from 1953-56,
later boxed up as The Tatum Solo Masterpieces and The
Tatum Group Masterpieces -- the latter's session with Ben
Webster is an all-time favorite. These sets are mostly trio, with
Everett Barksdale (guitar) and Slam Stewart (bass), occasionally
dropping down to solo. I wouldn't rate this among his very best
work, with the later sets going through his trademark motions,
but the first disc is a real delight.
A- [cd]
Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors: Live in
Antwerp (1995 [2024], Elemental Music, 2CD): Piano and
soprano sax giants, often played as a duo, but are joined here
by Reggie Workman (bass) and Andrew Cyrille (drums), who are
precisely the rhythm section one might pray for. Long pieces,
timed for four 23-25 minute LP sides, the two shorter ones Monk
covers, a shared bond.
A- [cd]
Old music:
Billy Boy Arnold/Jimmy McCracklin/Charlie Musselwhite/Christian
Rannenberg With Keith Dunn/Henry Townsend with Ben Corritore: The
Walter Davis Project (2013, Electro-Fi): Davis (1911/1912-63)
was a blues pianist-singer, born in Mississippi, ran off to St. Louis,
left a bunch of unrecorded songs, featured here. Rannenberg produced,
with Arnold singing nine (of 18) songs.
B+(***) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 1: 2 August 1933 to 28 July 1935
(1933-35 [1994], Document): Blues singer-songwriter, born in Mississippi,
ran away to St. Louis, started singing with Roosevelt Sykes and Henry
Townsend, taught himself piano, and wound up recording 150 songs from
1933-52, available on seven CDs on this Austrian label, with selections
on various other labels (all in Europe; I don't think RCA has touched
him since 1970's Think You Need a Shot, but even that was only
released in UK and France). Scratchy masters, par for the course with
this label, but at least they give you dates and credits: note that
Sykes plays piano on 1-15, Davis 16-25, with Townsend and/or Big Joe
Williams on guitar.
B+(***) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 2: 28 July 1935 to 5 May 1937
(1935-37 [1994], Document): Hitting his stride here, his piano is
serviceable but lacks the sparkle of Sykes, his vocals and songs
credible and easy to listen to, but he rarely rises to the level
of Tampa Red or Big Bill Broonzy, to cite two comparable but often
superior artists.
B+(**) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 3: 5 May 1937 to 17 June 1938
(1937-38 [1994], Document): Not sure whether he's running out of
steam, or I am.
B+(*) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 4: 17 June 1938 to 21 July 1939
(1938-39 [1994], Document): From "Good Gal" to "Love Will Kill You."
B+(*) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 5: 21 July 1939 to 12 July 1940
(1938-39 [1994], Document): Eight tracks in the middle here have
Davis playing piano behind Booker T. Washington -- his entire
Bluebird output, just short two 1949 tracks from being his complete
works. The fit is pretty seamless.
B+(**) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 6: 12 July 1940 to 12 February 1946
(1940-46 [1994], Document): Three sessions up to 5 December 1941,
a long break, then picks up one track from 1946.
B+(**) [sp]
Walter Davis: Volume 7: 12 February 1946 to 27 July 1952
(1946-52 [1994], Document): Three more tracks from 1946, four more
from 1947, more sessions from 1949-50, and one last one in 1952, just
before his career was ended by a stroke, not long after he turned 40
(he died a decade later, in 1963).
B+(**) [sp]
Walter Davis Trio: Illumination (1977, Denon Jazz):
Jazz pianist (1932-90), not related to the blues pianist, played
with Dizzy Gillespie (1956-57) and Art Blakey (1959-61), led one
Blue Note album in 1959 as Walter Davis Jr. (Davis Cup, with
Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean). Resumed his career with this second
album, mostly trio with bass (Buster Williams) and drums (Art Blakey
or Bruno Carr), plus flute (Jeremy Steig) on one track.
B+(*) [sp]
Walter Davis Jr. Trio: Scorpio Rising (1989,
SteepleChase): Last album, a piano trio with Santi Debriano
(bass) and Ralph Peterson (drums), the title song an original
from his 1977 album, with two more originals plus three
standards.
B+(**) [sp]
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard: Who's That Knocking?
(1965 [2022], Smithsonian/Folkways): Bluegrass singers, first album,
Dickens (1925-2011) is the real deal from West Virginia, father a
banjo-playing Baptist minister, most of her six brothers coal miners.
Gerrard (b. 1934) came out of Seattle, got into folk music at Antioch
College, moved to DC and joined Dickens and future husband Mike Seeger
in the Strange Creek Singers. Only knock I have against this is that
all 15 songs, plus 11 more (including some of their best), have long
been available on CD as Pioneering Women of Bluegrass, but if
you gotta have vinyl, this should suit you well.
B+(***) [sp]
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerard: Won't You Come and Sing
for Me (1973 [2022], Smithsonian/Folkways): Their second
Folkways album together, came out the same year as one on Rounder
called Hazel & Alice which I've long regarded as their
best. This opens very strong.
A- [sp]
Radam Schwartz: Two Sides of the Organ Combo
(2017 [2018], Arabesque): Organ player, albums (but not many)
from 1988, divides this into a "smooth side" and a "groove side":
the former with vibes (Bryan Carrott), tenor sax (Mike Lee),
and drums (Andrew Atkinson); the latter with trumpet (Marcus
Printup), alto sax (Anthony Ware), guitar (Charlie Sigler),
and drums (Atkinson again).
B+(**) [sp]
Sonic Youth: Confusion Is Sex (1983, Neutral):
I paid them no mind until Christgau warmed up to them on Sister
(1987), after badmouthing their debut EP (C), this initial album (C+),
and more (rising to B+ for Evol, which I guess I did check out,
registering a B- in my database -- my grades continued to trail his,
until they matched on Daydream Nation, and I liked Dirty
even more). But when I finally did give the debut a chance -- in a
2006 reissue that was more bonus tracks than not -- I was impressed
enough for B+(***). And with the newly-reissued 1985 bootleg (an A-,
per Christgau) sounding pretty good, I figured it's time to fill in
the holes, at least in their studio discogrpahy. (I can't see myself
going through their dozens of live archives, but
Joe Yanosik did, so
maybe I'll get to a couple more.) They now seem to have had a pretty
good idea of how they wanted to sound from the beginning, but without
much sense of how to form that sound into songs. The Kim Gordon
vocals work a bit better, and they get a freebie with the Stooges
cover.
B+(**) [sp]
Sonic Youth: Kill Yr Idols (1983, Zensor, EP):
Four-track EP (20:58), recorded live at the Plugg Club in NYC,
released in Germany, later tacked onto DGC's CD reissue of
Confusion Is Sex, where it's quite at home.
B+(**) [sp]
Sonic Youth: Bad Moon Rising (1985 [1986],
Blast First): Second studio album, originally an 8-track LP
(37:09), CD a year later added 4 bonus tracks (15:01), mostly
dead weight, but the album already had a lot of that.
B [sp]
Sonic Youth: Anagrama/Improvisation Adjoutée/Tremens/Mieux:
De Corrosion (1997, SYR, EP): First in a series of self-released
experimental asides, four tracks, 22:35.
B+(*) [r]
Sonic Youth: Slaapkamers Met Slagroom/Stil/Herinneringen
(1997, SYR, EP): Three tracks, 28:30, title translates from Dutch as
"bedrooms with whipped cream."
B+(*) [r]
Sonic Youth: Live in Los Angeles 1998 (1998 [2019],
Sonic Youth Archive): Cover says "Los Angeles, CA * Veterans Wadsworth
Theatre * May 28, 1998," but we'll go with the more economical Bandcamp
title. This is the one archive title that Christgau reviewed after Joe
Yanosik compiled his consumer guide to the whole archive, so seems like
the obvious place to dip into, "standing on the shoulders of giants,"
etc. Context is between A Thousand Leaves and NYC Ghosts and
Flowers, both A- in my book, but not albums I have much recollection
of -- I wonder if by this point their sound hadn't become so comfortable
any iteration would suffice. Starts with "Anagrama," which remains a
warm-up exercise, and meanders a fair bit, but packs multiple high
points, which prove how terrific they could be.
B+(***) [bc]
Sonic Youth: The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities
(1994-2003 [2006], DGC): Opens with a 10:22 outtake from Sonic
Nurse, closes with the "full version" (25:48) of of a track cut
down to 19:35 on Washing Machine. Pretty trivial, but as
someone who used to play "Sister Ray" to calm his nerves,
I can't completely dismiss the latter.
B+(*) [r]
Unpacking: Found in the mail:
- Karrin Allyson: A Kiss for Brazil (Origin) [05-17]
- John Ambrosini: Songs for You (self-released) [06-01]
- Roxana Amed: Becoming Human (Sony Music Latin) [05-02]
- Isrea Butler: Congo Lament (Vegas) [06-01]
- Caporaso Ensemble: Encounter (Psychosomatic) [04-15]
- Carl Clements: A Different Light (Greydisc) [05-23]
- Coco Chatru Quartet: Future (Trygger Music) [lp] [03-28]
- Devouring the Guilt: Not to Want to Say (Kettle Hole) [06-08]
- John Escreet: The Epicenter of Your Dreams (Blue Room Music) [06-07]
- Ethel & Layale Chaker: Vigil (In a Circle) [05-17]
- Layale Chaker & Sarafand: Radio Afloat (In a Circle) [05-17]
- Galactic Tide Featuring Andy Timmons: The Haas Company Vol. 1 (Psychiatric) [06-01]
- Phillip Golub: Abiding Memory (Endectomorph Music) [06-21]
- Jake Hertzog: Longing to Meet You (self-released) [06-01]
- The Bruce Lofgren Group: Earthly and Cosmic Tales (Night Bird) [06-01]
- Bruno Rĺberg Tentet: Evolver (Orbis Music) [06-01]
- Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers (Playscape) [05-14]
- Marta Sanchez Trio: Perpetual Void (Intakt) [04-19]
- Radam Schwartz: Saxophone Quartet Music (Arabesque) [05-01]
- Luke Stewart Silt Trio: Unknown Rivers (Pi) [05-03]
- Natsuki Tamura/Jim Black: NatJim (Libra) [05-17]
- Amber Weekes: A Lady With a Song: Amber Weekes Celebrates Nancy Wilson (Amber Inn) [06-01]
- Randy Weinstein: Harmonimonk (Random Chance) [05-15]
- Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance (self-released) [05-11]
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Speaking of Which
I started working on this around Wednesday, April 17, anticipating
another long and arduous week. But I thought I'd be able to get in a
Book Roundup before
posting, so I numbered my draft files accordingly. When that didn't
happen (which was like the second or third week in a row), I decided
to hold back Speaking of Which and Music Week until I posted the
Book
Roundup. That turned out to be Thursday, April 25. This
draft has picked up a few new pieces along the way, but I'm only
getting back to it in earnest on April 26.
I thought then I might
try to wrap it up in a day, but was soon overwhelmed by all the
new material I had missed. So now it's slipped to Sunday, making
this a two-week compilation, but at least putting me back on the
usual schedule. Another thought I had on resuming was that I should
write an introduction to summarize my main points. Probably too
late to do anything like that this week, but over the last couple
days, I've expanded on many of these pieces where the articles
seemed to call for it. So I'll leave it to you to fish out the
essential summaries.
I decided to push this out Sunday evening, even though
I didn't quite manage to hit all the sources I wanted. Perhaps I'll
catch some misses on Monday, while I'm working on the also delayed
Music Week. They'll be flagged, as usual, like this paragraph.
(Note that my initial counts are about double typical weeks, which
makes this easily the longest Speaking of Which ever. So while
I've been slow posting, I haven't been slacking off.)
A few noted tweets:
Tanisha Long: Nothing radicalizes a generation of debt burdened
young people like sending 26 billion dollars to fund a genocidal
terror state.
[To which, The Debt Collective added]: Telling generations of
young people that there isn't enough money for free college or free
healthcare and then spending billions to commit the gravest assault
on Gaza really does elicit a very particular type of rage.
Robert Wright: [Reacting to headline: Democrats Upbeat After
Sudden Wins on Ukraine and Auto Worker] This is naive. The only
way the Ukraine funding becomes a political asset for Biden is if
there's a peace deal before November. Otherwise Trump has him right
where he wants him: spending tax dollars on an endless war.
Tony Karon: [Commenting on a Jewish Voice for Peace tweet]
Shkoyach! It's actually anti-Semitic to conflate Jews with Israel -
all my adult life I've been an anti-Zionist Jew, because I want no
part of an apartheid state whose existence is based on sustained
racist violence on the people it displaced and subordinated.
Some who've been raised to put a blue-and-white calf above
Jewish values now dread Israel being recognized as a genocidal
apartheid state. They're not unsafe, they're uncomfortable. But
10000s of Jews stand up for Palestinian freedom - because it's
the Jewish thing to do.
[Tweet links to their statement:
We're fighting to stop a genocide. Slanders against our movements
are a distraction.]
Nathan J Robinson: Joe Biden might want to read about what happened
to one of his Democratic predecessors who also presided over a war
unpopular with young people and had a party convention scheduled in
Chicago.
Max Blumenthal: Genocide friendly gentile gov Greg Abbott swore
allegiance to a foreign apartheid state
UT students are under occupation
[photo of Abbott in wheelchair with kippah prostrating himself to
the temple wall is emblematic of America's political class; I still
have to ask, why does this play so well to basically antisemitic
Christian nationalists?]
Greg Sargent: Agree with this from @lionel_trolling: Trump's
trial "cuts him down to size" and reveals him as "a common, banal
criminal."
FWIW, we did a pod episode with polling on how the trial makes
Trump look "grubby" and "small" and why this wrecks his aura.
In the criminal trial in Manhattan and the Supreme Court oral arguments,
the two different sides of Donald Trump are fully on display. On the
one hand, in Alvin Bragg's criminal trial, we have Trump-in-himself:
he's a petty conman, a quasi-gangster, who lives in a world of pornstars
and pay offs to tabloids. There he's an old man who is falling asleep
in court. And maybe not because he's aging either: the Trump trial is
actually kind of boring; it's quotidian sleaze that can't break through
the news about Gaza and the student protests. People have criticized
Bragg's decision to prosecute Trump, but it occurred to me that maybe
there's a quiet brilliance in the move; it cuts Trump down to size and
shows him to the world to be just what he is: a common, banal criminal.
It even made me wonder at the wisdom of my insistence on Trump's
fascistic qualilties. Does not that just add to his myth? Perhaps
he is just kind of a nothing.
There is no reason to think Trump's trial helps him outside his
MAGA base.
"He is not the alpha. He is falling asleep. HE is subjected to
censure," says @anatosaurus. He looks "small" and his conempt for
the law . . .
Ryan Grim: [commenting on an Ari Fleischer counterfactual that
"If Students for Trump launched encampments at colleges . . . every
student would be immediately arrested, discipline and the camps torn
down"] If cops started beating up and arresting a bunch of college
Trump supporters the left would probably chuckle at the irony but
oppose the abuse and defend their basic rights. I certainly would
do both, and that's ok.
Greg Magarian reports from Washington University,
St. Louis:
If you've been wondering about the content of pro-Palestinian campus
protests, I just got back from one. Things I did NOT hear or see: (1)
Even the barest aspersion cast on Jewish people or any Jewish
person. The only appearance of the word "Jew" or any variation thereon
was as a self-identifier (e.g., "Jews Against Genocide"). (2) Even the
barest deviation from peacefulness and good order. If you haven't
been to a public protest, I can tell you that protest organizers know
their work well. They're way too disciplined to indulge "rioting." (3)
Anything that a reasonable person could construe as a call for
violence against Israeli civilians. Resistance to occupation,
Palestinian self-determination, anti-Zionism? Sure. Every human being
has the right to speak up and out for their own aspirations. This
movement is about equal Palestinian humanity -- no more, no less.
Magarian also posted
this video and comment:
This is what my university did today. It was a peaceful protest. The
university administration decided to respond with violence. Wash U's
support for Israel has gotten much easier to understand: institutions
that believe might makes right, that have no problem stomping on
anyone who gets in their way, have to stick together.
Also see
this post on St. Louis by Tinus Ritmeester (not sure how I got
into the "with others" list, but thanks), which also includes a longer
report from Megan-Ellyia Green.
Also, note
this protest sign: "Over 200 zip-tied Palestinians found executed
in a hospital & you are upset at our protest???"
A Howard Zinn
quote is making the rounds again: "They'll say we're disturbing
the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that
we are disturbing the war."
Initial count: 317 links, 15,302 words.
Updated count [05-01]: 328 links, 16,177 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss: This excellent series of daily reports is
getting a bit spottier, perhaps overwhelmed by the other news that
has flooded this invaluable website.
[04-15]
Day 192: European countries urge Israel not to respond to Iran attack;
Israeli army targets Gazans returning north: "Germany, France and
the UK called upon Israel 'not to escalate' after Iran's strike on
Saturday. Israel killed 43 Palestinians attempting to return home to
north Gaza as Hamas presents a new counter-proposal for a ceasefire."
[04-16]
Day 193: Israel 'considers' strike against Iran, continues to deny entry
of aid into Gaza: "Israel says it is considering a strike against
Iran "that would not lead to a war" as it continues to restrict aid
access to the Strip. Meanwhile, settlers in the West Bank escalated
attacks against villages, killing two Palestinians."
[04-17]
Day 194: Palestinians mark 'Prisoners Day' with more than 9,500 in
Israeli jails: "On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, rights groups
report at least 5,000 Palestinians have been detained from Gaza
since October 7, and at least 16 Palestinians have died in Israeli
detention amid unprecedentedly inhumane conditions."
[04-18]
Day 195: Israel army withdraws from Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp,
says Rafah is next: "The Palestinian Red Crescent accused the
Israeli army of preventing medical teams from reaching the injured.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said evidence shows Israeli soldiers
are participating in settler attacks in the West Bank."
[04-19]
Day 196: Israel strikes Iran, Gaza health ministry says Israel
destroyed the Strip's health system: "Israel targets Iranian
bases in Isfahan with drones, while Iranian sources say air defenses
intercepted the attack. Meanwhile, Gaza's health ministry says the
northern Gaza Strip is left without any health services."
[04-22]
Day 199: Israel kills 14 Palestinians in West Bank city of
Tulkarem: "Palestinians in the West Bank city of Tulkarem are
mourning 14 victims killed by an Israeli raid on the city's Nur
Shams refugee camp over the weekend. The invasion lasted 52 hours
and destroyed much of the camp's infrastructure.
[04-25]
Day 202: Gaza's Civil Defense finds hundreds of new bodies in mass
graves at Nasser Hospital: "While Israel continues to attack all
parts of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Civil Defense teams report
finding more bodies buried in mass graves in areas where Israeli
troops have withdrawn. The Civil Defense says that some may have
been buried alive."
Ramzy Baroud: [04-25]
The ideological coup: How far right Kahanist extremists became the
face of Israel.
Medea Benjamin/Nicholas JS Davies:
Cesar Chelala: [04-15]
Netanyahu bolstered Hamas.
Juan Cole:
Sophia Goodfriend: [04-25]
Why human agency is still central to Israel's AI-powered warfare:
"International law and AI experts explain how Israel's top brass and
global tech firms are implicated in the slaughter."
Tareq S Hajjaj:
Human Rights Watch: [04-27]
West Bank: Israel responsible for rising settler violence, displacement
of entire Palestinian communities.
Ellen Ioanes: [04-25]
Mass graves at two hospitals are the latest horrors from Gaza.
David Lloyd: [04-24]
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and the 'liquidation of all untruths':
"Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian's detention confirms what the BDS
movement has long argued: Israeli universities are first and foremost
instruments of the state and agents of Zionism's project of dispossession
and apartheid rule."
Qassam Muaddi:
Orly Noy: [04-26]
From the river to the sea, Israel is waging the same war: "The Gaza
assault cannot be understood separately from Israel's divide-and-conquer
strategy against Palestinians in Jenin, Jerusalem, and Nazareth."
Jonathan Ofir: [04-22]
Netanyahu exploits Passover for more biblical genocide propaganda.
Yumna Patel: [04-23]
The student protests for Palestine are awe-inspiring. But we must not
get distracted from Gaza.
Mitchell Plitnick: [04-27]
The Rafah invasion will be catastrophic.
Will Porter: [04-26]
How many Israelis killed by 'friendly fire'?
Vijay Prashad: [02-14]
There is no place for the Palestinians of Gaza to go.
Falastine Saleh: [04-22]
Settler terrorism: Palestinians are becoming prisoners in their
own homeland.
Sigal Samuel: [04-11]
The untold story of Arab Jews -- and their solidarity with Palestinians:
"Jews from the Arab and Muslim world had a radical vision for
Israeli-Palestinian peace."
Haleema Shah: [04-17]
Is Israel a "settler-colonial" state? The debate, explained.
Well, of course it is. If you don't understand that much, you don't
understand much of anything. As such, it shares many traits with
other "settler-colonial" states, "successful" ones like America,
Canada, Australia, and Argentina, also "failed" ones like South
Africa and Algeria. The difference between "successful" and "failed"
is usually just a numbers game: immigrants made up large majorities
in the former, minorities in the latter. From 1950-67, after partition,
expulsion of Palestinians, and a wave of immigrants, Israel reached
a 70% settler population, which should have counted as a success,
but their armed expansion in 1967 brought the population share back
to 50%, which has changed little since then (despite a major wave
of Russian immigration, plus some Ethiopians). Israel has remained
a settler state, but only due to discriminatory laws and considerable
force.
While there is no way to explain Israeli behavior except as the
legacy of a settler-colonial project, which has resulted in a state
where the settler community exercises harshly prejudicial power over
the native population, the question of what happens next should still
remain open. Such a state is inherently unstable, prone to periodic
revolts and repression, which ultimately hurt even those who for the
time seem to be on top. The article talks about "decolonization" as
one possible resolution. For a long time, many Palestinians saw that
as a goal, much like Algerians sought to expel French colonists. At
this point, only a few Israelis have any hope they can solve their
problems by genocide. Those who know better need to bring themselves
to some kind of mutual coexistence. There are many ideas that could
work here. But first we need to realize that the tiered settler-state
isn't one of them, and to do that, we must acknowledge that such a
state exists now, as it has since 1920 and 1948, and that it is the
source of all the pain and suffering today.
Richard Silverstein:
Oren Ziv: [04-18]
'The soldiers opened the way for the settlers': Pogroms surge across
West Bank: "Armed Israeli settlers raided more than a dozen
Palestinian communities under the army's guard, leaving a trail
of death and destruction in their wake."
Israel vs. Iran:
David Kay: [2010-08-19]
Bombs of August: Someone reminded me of this old article, which
stated: "By asserting that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable and jockying
with the Israelis we are being led by the nose into war. The Israelis
are using fear on Iran as a bargaining chip over settlements in
Palestine." They still are. Obama thought better, and realized
that he could allay Israel's stated fears more effectively by
negotiating a deal which would put Iran's nuclear program into
a deep freeze, buying time to normalize relations, which would be
the only real long-term guarantee of peace. But for Israel, peace
with Iran would diminish their leverage over America, which is what
they really needed to "finish off" the Palestinians -- Israel is a
very small country, with a fortress mentality that only worries
about its immediate sphere. Iran was distant, disinterested, and
theoretically cowered by Israel's own nuclear threat. So Israel
lobbied Trump, who compliantly killed the deal, thus rekindling
the threat, and rebuilding it by provoking relatively helpless
groups they called "Iran's proxies."
Javed Ali: [04-16]
Shadow war no more: With direct warfare between Israel and Iran, is
there any going back?
Michael Arria: [04-18]
The Shift: War with Iran?
Zack Beauchamp: [04-15]
Israel beat Iran -- for now: "Iran's Saturday attack on Israel was
a military failure. But things could still get a lot worse." Written
before they did, so expect an update.
Daniel Brumberg: [04-15]
Iran's risky bid to redefine deterrence with Israel. Or to remind
us yet again that "deterrence" is as likely to start wars as to
prevent them?
Jonathan Cook: [04-18]
The West now wants 'restraint' -- after months of fueling a genocide
in Gaza.
Ivan Eland: [04-23]
Israel can still drag the US into war with Iran: "The tit-for-tat
has ended for now, but Benjamin Netanyahu has many incentives to
continue goading Tehran."
Jon Hoffman: [04-16]
Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for war with Iran. Well, he's
pushing for the US to go to war with Iran, but he's willing to hum
a few bars to get them started.
Ellen Ioanes:
Patrick Kinglsey: [04-14]
Strikes upend Israel's belief about Iran's willingness to fight it
directly: "Israel had grown used to targeting Iranian officials
without head-on retaliation from Iran, an assumption overturned by
Iran's attacks on Saturday." More NY Times:
Ronen Bergman/Farnaz Fassihi/Eric Schmitt/Adam Entous/Richard
Pérez-Peńa: [04-17]
Miscalculation leads to escalation as Israel and Iran clash.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg/Michael Levenson: [04-17]
Israeli response to Iran attack seems inevitable, despite allies'
pleas.
Cassandra Vinograd: [04-14]
Iran's attacks bring long shadow war with Israel into the open:
The word "war" usually denotes two sides fighting, so its use here
is tactical, an attempt to spread liability for Israel's unilateral
hostile acts, which have ranged from cyberattacks and assassinations
of Iranian scientists to targeting of Iranians in Syria. Iran's role
in Syria has been to support the Assad regime against other Syrians,
but neither Iran nor Syria have threatened Israel, even when Israel
targeted them. As for "Iran's proxies," there is no evidence of Iran
directing them, and such hostilities as have occurred were arguably
in defense/retaliation against Israeli attacks. (If you wonder where
they got the idea of retaliation, you really haven't been paying much
attention.) As someone who rejects Israel's claim that its retaliations
are justified as self-defense, I'm not going to make excuses for Iran's
own recent exercise in retaliation. But the only nation that seems
fully intent upon war is Israel, and pretending otherwise just makes
it easier for Israel to escalate and provoke.
Ken Klippenstein/Daniel Boguslaw:
Eldar Mamedov: [04-25]
It's time for Iran and Israel to talk: "It's an unlikely scenario
but Tel Aviv and Tehran will have to come to a modicum of co-existence
at some point before all out war breaks out."
James North: [04-14]
The mainstream US media is hiding key truths in its coverage of Iran's
retaliatory attack.
Israel vs. world opinion: First, let's break out stories
on the rising tide of anti-genocide protests on American university
campuses:
Spencer Ackerman: [04-25]
Now the students are "terrorists": "Politicians and administrators
are playing the 9/11 Era hits against students protesting a genocide --
and want to badly to kill them."
Michael Arria:
Narek Boyajian/Jadelyn Zhang: [04-25]
We are occupying Emory University to demand immediate divestment
from Israel and Cop City.
Nandika Chatterjee: [04-16]
Republican Senator Tom Cotton urges followers to attack pro-Palestine
protesters who block traffic.
Fabiola Cineas: [04-18]
Why USC canceled its pro-Palestinian valedictorian: "As the school
year winds down, colleges are still grappling with student speech."
Julian Epp: [04-16]
Campus protests for Gaza are proliferating -- and so is the
repression.
Henry Giroux: [04-26]
Poisoning the American mind: Student protests in the age of the new
McCarthyism.
Luke Goldstein: [04-26]
Pro-Israel groups pushed for warrantless spying on protesters.
Chris Hedges: [04-25]
Revolt in the universities: Also note: [04-25]
Princeton U. police stop Chris Hedges' speech on Gaza.
Caitlin Johnstone: [04-26]
Will quashing university protests and banning TikTok make kids love
Israel?
Sarah Jones:
Ed Kilgore: [04-26]
The GOP is making campus protests a 2024 law-and-order issue:
At last they've finally found a law that they want to enforce. And
they sure aren't afraid of looking like authoritarian thugs in doing
so. That's the rep they want to own.
Branko Marcetic: [04-24]
Why they're calling student protesters antisemites: "They want
us talking about anything other than the genocide in Gaza."
James North: [04-20]
The media is advancing a false narrative of 'rising antisemitism' on
campus by ignoring Jewish protesters.
Nushrat Nur: [04-20]
Long live the student resistance: "University administrators fail
to understand that student activists have glimpsed a remarkable future
in which Palestinian liberation is possible. The Gaza Solidarity
Encampment at Columbia University is an inspiration to stay the
course." Or maybe they do understand, and just don't want to see
it happen?
Andrew O'Hehir: [04-28]
Columbia crisis: Another massive failure of liberalism: "Columbia's
president capitulated to the right-wing witch hunt -- and only made
things worse."
I intend to work my way back around to the instructive case of
Columbia president Minouche Shafik, who apparently believed she
could galaxy-brain her way around the protest crisis -- and avoid
the fate of ousted Harvard president Claudine Gay, among others --
by capitulating in advance to the House Republicans' witch-trial
caucus, taking a hard line against alleged or actual antisemitism,
and finally calling the cops on her own students. Spoiler alert:
None of that was a good idea, and she probably didn't save her
job anyway.
When he returns to Shafik, he nominates her "if you wanted to
choose one individual as the face of 'neoliberalism' for an
encyclopedia netry." But more important is this:
First of all, it's more accurate to say that the media-consuming
public is riveted by the contentious political drama surrounding
those scenes of campus discord than by the protests themselves, which
are a striking sign of the times but hardly a brand new phenomenon. . . .
It's also worth noting that America's extraordinary narcissism --
another quality shared across the political spectrum -- creates a
global distortion effect whereby the deaths of at least 34,000 people
in a conflict on the other side of the world are transformed into a
domestic political and cultural crisis. Nobody actually dies in this
domestic crisis, but everyone feels injured: Public discourse is
boiled down to idiotic clichés and identity politics is reduced to
its dumbest possible self-caricature.
I hate the both-sides-ism here: I don't doubt the shared narcissism
and symbol-mongering, but "on the other side of the world" a nation
with a long history of racial/ethnic discrimination and repression
has advanced to the systematic destruction of a large segment of its
people -- the applicable legal term here is "genocide" on a level
with few historical analogues. So the dividing line -- opposing the
practice of genocide, or supporting it mostly by trying to obscure
the issue -- is very real and very serious, even if none of the
American protesters are living in terror of their own homes, food
sources, and hospitals being bombed. Moreover, while Israel/Gaza
may be literally as distant as Congo, Myanmar, or Ukraine, it is
a lot closer emotionally, especially for American Jews, who are
most sharply divided, but also for any American who believes in
equal rights, in freedom and justice for all -- people who would
normally support the Democratic Party, but now find themselves
torn and ashamed by a President who seems aligned and complicit
with the forces committing genocide.
Katherine Rosman: [04-26]
Student protest leader at Columbia: 'Zionists don't deserve to live':
"After video surfaced on social media, the student said on Friday
that his comments were wrong." I dropped the name, because after
the retraction, why should he have to live in Google fame forever
just for a casual remark? But the New York Times considers this
news, because it fits their mission as purveyors of Israeli lines,
especially larded with further comments like "it's one of the more
blatant examples of antisemitism and, just, rhetoric that is
inconsistent with the values that we have at Columbia" and
"there's a danger for all students to have somebody using that
type of rhetoric on campus." Doesn't that just echo the official
rationale for having all those students arrested?
Personally, I would never think such a thing, much less say it,
nor would most of the people offended enough by genocide to show
up at a protest, but really who are we to make a major issue out
of such sentiments? There's a Todd Snider lyric that captured a
very common, if not quite ubiquitous, credo, which is "in America,
we like our bad guys dead."
If some guy goes berserk and starts
shooting up a school or church, then is shot himself, we rarely
count him among the victims. We have presidents who go order the
assassination of prominent political figures, then go on TV and
brag about their feats, expecting a bump in the polls. As for
Israelis, they're clearly even more bloodthirsty than we are.
But we should all drop whatever we're doing and condemn some guy
who fails to empathize with people who are furthering genocide?
We're fortunate so far that few people who oppose what Israel
has been doing view its architects and enablers and fair-weather
friends with anything remotely resembling the fear, loathing, and
malice Israel has mustered. That's especially true in America, where
so few of us are directly impacted, leaving us free to moralize as
we may. But human nature suggests such luck won't hold. The longer
this war, which is purely a matter of Netanyahu's choice, goes on,
the more desperate become, the more despicable Israelis will appear,
the more the violence they've unleashed, the more hatred will wash
back on them. And when it does, sure, decry and lament those who
fight back and their victims, but never forget who started this,
who sustained it, and who could have stopped it at any point and
started to make amends. (And surely I don't need to add that the
bomb started ticking long before Oct. 7.)
James Schamus: [04-23]
A note to fellow Columbia faculty on the current panic: "The
current 'antisemitism panic' at Columbia University is manufactured
hysteria weaponized to quell legitimate political speech on campus
and give cover to the larger project of ethnic cleansing in the West
Bank and, now, of course, Gaza."
Bill Scher: [04-25]
The divestment encampments don't make any sense: "The demand that
universities unload any investments having to do with Israel is
half-baked and bound to fail." Really? Granted, the investment
money at stake isn't enough to cause Israel to flinch, but the
very idea that anyone -- much less elite institutions in Israel's
most loyal ally -- would choose to dissociate itself from Israel
on moral grounds is likely to sow doubt elsewhere. Otherwise, why
would Israelis go into such a tizzy any time they hear "BDS"?
But more importantly, divestment is a direct tie between the
university and Israel, and one that can be discretely severed
by university administrators who discover that doing so is in
their best interest. Divestment gives protesters a tangible
demand, and it is one that universities can easily afford, so
it offers a chance for a win. Moreover, the dynamic is pretty
easy to understand, because we've done this sort of thing before.
The odds of success here are much better than anything you might
get from trying to lobby your representative, or for boycotting
a store that sells Israeli hummus. Also, this shows that students
are still organizable (and on long-term, relatively altruistic
grounds), probably more so than any other segment of society,
despite generally successful efforts to reduce higher education
to crass carreerism. Despite the dumb pitch, the article's back
story on South Africa gives me hope. Sure, this generation of
Israeli leaders is more Botha than De Klerk, but so was De Klerk
until he realized that a better path was possible. That's going
to be harder with Israel, mostly because they still think that
what they're doing is working. The protests show otherwise, and
the more successful they are, the better for everyone.
[PS: Per this
tweet, the philosophy department chair at Emory University
says, "Students are the conscience of our culture."]
Matt Stieb/Chas Danner: [04-28]
University protests: the latest at colleges beyond Columbia.
More on the Israel's propaganda front, struggling as ever to
mute and suppress the world's horror at the genocide in Gaza and
to Israel's escalation elsewhere from apartheid to state/vigilante
terror.
Michael Arria:
Zack Beauchamp: [04-16]
Tucker Carlson went after Israel -- and his fellow conservatives
are furious: "Carlson mainstreamed antisemitism for a long time,
and conservatives seemed not to care. Then he set his sights on
Israel." When it comes to dunking on Carlson, I don't much care
who does it:
Daniel Beaumont: [04-26]
The Big Bang: Israel's path to self-destruction.
M Reza Benham: [04-26]
Manipulation politics: Israeli gaslighting in the United States:
"A country does not become cruel overnight. It takes intent, years
of practice and strategies to effectively hide the cruelty." Dozens
of examples follow, especially on Israel's master of American
politicians. "Israeli gaslighting has reached into and exerted
influence in almost every segment of American society. Consequently,
Israel has grown into an entity unbound by borders, exempt from
international law and able to commit genocide with impunity."
Also note: "And while Israel continues its intense bombing in
Gaza, Biden signed legislation on 24 April allocating another
$26.4 billion for Tel Aviv to continue its atrocities."
Ronen Bregman/Patrick Kingsley: [04-28]
Israeli officials believe ICC is preparing arrest warrants over war:
"The Israeli and foreign officials also believe the court is weighing
arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas." That would be consistent
with past efforts to charge both sides with war crimes, but it
opens up an interesting possibility, which would be for Hamas
leaders to surrender to the ICC for trial, which would presumably
protect them from Israeli assassination, and would largely satisfy
Israel's demands that Hamas's leadership in Gaza be dismantled.
It would also give them a chance to defend themselves in public
court, where they could make lots of interesting cases. It would
show respect for international law, even if it demands sacrifice.
And it would put Israel on the spot to do the same. I'd like to
see that.
Jonathan Chait: [04-17]
Conservatives suddenly realize Tucker Carlson is a lying Russian
dupe: "What changed?" I don't quite buy the idea that Carlson
is a "Russian dupe" but he has so little redeeming social value
that I don't care what you call him. Still, you have to wonder,
when Israel starts losing the antisemites, what will they have
left?
Jonathan Cook: [04-26]
How an 'antisemitism hoax' drowned out the discovery of mass graves
in Gaza.
Dave DeCamp:
Connor Echols: [04-24]
Israel violating US and international law, ex officials say:
"An independent task force has given a detailed report of alleged
Israeli war crimes to the Biden administration."
Thomas L Friedman:
[04-26]
Israel has a choice to make: Rafah or Riyadh: I suspect that most
Israelis regard Friedman as nothing more than a "useful idiot," which
is to say he's useful when he says what he's supposed to -- as when
he repeated their
"six front"
theory in an attempt to entice Biden into launching a war of distraction
with Iran -- and an idiot when he tries to think for himself and to
offer them advice. [Cue famous Moshe Dayan quote.] This is an example
of the latter, though you can hardly blame Friedman, since this is
based on things he was told to think. Some day the relevant secrets
will be revealed, and we'll all have a good laugh over how Trump and
Biden got played over the Abraham Accords -- or how Kushner played
everyone, since he wound up with billions of Saudi money for a deal
that never had to happen. Israel never cared the least bit for any
of them, but went along with Qatar and Morocco because they were
totally harmless deals that cost them nothing and helped manipulate
the Americans (much like their phony war with Iran, which the deals
propose to turn into some grand alliance).
The Saudis couldn't quite
stoop that low because they still have some self-respect -- they are,
after all, the trustees of Mecca and Medina -- but strung Kushner
along with cash, and more generally the Americans with potentially
lucrative arms deals. But if Friedman's choice is real, Israel would
much rather demolish the last Palestinian city in Gaza, rendering it
uninhabitable for whoever manages not to be killed in the process,
than have a chance to play footsie with the decadent but despised
Saudis. But they may also suspect it isn't really real, because it's
always been so easy to manipulate the Americans and their Arab friends,
who've always proved eager to accommodate whatever Israel wants.
[04-16]
How to be pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli and pro-Iranian. While
the title suggests that Friedman might be capable of thinking
creatively, searching out some kind of mutually beneficial win-win-win
solution, pinch yourself. By "pro-Iranian" he means anti-Ayatollah,
which is to say he's no more prepared to deal with the real Iran than
Netanyahu and Biden are. And by "pro-Palestinian" he means totally
domesticated under a fully compliant Palestinian Authority, as
separate-and-unequal as any imaginary reservation. Sure, by
"pro-Israeli" he probably means free of Netanyahu, but he'd be
less of a stickler on that point.
Binoy Kampmark: [04-28]
Israel's anti-UNRWA campaign falls flat.
Naomi Klein: [04-24]
We need an exodus from Zionism: "This Passover, we don't need or
want the false idol of Zionism. We want freedom from the project that
commits genocide in our name." Klein spoke at a Passover seder in
Brooklyn:
Alan J Kuperman: [04-16]
Civilian deaths in Gaza rival those of Darfur -- which the US called a
'genocide'.
Judith Levine: [04-25]
Why we need to stop using 'pro-Palestine' and 'pro-Israel': "The
safety and security of Palestinians and Jews are interdependent, so
we should use language carefully." Good luck with that. I know I try
to be precise and respectful in my terminology, but it's always a
struggle: we are necessarily talking about groups of people, despite
every grouping, whether self- or other-identified, having exceptions
and individual variations that undermine every attempt to generalize.
At some point, you have to concede the impossibility of the task, and
admit not just that the terms are imprecise but that we shouldn't put
so much weight on them.
I've considered writing an article on this: "Why I've never called
myself 'pro-Palestinian,' but I don't care if you do." Part of what I
feel here is that Palestinian nationalist groups, even ones nominally
on the left, have a sorry history of ambition and exclusion which I've
never approved of in principle, and have found to be counterproductive
politically. But mostly, I don't trust any nationalism, even one that
would presume to include me among the elect. (Although I've found that
people who would divide us into nations will continue to subdivide so
that only their own clique comes out on top, which somehow never saw
me as fit for their supremacy.)
On the other hand, I've never doubted that Palestinians should
enjoy the same human rights as everyone else, provided they accord
the same rights to others. But most people who describe themselves
as pro-Palestinian believe exactly that. Their self-label is meant
to convey solidarity with people they rightly see as oppressed,
people they hope to advance not to dominance but to equal rights.
I don't think that this is the clearest way of expressing their
support, but who am I to object to such tactical quibbles? I felt
much the same way when Stokely Carmichael started talking about
Black Power. Sure, like all power, that could be abused, but for
now the deficit was so great one had little to worry about. And
the trust expressed would only help to build the solidarity the
movement needed.
By the way, see the Robert Wright article below for a story
along these lines, where Norman Finkelstein suggests that when
saying "From the river to the sea," it would be clearer and safer
to say "Palestinians" will be free" instead of "Palestine." That
makes sense to me, but as Wright noted, he was immediately followed
by another speaker, who repeated the standard line and got bigger
applause. I could see giving up after that, but isn't that the
worst of all scenarios?
Sania Mahyou: [04-26]
Inside the first French university encampment for Palestine at Sciences
Po Paris.
Stefan Moore: [04-23]
Israel's architect of ethnic cleansing: "The spectre of Yosef
Weitz lives on." Now there's a name I know, but haven't heard of
in a while. Weitz was head of the Land Settlement Department for
the Jewish National Fund, which was the Zionist entity charged with
buying up parcels of Palestinian land as Jewish immigrants sought
to take over the country. In 1937, after the Peel Commission
recommended that Palestine be partitioned with forced transfer,
Weitz became head of the Jewish Agency's Population Transfer
Committee, so he was the original bureaucratic planner of what
became the Nakba.
Colleen Murrell: [04-26]
How the Israeli government manages to censor the journalists covering
the war on Gaza.
James North: [04-15]
A secret internal 'NYTimes' memo reveals the paper's anti-Palestinian
bias is even worse than we thought. North has been documenting
reporting bias and outright propaganda in the NY Times long enough
he can't possibly be as surprised, let alone shocked, as says. NY
Times, regardless of pretensions to high-minded objectivity, has
always been a party-line organ. Still, it's nice to be able to see
explicit directions and reasoning on terminology, rather than just
having to sniff out the distortions. For more on this, see the
original leak story, and more:
Kareena Pannu: [04-17]
How the UK media devalues Palestinian lives: "The UK media's
coverage of the killing of World Central Kitchen workers shows how
much Palestinian life is devalued."
Vijay Prashad: [04-24]
Elites afraid to talk about Palestine: "The Western political
class has used all tools at its disposal to support Israel's genocide
while criminalizing solidarity."
Fadi Quran/Fathi Nimer/Tariq Kenney-Shawa/Yawa Hawari: [04-17]
Palestinian perspectives on escalating Iran-Israel relations.
Many interesting points here; e.g., from Kenney-Shawa:
Iran's highly-choreographed attack achieved exactly what it intended,
gaining valuable intel on Israeli, American, and regional air defense
capabilities, costing Israel and its US benefactors over $1 billion in
a single night, proving Israel's dependency on the US, and further
eroding Israel's image of military invincibility. In doing so, Iran
also sent a clear message that its drones and missiles could cause
significantly more damage if launched without warning, while still
preserving a window for de-escalation.
Also, from Hawari:
For Netanyahu, picking a fight with Iran was the only thing that could
save him from near-certain political demise. As the Gaza genocide
rages on, the Israeli military remains unable to secure its stated
objective: the eradication of Hamas and the return of the
hostages. This, in addition to the fact that he faces major corruption
charges and overwhelming domestic opposition to his leadership, makes
Netanyahu at his most dangerous.
The Israeli prime minister has, for years, built his political
career on arousing fear of Iran and its nuclear capabilities among the
Israeli public. Internationally, the Israeli regime has long
positioned itself as a Western bulwark against Iran and tied its
security to that of Western civilization itself. Netanyahu has also
exploited Palestine-Iran relations to justify Israel's continued
oppression of the Palestinian people as a whole. This is a narrative
that has particularly taken hold during since the start of the current
genocide.
This was published by
Al-Shabaka, which bills itself as "the Palestinian Policy Network."
Some other recent posts:
Balakrishnan Rajagopal: [01-29]
Domicide: The mass destruction of homes should be a crime against
humanity.
Jodi Rudoren: [04-05]
Why an immediate ceasefire is a moral imperative -- and the best thing
for Israel. Editor-in-chief of Forward, she's made some
progress since her October 9, 2023
column, where she wrote: "The coming days and weeks will be awful.
Israel has no good options." I don't mean to rub it in, but there was
one good option back then. Give her credit for finding it eventually.
Too many others are still pretending they can't do otherwise.
Robert Tait: [04-27]
Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: 'It is not antisemitic to hold you
accountable'. His own piece:
Philip Weiss:
Robert Wright: [04-26]
This feels like Vietnam: I mentioned this piece under Levine
above, for its discussion of language. The analogy to the Vietnam
War protests has been noted elsewhere but is still has a long ways
to go:
The last two weeks have been more reminiscent of the Vietnam War
era than any two weeks since . . . the Vietnam War era. After the
mass arrest of students at Columbia University failed to squelch
their anti-war protest encampment, the attendant publicity helped
inspire protests, and encampments, at campuses across the country.
We're nowhere near peak Vietnam. As someone old enough to dimly
remember the protests of the late 1960s (if not old enough to have
participated in them), I can assure you that college students are
capable of getting way more unruly than college students have gotten
lately.
I can't do this subject justice here, so will limit myself to two
points. One is that thanks to the AIPAC-dominated political culture
in Washington, both parties are totally aligned with Israel, although
few in either party did so from core beliefs. This matters little on
the Republican side (where core beliefs tend to be racist, violent,
and repressive), but leave Democrats more open to doubt and persuasion.
Lacking any better political base, that's what demonstrations are good
for, and why there's hope they may be effective. It's also worth noting
that Occupy Wall Street, which was pretty explicitly anti-Obama but not
in any way that could benefit the Republicans, had at least two major
successes: one was popularizing the "1%" line to highlight inequality;
the other was in making student debt relief a tangible political issue --
one that Biden has finally embraced.
The other point is that it will be important both to the protesters
and to the Democrats to keep the demonstrations focused and not allow
the sort of descent into chaos that Republicans exploited with Vietnam.
(And which, as we've already seen with Abbott in Texas, and with the
recent anti-BLM police riots, they are super-psyched to exacerbate
now.) I'm reminded here of Ben-Gurion's famous "we will fight the
White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is
no White Paper." His tact allowed him to win both fights, which is
to say he fared much better than Johnson and Daley did in 1968.
Needless to say, there will be more pieces like this coming our
way:
Dave Zirin: [04-26]
How the US media failed to tell the story of the occupation of
Palestine: Interview with Sut Jhally.
PS: For some reason I no longer recall, I happened to have had a
tab open to a piece from Spiked, so I took a look at their home page.
It seems to be a right-wing UK site -- Wikipedia traces its roots to
"Living Marxism," but also also notes support from Charles Koch -- but
whatever it's clearly in the bag for Israel now, with articles on:
"Iran, not Israel, is escalating this war"; "Is it now a crime to
be a Jew in London?"; "Hamas apologism has taken Australia by
storm"; "The Islamo-left must be confronted"; as well as a lot of
articles about "gender ideology" and "woke capitalism" and one on
"Why humanity is good for the natural world." Right-wingers seem
to be inexorably drawn to Israel.
America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:
Bob Dreyfuss: [04-23]
Handling -- and mishandling -- the Iran nuclear program: "Trump
blew up the deal, can Biden still fix it?" It's pretty obvious that
Biden could fix it, and that he could go much farther in normalizing
relations with Iran, but to do so he first has to realize that America
has an interest in peace and cooperation beyond his current practice
of subservience to whatever Israel's ultra-right-wing government
wants.
Connor Echols:
John Feffer: [04-19]
Haiti today, America tomorrow? "When democracies die, mobs take
over."
Maha Hilal: [04-25]
The torture that just won't end: "Torture, Abu Ghraib, and the
legacy of the US war on Iraq."
John Hudson: [04-19]
US agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger.
John Ismay/Edward Wong/Pablo Robles: [04-26]
A new Pacific arsenal to counter China: "With missiles, submarines
and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the
region to rein in Beijing's expansionist goals." But China's the
"expansionist" one?
Dee Knight: [04-26]
War bucks prevent peace in Ukraine, Gaza & China: I could
see an argument that the arms for Ukraine could be leverage for a
much-needed peace deal, but that would require some willingness
from Biden to consider such a thing. The China piece isn't large
enough to make any difference, so I figure it's just graft, but
a serious escalation there, which any extra arms points toward,
would be much more expensive and much more dangerous than the
current standoff with Russia. As for Israel, there is no threat
to defend against, nor anyone that Israel is willing to negotiate
with. This simply says the US wants to be remembered as a partner
in your genocide. Sort of like Mussolini joining the Axis.
Maya Krainc:
Nicky Reid: [04-26]
The last thing Haiti needs is your liberal guilt.
Alex Thurston: [04-26]
Americans go home: Both Niger and Chad yank the welcome mat.
Caitlin Vogus: [04-16]
The US isn't just reauthorizing its surveillance laws -- it's vastly
expanding them. FISA returns, stronger than ever. More:
Li Zhou: [04-24]
Congress's $95 billion Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan aid package,
explained: "The bill provides billions in foreign aid and could
force ByteDance to sell TikTok."
Election notes:
Trump, and other Republicans: Trump's New York porn-star
hush-money trial has started, so let's go there first:
Abdullah Fayyad: [04-19]
Trump's jury doesn't have to like him to be fair to him.
Catherina Gioino: [04-27]
5 key takeaways from tabloid boss David Pecker's Trump trial
testimony.
Margaret Hartmann:
Elie Honig: [04-26]
Donald Trump is a special kind of courtroom-discipline problem.
Brian Karem: [04-18]
The ripple effects of Drowsy Don beyond the courtroom: The Trump trial
is making everything weirder.
Nicholas Liu:
Heather Digby Parton: [04-26]
Trump's sordid hush-money defense: Tales from his sleazy past could
hurt him doubly: "Trump's squalid character seems to be a selling
point."
Charles P Pierce: [04-19]
A man set himself on fire outside the Trump trial. I dread what comes
next. "Our politics have become deranged, and the former president*
is the person most responsible for this fact." For more details (not
that they help much, see:
Andrew Prokop:
Alex Shephard:
The utter joy of watching Trump watch people who despise him:
"In his hush-money criminal trial, the former president is coming
face to face with potential jurors who have expressed unvarnished
opinions of him on social media."
David Smith: [04-27]
How the Trump trial is playing in Maga world: sublime indifference,
collective shrug.
Stuart Stevens: [04-25]
Being stuck in a courtroom is just what Trump needed: Republican
Party operative with an anti-Trump book under his belt, so no reason
for anyone to trust him, but this much rings true: "The Trump campaign
is not about persuasion. It's about stirring up anger inside every
possible Trump supporter so that voting is a righteous act of fury,
not a mere civic duty." Not noted is how the trial also lets him play
for the pity vote. Also that he has a history of miraculously rising
in the polls when his campaign cuts back on his exposure, as when
they took his Twitter account hostage in the final days of the 2016
race.
Margaret Sullivan: [04-24]
Trump's hush-money case might finally show him what accountability
feels like: Dream on. The only way he can parse this trial (or
any of his trials) is as political persecution, not because he
believes he's innocent -- he's never been charged with anything
he hasn't already bragged about -- but because he knows that if
he were a prosecutor, that's how he'd go after his enemies. As
for what other people might think, either they already do, or
they don't.
More Republicans in the news (including more Trumps):
Jess Bidgood: [04-24]
Trump respects women, most men say: A "majority" (54%), as
compared to a somewhat lesser number of women who think that (31%).
Is this news? Or just clickbait meant to be laughed at?
Luke Broadwater: [04-17]
Senate dismisses impeachment charges against Mayorkas without a
trial: That didn't take long, although you can't give Republicans
any credit, as only Murkowski among them voted to dismiss.
Jonathan Chait:
Nandika Chatterjee:
Eli Clifton: [04-24]
TikTok investor Jeff Yass wants to shape US foreign policy too:
"The GOP mega-donor has been quietly sending millions to anti-Muslim
orgs and hawkish pro-Israel groups."
Gail Collins: [2018-10-17]
The horseface chronicles. Not a new column, but making the rounds
again.
Michelle Cottle: [04-15]
What I found inside the MAGAverse on the eve of Trump's trial.
Chauncey DeVega: [04-16]
Trump has "reprogrammed a generation" to fight against democracy:
"Former Trump aide Miles Taylor: 'The risk of political violence is
high' -- no matter who wins this election."
Griffin Eckstein:
Francesca Fiorentini: [03-29]
Handmaids to the patriarchy: "Republicans offer a lesson in how
not wo win women back to their party."
Margaret Hartmann: [04-17]
Trump is still fuming over Kimmel mocking him at the Oscars:
Fave quip here: "Isn't it past your jail time?"
Thom Hartmann:
How conservative policies and rhetoric kill people.
Howard Manly: [04-18]
5 years after Mueller report into pro-Trump Russian meddling, legal
scholars still have questions: E.g., "why didn't the full report
become public?"
Ben Metzner:
New evidence shows Matt Gaetz might be skeezier than we thought,
Walter G Moss: [2020-02-16]
Why Trump is different than Reagan, either Bush, Dole, McCain, or
Romney -- he's evil: Not sure why I landed on this old piece,
except perhaps it's still relevant?
Will Norris: [04-23]
Trump vows to crush the civil service, but he's not the first president
to try: "Republican presidents have been trying to politicize the
federal bureaucracy for decades."
Martin Pengelly: [04-26]
Trump VP contender Kristi Noem writes of killing dog -- and goat --
in new book: "We love animals, but tough decisions like this
happen all the time on a farm." Then she moved on to the horses.
There's much more reaction to this story, but this should suffice:
Nathaniel Sher: [04-19]
House China hawk lights a match on his way out the door: "Retiring
Rep Mike Gallagher led the committee targeting the Chinese Communist
Party and is now calling for a 'new cold war'."
Matthew Stevenson: [04-19]
Wall Street Don deals more liar's poker.
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Charles M Blow: [04-17]
The Kamala Harris moment has arrived.
Gerard Edic: [04-23]
Why is the Biden administration completing so many regulations?
"The answer is the Congressional Review Act, which Republicans in
a second Tumpp presidency could use to further attack the administrative
state. Finalizing rules early protects them from this fate."
Jordan Haedtler/Kenny Stancil: [04-16]
Democrats must start to distinguish themselves on insurance policy:
"Amid a crisis for homeowners, Democrats have done little while Republicans
pursue an agenda of bailouts and deregulation." I think, and not just
due to climate change, insurance will become the number one political
issue in America, as private industry is no longer able to charge enough
to cover the necessary payouts (and still make the profits they expect).
Ed Kilgore: [03-18]
This year's Democratic Convention won't be a replay of 1968:
Didn't I say as much last week?
Paul Krugman:
[04-09]
Stumbling into Goldilocks.
[04-23]
Ukraine aid in the light of history: Compares the current vote
to Lend-Lease in 1941, which most Republicans opposed before Pearl
Harbor rallied them to war. Doesn't allow that they might have had
good reasons for doing so, and accepts uncritically that Lend-Lease
proved to be the right thing to do in 1941, implying that reasons
then and there are still valid here and now. That case is pretty
weak on almost every account, not that history between such unlike
cases offers much guidance anyway.
[04-25]
Can Biden revive the fortunes of American workers?: "He's the most
pro-labor president since Harry Truman." I had to laugh at that one.
Truman was very anti-union after the war ended in 1945, and his threats
against strikers probably contributed to the debacle of 1946, which
gave Republicans a majority in Congress, which (with racist southern
Democrats) they used to pass Taft-Hartley over his veto. He recovered
a bit after that, but no subsequent Democat made any serious efforts --
even when Johnson seemed to have a favorable Congress -- to reverse the
damage. I'm not sure Krugman is technically wrong, but he's talking
about slim margins at both ends.
Harold Meyerson: [04-15]
Biden's Gaza policy could create a replay of Chicago '68:
If Israel is still committing genocide in Gaza, Biden will certainly
face (and deserve) protests, but will Chicago police riot again? --
that was, after all, the real story in 1968, and much of the blame
there goes directly to Mayor Richard Daley.
Ahmed Moor: [04-17]
As a Palestinian American, I can't vote for Joe Biden any more. And
I am not alone: "The president's moral failure in Gaza has taken
on historic proportions, like Lyndon Johnson's in Vietnam before him."
I understand the sentiment, and I think Biden's team should take the
threat of defections like this one -- and it's not just Palestinians
who are thinking like that -- and get their act together. But come
November, no one's just pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli or any other
single thing. Politics is complicated, and ideal choices are hard
to come by.
Timothy Noah:
Yes, Joe Biden can win the working-class vote.
David Smith: [04-28]
'Stormy weather': Biden skewers Trump at White House correspondents'
dinner: One of the few favorable things I had to say about Trump's
presidency is that he sidelined this annual charade of chumminess.
And it's not like the White House press has been doing Biden many
favors over the last three years. But I guess the material writers
came up with this year was too good to miss?
Legal matters and other crimes:
Irin Carmon: [04-25]
What it means that Weinstein's conviction was reversed. Well,
one of them. He still has a cell waiting in California.
Rachel M Cohen: [04-21]
What the Supreme Court case on tent encampments could mean for homeless
people.
Hassan Ali Kanu: [04-15]
America's Fifth Circuit problem: "Judges are now fighting over
the right to hear important policy cases."
Jason Linkins:
So, what's going on with Clarence Thomas these days?
Ian Millhiser: A couple very busy weeks at the Supreme
Court:
[04-15]
The Supreme Court effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in
three US states: "It's no longer safe to organize a protest in
Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas." Those three states were subject to
a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court, which the Supreme Court declined
to review, despite that ruling clearly deviating from previous Supreme
Court rulings.
[04-15]
The Supreme Court's confusing new anti-trans decision, explained:
"The Court mostly reinstates Idaho's ban on transgender health care
for children."
[04-16]
January 6 insurrectionists had a great day in the Supreme Court
today: "Most of the justices seem to want to make it harder
to prosecute January 6 rioters." Evidently, some Supreme Court
justices have wavering views: "If nothing else, this is a terrible
look for the Supreme Court. And it suggests that many of the justices'
concerns about free speech depend on whether they agree with the
political views of the speaker."
[04-17]
The Supreme Court case that could turn homelessness into a crime,
explained: "Grants Pass v. Johnson could make the entire
criminal justice system far crueler. It also tests the limits of
judicial power."
[04-22]
Donald Trump already won the only Supreme Court fight that mattered:
"This case is about delaying his trial, and the GOP-controlled Supreme
Court has given him everything he could reasonably hope for and
more."
[04-24]
The Supreme Court's likely to make it more dangerous to be pregnant in
a red state: "But it's not yet clear they've settled on a rationale
for doing so."
[04-24]
A new Supreme Court case seeks to make it much easier for criminals
to buy guns: "The fight over 'ghost guns' is back before the
justices."
[04-25]
How the Supreme Court weaponizes its own calendar: "The justices
already effectively gave Trump what he wants in his Supreme Court
immunity case."
[04-25]
Donald Trump had a fantastic day in the Supreme Court today:
"It's unclear if the Court will explicitly hold that Trump could
commit crimes with impunity, or if they'll just delay his trial
so long that it doesn't matter."
Nicole Narea: [04-18]
The history of Arizona's Civil War-era abortion ban: "How
conspiring doctors, questionable tonics, and twisted patriotism
led to the 1864 Arizona abortion ban that was recently upheld in
court."
Jeffrey St Clair: [04-26]
Witch trial in Oklahoma: How the prosecutorial slut-shaming of Brenda
Andrew put her on death row.
Michael Tomasky:
Samuel Alito's resentment goes full tilt on a black day for the
court.
Climate and environment:
Kate Aronoff:
Climate change will cost $38 trillion a year. Who will pay for it?
Juan Cole: [04-16]
Playing Russian roulette with Middle Eastern oil. I could have
listed this elsewhere, according to the geopolitics, but this is
where the CO2 eventually winds up.
Gabrielle Gurley: [04-26]
Flint's never-ending water crisis and 'punishment nightmare'.
Heather Souvaine Horn:
The UN is running out of time to draft this plastics treaty:
"Meanwhile, it has yet to ban plastics industry lobbyists from the
talks."
Benji Jones: [04-26]
The end of coral reefs as we know them: "Years ago, scientists
made a devastating prediction about the ocean. Now it's unfolding."
Frank Lingo: [04-18]
We all know climate change is real. How did the US let it become a
partisan debate? He notes the 55th anniversary of Earth Day,
which in 1970 kicked off an impressive bipartisan effort, notably
the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, among
other things creating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Those acts led to dramatic improvements in water and air quality.
But as those problems became less acute, many business interests
decided on a full-press political campaign to protect and advance
their profits by intense lobbying aimed at capturing government
agencies and even discrediting the very idea of "public interest."
By the time global warming became popularly identified as a serious
environmental issue -- roughly 1990 -- right-wing anti-government,
pro-market ideology had steamrolled both political parties, while
the major wins of the 1970s had been normalized and their lessons
forgotten. Having ginned up the right-wing propaganda machine to
protect their right to pollute, it was inevitable that they'd fight
concern over climate change, as they've continued to do. At this
point, their success should scare themselves as much as anyone,
but it's hard to give up on a con that still seems to be working.
Li Zhou: [04-27]
We could be heading into the hottest summer of our lives.
Economic matters:
Russia/Ukraine War:
Blaise Malley:
[04-19]
Diplomacy Watch: How close were Russia and Ukraine to a deal in
2022? Mostly reviews a recent Foreign Policy piece on
aborted negotiations shortly after Putin's invasion (below). Much
of this has been previously reported, but few people involved
seem to have learned much:
[04-26]
Diplomacy Watch: Is new Ukraine aid a game changer? "New funding
for weapons should help avoid disaster, but it likely won't be enough
to win the war." If "winning the war" was already a vain hope, does
adding more arms aid do anything but making losing more expensive?
I'm not terribly disappointed that the Ukrainian portion of the "aid"
bill passed, because I figure it can be used for negotiating a deal --
which has always been the only solution, but getting both sides to
realize that they're otherwise stuck in a hopeless stalemate has
been hard.
Thomas J Barfield: [04-15]
Where did Vladimir Putin's dream of a 'Russian World' come from?
George Beebe: [04-25]
Kicking the can down the crumbling road in Ukraine: "If Washington
were intentionally to design a formula for Ukraine's destruction, it
might look a lot like the aid package passed by Congress this week."
Matthew Blackburn: [04-22]
ISW: Defeatist propaganda keeping 'us' from a Ukraine military
victory: "The neo-con bred and led think tank is the most media
referenced organization in town, and that's dangerous." The "Kagan
industrial complex" crafts its Dolchstoßlegende.
Joshua Keating: [04-24]
Ukraine is finally getting more US aid. It won't win the war -- but it
can save them from defeat. This depends a lot on how you define
defeat. Every day the war continues, they lose more (as do the Russians,
as does everyone else involved).
Anatol Lieven: [04-25]
Macron's strategy: A 'Gaullist' betrayal of de Gaulle: "If he is
not careful, the French president is going to back himself into a
dangerous little corner in Ukraine."
Greg Sargent:
Mike Johnson's shockingly pro-Ukraine speech really sticks it to
MAGA.
Around the world:
Taylor Swift: New album dropped, presumably a major event.
I've been too busy to focus on it, but will get to it sooner or later.
Other stories:
Daniel Brown: [04-19]
Oldest MLB player turns 100: Roomed with Yogi Berra, stymied Ted
Williams: I clicked on this because I had to see who, after
having noted the deaths of Carl Erskine (97) and Whitey Herzog
(93) earlier in the week. And the answer is . . . Art Schallock!
Not a name I recall, and I thought I knew them all (especially
all the 1951-55 Yankees, although 1957 was the first year that
actually stuck in my memory) Previous oldest MLB player was
George Elder, and second oldest now is Bill Greason -- neither
of them rings a bell either, but the next one sure does: Bobby
Shantz!
Robert Christgau: [04-17]
Xgau Sez: April, 2024: Perhaps because I'm disappointed I get so few
questions my way, I thought I'd add a
couple personal notes to his answers:
I haven't actually read more Marx than Bob admits to here (at
least not much more, and virtually nothing since I shifted focus circa
1975), so like him I'd refer inquisitive readers to the now quite long
and deep tradition -- although at this point I'm not exactly sure where
I'd start. (I started with historians like Eugene Genovese, art critics
like John Berger, and economists like Paul Sweezy, followed by a lot of
Frankfurt School, especially Walter Benjamin.) But his recommendation
of Marshall Berman's Adventures in Marxism has me intrigued, so
I think I'll order a copy. I have, but have never read, Berman's All
That Is Solid Melts Into Air, which came out after I lost interest
(long story, that), but has always struck me as the probably closest
analogue to the book I sometimes imagined writing on Marx (had my career
gone that direction: working title was Secret Agents, after a
Benjamin quip about Baudellaire). But I did read, and much admired,
Berman's first book, The Politics of Authenticity: Radical Individualism
and the Emergence of Modern Society, which gets us at least half
way there. (By the way, while I largely blanked out on Marxism after
1975, I broke the ice recently with China Miéville's A Spectre
Haunting, which was like meeting up with an old friend.)
Bob didn't search very hard for an answer to the question about
"immediate astonishment" -- he checked off several 2023 records, then
remembered two formative experiences from from sixty years earlier --
but had he consulted me, I could have reminded him of one: I was
present when he opened and immediately played Marquee Moon,
and I was even more impressed by the intensity of his reaction than
I was by the music I was hearing. Although I had read much in the
Voice about Television, I had never heard anything by them, so for
me it took time to adjust.
For me, the most obvious answer was another record I first heard
in Bob's apartment: Ornette Coleman's Dancing in Your Head,
which was an even more obviously perfect title than The Shape of
Jazz to Come. As for real early records, which for me started
around 1963, everything I bought was already baited with singles I
already loved, but the first album side I really got into was on my
fourth purchase, Having a Rave-Up With the Yardbirds -- the
hits were on the first side, but I came to like the raves on the
second side even more (above all the cover of "Respectable"). But
I couldn't tell you if that was "instantaneous." I did buy Sgt.
Pepper when it came out, with much hype but no presold singles,
and I quickly came to love it as much as anyone else did.
We didn't go to the 1994 Rhode Island festival, but Bob and
Carola stayed with us in Boston before and after, so we were among
the first to hear their unmediated reaction before it was sanitized
for print. I've heard the Richie Havens dis so many times, both from
Bob and from Laura Tillem, that I wondered whether they had shared
the same traumatic concert experience, but she says not.
Tom Engelhardt: [04-21]
A story of the decline and fall of it all. The editor-first,
writer-as-the-occasion-arises, who has done more than anyone else
over the last twenty years to help us realize that the American
Empire is failing and floundering and never was all that useful
let alone virtuous in the first place, has entered his 80s,
feeling his own powers also dwindling, and growing more morose,
as so many of us do. I'm tempted to quote large swathes of this
article, but instead, let me do some editing (almost all his
own words, but streamlined):
If Osama Bin Laden were still alive today, I suspect he would be
pleased. He managed to outmaneuver and outplay what was then the
greatest power on Planet Earth, drawing it into an endless war
against "terrorism" and, in the process, turning it into an
increasingly terrorized country, whose inhabitants are now at
each other's throats.
As was true of the Soviet Union until almost the moment it
collapsed in a heap, the U.S. still appears to be an imperial
power of the first order. It has perhaps 750 military bases
scattered around the globe and continues to act like a power
of one on a planet that itself seems distinctly in crisis: a
planet that itself looks as if it might be going to hell, amid
record heat, fires, storms, and the like, while its leaders
preoccupy themselves with organizing alliances and arming them
for Armageddon.
It's strange to think about just how distant the America I
grew up in -- the one that emerged from World War II as the
global powerhouse -- now seems. Yet today, the greatest country
on Earth (or so its leaders still like to believe), the one that
continues to pour taxpayer dollars into a military funded like
no other, or even combination of others, the one that has been
unable to win any war of significance since 1945, seems to be
coming apart at the seams, heading for a decline and fall almost
beyond imagining.
I'm reminded here that Tom Carson, reviewing 1945 from the cusp
of 2000, declared that the worst thing that ever happened to America
was winning World War II. He might well have added that the second
worst thing was the collapse of the Soviet Union: the essential ally
in winning WWII, the opponent that allowed the Cold War to remain
stable, and the void the US has spent thirty-plus years trying to
fill in, and ultimately resurrect, with fantasies of imperial glory.
I'd add that the third worst thing is the genocide in Gaza, where
the Holocaust has returned in the form of America's spoiled, even
more brattish and brutish Mini-Me.
Like Engelhardt, I've been fortunate to have lived my whole life
in, and mostly conscious of, this arc. I'm a bit younger: I was born
the week China entered the Korean War, ending the American advance
and hopes of swift victory, so it was perhaps a bit easier for me to
see that the remainder was all downhill. I was struck early on by the
arrogance of power -- a familiar phrase even before William Fullbright
used it as a book title -- and even earlier by the hypocrisy of the
powerful. One of the first maxims I learned was "power corrupts, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely." I was an introspective child,
cursed with the ability to see deep into myself, and to approximate
what others see, even over vast time and space. I was schizophrenic.
I embraced radicalism, searching for roots, and found reason, a way
of constructing frameworks for understanding. As a method, it was
so incisive, so clear, so aware, that I had to put it aside for
decades just to try to live a life, but it never left me, nor I
it, as two decades of
notebooks (most reorganized
here) should attest.
Céline Gounder/Craig Spencer: [04-16]
The decline in American life expectancy harms more than our health.
Related:
Michael Hiltzik: [2023-04-05]
America's decline in life expectancy speaks volumes about our
problems. I may have cited this article before. The county map
looks familiar. On a state level, lower average age of death lines
up pretty close to Republican votes, although within those states,
powerless Democratic enclaves (e.g., in Mississippi and South Dakota)
are hit worst of all.
Constance Grady: [04-11]
Why we never stopped talking about OJ Simpson.
John Herrman: [04-19]
How product recommendations broke Google: "And ate the internet
in the process." A long time ago, I put a fair amount of thought into
what sort of aggregate information modeling might be possible with
everyone having internet connections. Needless to say, nothing much
that I anticipated actually happened, since business corruption crept
into every facet of the process, making it impossible to ever trust
anyone. It may look like the internet made us shallow and venal and
paranoid, but that's mostly because those were the motivations of
the people who rushed to take it over.
Jonathan Kandell: [04-19]
Daniel C Dennett, widely read and fiercely debated philosopher, dies
at 82: "Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that
religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could
only be explained by natural selection."
Whizy Kim: [04-17]
Boeing's problems were as bad as you thought: "Experts and whistleblowers
testified before Congress today. The upshot? "It was all about money."
Eric Levitz: I originally had these scattered about, but
the sheer number and range suggested grouping them here.
[04-12]
What the evidence really says about social media's impact on teens'
mental health: "Did smartphones actually 'destroy' a generation?"
Reviews Jonathan Haidt's book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great
Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
Hard to say without not just having read the book but doing some extra
evidence. Haidt seems like a guy who tries to look reasonable so he
can sneak a conservative viewpoint in without it being dismissed out
of hand. Levitz seems like a smart guy who's a bit too eager to split
disputes down the middle. I suspect there are other factors at work
that don't fit anyone's agenda.
[04-13]
Don't sneer at white rural voters -- or delude yourself about their
politics: "What the debate over "white rural rage" misses."
Refers to the Tom Schaller/Paul Waldman book, White Rural Rage:
The Threat to American Democracy, which has been much reviewed,
including a piece cited here by Tyler Austin Harper:
An utterly misleading book about rural America. Levitz makes
good points, nicely summed up by subheds:
- Rural white people are more supportive of right-wing authoritarianism
than are urban or suburban ones
- Millions of rural white Americans support the Democratic Party
- Rural white Republicans are not New Deal Democrats who got confused
- The economic challenges facing many rural areas are inherently
difficult to solve.
- Most people inherit the politics of their families and communities
Further reading here:
[04-19]
Tell the truth about Biden's economy: "Exaggering the harms of
inflation doesn't help working people."
[04-23]
The "feminist" case against having sex for fun: "American
conservatives are cozying up to British feminists who argue that
the sexual revolution has hurt women."
[04-24]
Trump's team keeps promising to increase inflation: "Voters trust
Trump to lower prices, even as his advisers put forward plans for
increasing Americans' cost of living." Four steps:
- Reduce the value of the US dollar
- Apply a 10 percent tariff on all foreign imports
- Enact massive, deficit-financed tax cuts
- Shrink the American labor force
Rick Perlstein:
[04-17]
The implausible Mr Buckley: "A new PBS documentary whitewashes
the conservative founder of National Review." Hard to imagine them
rendering him even more white.
Also on Buckley:
[04-24]
My dinner with Andreessen: "Billionaires I have known." First
of a promised three-part series, "because you really need
to know how deeply twisted some of these plutocrats who run our
society truly are." Then after sharing the story of their meeting,
he concludes: "There is something very, very wrong with us, that
our society affords so much pwoer to people like this."
Jeffrey St Clair: [04-19]
Roaming Charges: How to kill a wolf in society.
Michael Tatum:
Books read (and not read): First post on the author's new
blog, "Michael on Everything." Nice supplement to my own last week
Book Roundup, especially as he catches books I missed, and
writes about them with much more care.
Astra Taylor/Leah Hunt-Hendrix: [03-12]
What is solidarity and how does it work?: Introduction to the
authors' book, Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a
World-Changing Idea.
Related:
Li Yuan:
[04-08]
What Chinese outrage over '3 Body Problem' says about China:
"Instead of demonstrating pride, social media is condemning it."
The review also inadvertently says much about America, like how
we insist on cartoonishly simple framing of Chinese history, and
how we insert more westerners into a Chinese story to make it
more "relatable" and still expect them to be thankful for their
leftovers. I'm critical enough of America's own chauvinists and
sanitizers of history that I disapprove of the same things in
other countries -- e.g., the Turkish taboo against so much as
mentioning the Armenian genocide -- and I don't doubt that there
is some of this same spirit in much of the Chinese reaction. But
that hardly give us the right to dictate how they should view
their own history, especially as we have so little sense of it.
[02-29]
China has thousands of Navalnys, hidden from the public.
Of this I have no doubt. Every political system, no matter how
coercive, breeds its own dissent. Countries that tolerate and
even encourage dissent are often better off, and tend to look
down their noses at those who don't, but all countries adjust
as they see fit. Unfortunately, many think they can solve their
problems through repression, and we have no shortage of people
who think like that in America.
Li Zhou: [04-18]
Jontay Porter's lifetime NBA ban highlights the risks of sports
gambling. Also, evidently, the lure. Jeffrey St Clair says:
"People who watch NBA or NHL games are hit with as many as
three gambling ads per minute."
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Book Roundup
I've been doing these
book roundups almost as
long as I've been blogging. I've long held to the idea that the state
of human knowledge is realized in books -- newspapers and magazines,
and the less literary forms that proliferate on the internet may be
ok for "first drafts," but to be taken seriously, one needs to put
it into a more permanent format, secured both by and for time. So my
idea here is to spend a few days looking around to see what's new or
recent (or in some cases just new to me), then write up some notes,
usually from reading blurbs and customer comments, often by looking
at samples, and in very rare cases by actually reading the book.
This process often results in me buying and reading more books, but
in most cases I figure the research itself is sufficient. There is an
element of consumer guidance here, as I hope these lists will help you
decide what to read (and what to skip), to the extent our interests
intersect. Nearly everything below comes from history, philosophy,
and/or social science (including economics), but especially where
politics are involved. Those have been my dominant interests going
back to the mid-1960s, and almost exclusively since 2000, when I
lost my job as a software engineer and found myself with a lot of
free time (mostly thanks to a hard-working and politically astute
wife). Occasionally some other interest will sneak in -- I write
a lot about music but don't read much, at least in book form;
before 2000, I read a lot of popular science (making up ground
for my lack of formal education) and business management (I kept
on top of what my bosses were thinking), but even then I rarely
read fiction, and see no way I can survey it now.
The format of late has been to do short blurbs for a batch of
forty books each post, followed by a list of other things I felt
like noting but not saying much about. I often wound up tacking
"related" lists onto the top-forty, so that section started to
sprawl. Last time
(Sept. 23,
2023) I decided to contain the sprawl, and hopefully expedite
the schedule, by cutting the top section down to 30, promising to
drop down to 20 next time -- the hope there was to get posts out
in a more timely fashion. But since I didn't, I figured I'd shoot
for 30 this time, then upped it to 40, then added in a few more
I figured were done enough to move out of the drafts file (where
a couple hundred more rough drafts and briefly noted remain).
Pictures are books listed below that made it to my
Recent Reading list
(also including books I've ordered but haven't gotten into yet):
- Ned Blackhawk: The Rediscovery of America
- Linda Dittmar: Tracing Homelands
- Leah Hunt-Hendrix/Astra Taylor: Solidarity
- John B Judis/Ruy Teixeira: Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
- Steven Kahn: Illiberal America
- Shaul Magid: The Necessity of Exile
- Tricia Romano: The Freaks Came Out to Write
- Timothy Shenk: Realigners
- Richard Slotkin: A Great Disorder
Here are 40+ more/less recent books of interest in politics,
the social sciences, and history, with occasional side trips,
and supplementary lists to group related titles:
Daron Acemoglu/Simon Johnson: Power and Progress: Our
Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (2023,
PublicAffairs): Acemoglu is an economist who does big picture studies
of "the historical origins of prosperity, poverty, and the effects
of new technologies on economic growth, employment, and inequality,"
often emphasizing the role of institutions (or their absence or
shortcomings), as in two previous books with James Robinson: Why
Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
(2012), and The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate
of Liberty (2019). Johnson is also an economist, formerly chief
at the IMF, who with James Kwak wrote a bestseller, 13 Bankers
(2010), about the 2008 financial meltdown. I tend to be skeptical of
writers trying to work at this level, but the authors do seem to
understand not just that technology is a powerful driving force, but
that exactly where it takes us is subject to political choice -- if,
that is, we have any choice in the matter. They open with a quote
from Norbert Wiener (1949): "If we combine our machine-potentials
of a factory with the valuation of human beings on which our present
factory system is based, we are in for an industrial revolution of
unmitigated cruelty. We must be willing to deal in facts rather than
in fashionable ideologies if we wish to get through this period
unharmed." I would suggest working on that second sentence a bit
more, as facts are rarely recognized except through a haze of
ideology, and what's fashionable often diverges from what one
really needs.
Elliot Ackerman: The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan
(2022, Penguin): Former Marine, five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan,
worked for CIA, has written several well-regarded novels, returned
for the end and didn't like what he saw. This is much touted as a
powerful work that is critical of all US administrations -- bear in
mind that's not exactly the same thing as critical of the war they
created -- but it strikes me as impossible for someone so deeply
embedded to be able to see much beyond the battle lines.
- Adam Wunische: Unwinnable Wars: Afghanistan and the Future
of American Armed Statebuilding (paperback, 2024, Polity).
Author has a long history as a military and CIA analyst, but also
did some research at Quincy Institute, and admits that "armed
statebuilding is overdetermined for failure."
- Séamus Ó Fianghusa (Fennessy): The Pullout Sellout: The
Betrayal of Afghanistan and America's 9/11 Legacy (paperback,
2021, Im Úr Blasta).
Tim Alberta: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American
Evangelism in an Age of Extremism (2023, Harper): Shows how
American evangelicals have embraced right-wing politics under the
guise of Christian Nationalism, seeing Donald Trump as their savior
and redeemer, through which God might bring the nation back to its
intended state of grace. It's a very heady mix, ominous to anyone
who just wants to get along in an increasingly complex and diverse
society.
Some related books (including some pushback):
- Anthea Butler: White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of
Morality in America (2021, The University of North Carolina
Press).
- Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons: Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive
Christianity (2020, Broadleaf Books).
- Jack Jenkins: American Prophets: The Religious Roots of
Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the
Country (2020; paperback, 2021, Harper One).
- Kristin Kobes Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne: How White
Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
(2020; paperback, 2021, Liveright).
- Robert P Jones: The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and
the Path to a Shared American Future (2023, Simon &
Schuster).
- Sarah McCammon: The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and
Leaving the White Evangelical Church (2024, St Martin's
Press).
- Elizabeth Neumann: Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian
Extremism and the Path Back to Peace (2024, Worthy Books).
- Bradley Onishi: Preparing for War: The Extremist History of
White Christian Nationalism -- and What Comes Next (2023,
Broadleaf Books).
- Jim Wallis: The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian
Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy
(2024, St Martin's Essentials).
- NT Wright/Michael F Bird: Jesus and the Powers: Christian
Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional
Democracies (paperback, 2024, Zondervan).
Eric Alterman: We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight
Over Israel (2022, Basic Books): "This book is a history of
the debate over Israel in the United States." But has there really
been a debate? I suspect that much in this book will come as news
even to the American Jews and Evangelicals (presumably the subject
of the chapter "Alliance for Armageddon") who most reflexively and
vehemently cheer Israel. The "special relationship" of America for
Israel -- an affection that is welcomed by Israelis but clearly not
reciprocated -- desperately needs to be reexamined in light of the
instant and unblinking rallying of virtually the entire American
political class when Israel set on its course of genocide against
Gaza.
Isaac Arnsdorf: Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's
Ground War to End Democracy (2024, Little Brown): There is
a large and growing shelf of books lamenting various threats to
democracy (some of which I'll tack on here), but few get specific to
the threat, even though their greatest fears are clearly articulated
at every Trump rally. The problem is not some abstract threat to the
cherished concept of democracy, but a specific political movement
which seeks to seize power, by any means at its disposal, and to
use that power to punish its enemies and to perpetuate itself.
More books on various aspects of this:
- Ari Berman: Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will
of the People -- and the Fight to Resist It (2024, Farrar
Straus and Giroux).
- Joan Donovan/Emily Dreyfuss/Brian Friedberg: Meme Wars: The
Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America
(2022, Bloomsbury): Investigates how the right wing has weaponized
social media, especially in their reduction of political argument to
memes, where meaning is often reduced to tribal identity.
- James Davison Hunter: Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural
Roots of America's Political Crisis (2024, Yale University
Press): Keywords fit here and/or under solidarity, but aims at deeper
study of social mechanics rather than some activist agenda.
- Robert Kagan: Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing
America Apart -- Again (2024, Knopf).
- Steve Levitsky/Daniel Ziblatt: Tyranny of the Minority:
Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point (2023,
Crown). Authors of How Democracies Die (2018).
- Barbara McQuade: Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is
Sabotaging America (2024, Seven Stories Press).
- David Neiwert: Red Pill, Blue Pill: How to Counteract the
Conspiracy Theories That Are Killing Us (2020, Prometheus).
- David Neiwert: The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Right's
Assault on American Democracy (2023, Melville House).
- Tom Nichols: Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on
Modern Democracy (2021, Oxford University Press): Professor
at US Naval War College.
- David Pepper: Saving Democracy: A User's Manual for Every
American (2023, St Helena Press).
- Brynn Tannehill: American Fascism: How the GOP is Subverting
Democracy (2021, Transgress Press).
- Miles Taylor: Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy From
the Next Trump (2023, Atria Books): The "senior Trump
administration official" who published A Warning in 2019.
Most of us worry more about This Trump.
Walter Benjamin: Radio Benjamin (paperback, 2021,
Verso): Famous German literary critic (1892-1940), wrote and presented
radio programs from 1927-33, bringing his insights and curiosity to the
new medium. This gathers the surviving transcripts from his programs
(424 pp).
Lauren Benton: They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial
Violence (2024, Princeton University Press): Blurb suggests
an alternate sub: "A sweeping account of how small wars shaped
global order in the age of empires." "Small wars" is a term Max
Boot popularized to describe conflicts where the US -- and Europe
has many more examples -- attacked some relatively defenseless
enclave, for plunder or punishment or sometimes it would seem
simply for sport (as they sometimes put it: "butcher and bolt").
This offers a brief (304 pp) history of the violence committed
in the name of empire: Chapter 1 is "From Small Wars to Atrocity
in Empires." "Peace" is rarely more than post-facto rationalization,
and more often than not dissolves into resistance and revolt, which
has its own "small war" etymology ("guerilla warfare").
Benton has written a fair amount about empire:
- Lauren A Benton: Invisible Factories: The Informal Economy
and Industrial Development in Spain (1990, SUNY Press).
- Lauren Benton: Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in
World History, 1400-1900 (2002; paperback, 2009, Cambridge
University Press).
- Lauren Benton: A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography
in European Empires, 1400-1900 (paperback, 2009, Cambridge
University Press).
- Lauren Benton/Richard J Ross, eds: Legal Pluralism and
Empires, 1500-1850 (paperback, 2013, NYU Press).
- Lauren Benton/Lisa Ford: Rage for Order: The British Empire
and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850 (2016; paperback,
2018, Harvard University Press).
- Lauren Benton/Bain Atwood/Adam Clulow, eds: Protection and
Empire: A Global History (2017; paperback, 2018, Cambridge
University Press).
- Lauren Benton/Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, eds: A World at Sea:
Maritime Practices and Global History (2020, University of
Pennsylvania Press).
Vincent Bevins: If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the
Missing Revolution (2023, PublicAffairs): Journalist, has
written for Washington Post and Financial Times [London], covering
South America and Southeast Asia, has a previous book on the mass
murder of leftists in Indonesia (The Jakarrta Method: Washington's
Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our
World). Major insight here is that the 2010s were a decade with
massive protests all around the world -- Arab Spring, Turkey, Ukraine,
Chile, Hong Kong are among the more famous -- that resulted in very
little real change. The reasonable conclusion would be that the
underlying problems are still festering, temporarily held in check
by repressive measures that are likely to fail.
Related:
- Mark Engler/Paul Engler: This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent
Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century (2016; paperback,
2017, Bold Type).
- Nadav Eyal: Revolt: The Worldwide Uprising Against
Globalization (2021, Ecco; paperback, 2022, Picador).
- Jade Saab: A Region in Revolt: Mapping the Recent Uprisings
in North Africa and West Asia (paperback, 2020, Daraja Press).
Rachael Bitecofer: Hit 'Em Where It Hurts: How to Save
Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game (2024,
Crown). Democrats sorely need a hard-hitting political strategy
book, which is what this one promises. Still, the two political
parties are in many respects asymmetrical, and as such require
different positions and therefore tactics. Democrats need to be
able to solve problems and offer tangible returns to voters, where
Republicans seem to be able to thrive on emotional appeals that
only lead to counterproductive policies. Democrats need to be able
to raise money, but cannot afford to be seen as corrupt, and need
to garner massive support from voters who have little or no money
to give. Still, Democrats need to be able to deliver at least some
of the emotional satisfaction people seem to get from Republicans.
One way to do that is to get nastier: to show that Republicans are
crooked and deceitful and generally full of shit. Which really
shouldn't be that hard for the party that believes in science, in
reason, in truth, and in honest public service.
More on the state of the Democrats:
- Joshua Green: The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie
Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle for a New
American Politics (2024, Penguin Press). Green previously
reported on the Republicans in Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon,
Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency (2017).
- Ryan Grim: The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political
Revolution (2023, Henry Holt).
- John B Judis/Ruy Teixeira: Where Have All the Democrats
Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes (2023,
Henry Holt): The guys who promised you an "emerging Democratic
majority" now promise you . . . more heartbreak.
- Lainey Newman/Theda Skocpol: Rust Belt Union Blues: Why
Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away From the Democratic Party
(2023, Columbia University Press).
- Hunter Walker/Luppe B Juppen: The Truce: Progressives,
Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party (2024,
WW Norton).
Ned Blackhawk: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples
and the Unmaking of US History (2023, Yale University Press):
A prize-winning revision of American history turning on relations
with the continent's native population, from the first Spanish
encounters to the "Cold War Era." This story has most often been
brushed aside in large-scale historical studies, but has a lot to
say about what kind of people we were, and what kind we have become.
Also:
- Kathleen DuVal: Native Nations: A Millennium in North
America (2024, Random House): Big book (752 pp), vast scope.
Andy Borowitz: Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians
Got Dumb and Dumber (2022, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster):
Satirist, for years now has paddled desperately trying to stay ahead of
reality, but succumbs here, writing about "The Three Stages of Ignorance."
Or, as he explains: "Over the past fifty years, what some of our most
prominent politicians didn't know could fill a book. This is that book."
Daniel Boyarin: The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto
(2023, Yale University Press): A professor of Talmudic Studies,
the author tries to reconcile the justice sought by his religion
with the power sought by the Israeli state, and cannot, leading
him to reject the state, and to reexamine the "Jewish question"
that some of his co-religionists tried to solve with Zionism.
Also on Zionism and its discontents:
- Noah Feldman: To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God,
Israel, and the Jewish People (2024, Farrar Straus and
Giroux).
- Geoffrey Levin: Our Palestine Question: Israel and
American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978 (2023, Yale University
Press).
- Shaul Magid: The Necessity of Exile: Essays From a
Distance (paperback, 2023, Ayin Press).
- Atalia Omer: Days of Awe: Reimagining Jewishness in Solidarity
With Palestinians (paperback, 2019, University of Chicago
Press).
- Derek J Penslar: Zionism: An Emotional State
(paperback, 2023, Rutgers University Press).
- Rebecca Vilkomerson/Alissa Wise: Solidarity Is the
Political Version of Love: Lessons From Jewish Anti-Zionist
Organizing (paperback, 2024, Haymarket Books).
[09-03]
Steve Coll: The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A.,
and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq (2024, Penguin
Press): He wrote the primary book on America in Afghanistan --
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin
Laden: From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004),
which was eventually given a sequel in Directorate 6: The CIA
and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2018) --
as well as major side projects on the Bin Ladens and Exxon-Mobil.
This, like Ghost Wars, starts in 1979, and ends in 2003 --
as the Bush invasion of Iraq was as definitive a break as the 9/11
pivot from clandestine mischief to assertion of global power, and
every bit as misguided.
Matthew Desmond: Poverty, by America (2023, Crown):
Asks why, and concludes that people in power like it this way. It's
not an obvious choice, but in a political system where power is largely
determined by money, it shouldn't be surprising to find that money is
largely determined by power. As Desmond notes, "poverty isn't simply
the condition of not having enough money. It's the condition of not
having enough choice." Author previously wrote Evicted: Poverty and
Profit in the American City (2016), specifically about Milwaukee.
A few more books relating to poverty:
- Kevin F Adler/Donald W Burnes: When We Walk By: Forgotten
Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending
Homelessness in America (paperback, 2023, North Atlantic
Books).
- Kathryn J Edin/H Luke Schaefer/Timothy J Nelson: The
Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America
(2023, Mariner Books).
- Joanne Samuel Goldblum/Colleen Shaddox: Broke in America:
Seeing, Understanding, and Ending US Poverty (2021, BenBella
Books).
- Tracie McMillan: The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash
Value of Racism in America (2024, Henry Holt).
- Mark Robert Rank/Lawrence M Eppard/Heather E Bullock: Poorly
Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty (2021,
Oxford University Press).
Bruce Gilley: In Defense of German Colonialism: And How Its
Critics Empower Nazis, Communists, and the Enemies of the West
(2022, Regnery): It's rather shocking that anyone could come up with
a whole book of rationalizations for Germany's pre-WWI colonial empire,
which is mostly remembered for its genocide of the Herero in what's
now called Namibia. (But I suppose the publisher tells you what you
need to know about the author.)
Also in this vein:
- Bruce Gilley: The Last Imperialist: Sir Alan Burns's Epic
Defense of the British Empire (2021, Regnery).
- Jeff Flynn-Paul: Not Stolen: The Truth About European
Colonialism in the New World (paperback, 2023, Bombardier
Books): Argues that colonialism was a blessing, that all of the
"shameful sins and crimes against humanity" you've read about
never happened, and the true story "is more inspiring than you
ever dared to imagine."
Steven Hahn: Illiberal America: A History (2024,
WW Norton): A thematic review of all of American history, the theme
being the impulses and forces that have always risen to threaten
and often to thwart the liberal ideals Americans have celebrated,
but rarely lived up to. Little distinguishes illiberalism from the
more often self-proclaimed conservatism, except that it expresses
not just a fondness for order but the willingness to enforce it
through violence. As thematic history, I suspect this winds up
fairly closely tracking Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style
in American Politics -- illiberalism by yet another name.
Other books by Hahn:
- Steven Hahn: The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers
and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry (1983; updated
paperback, 2006, Oxford University Press).
- Steven Hahn: A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles
in the Rural South From Slavery to the Great Migration (2003;
paperback, 2005, Belknap Press).
- Steven Hahn: The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom
(2009, Harvard University Press).
- Steven Hahn: A Nation Without Borders: The United States and
Its World in an Age of Civil Wars, 1830-1910 (2016, Viking;
paperback, 2017, Penguin Books).
Jonathan Haidt: The Anxious Generation: How the Great
Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
(2024, Penguin Press): Degree in social psychology, teaches "ethical
leadership" in NYU's Stern School of Business, a conservative
intellectual who can't quite be dismissed out of hand, although
I find it pretty likely that much of what looks like "mental
illness" to conservatives is simply stuff they don't understand.
This pairs with:
- Greg Lukianoff/Rikki Schlott: The Canceling of the American
Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All -- but
There is a Solution (2023, Simon & Schuster): Foreword
by Jonathan Haidt, who co-wrote The Coddling of the American Mind:
How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for
Failure. No doubt this ignores the basic paradox, which is that
while conservatives do the most complaining about "cancel culture,"
they're also the ones doing most of the cancelling.
Jacob Heilbrunn: America Last: The Right's Century-Long
Romance With Foreign Dictators (2024, Liveright): Journalist,
has a previous book, They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the
Neocons (2008), actually goes back a bit farther than the rise
of Mussollini (third chapter; first is "Courting Kauiser Wilhelm"),
winds up with Trump (of course), but in a short book he probably
glosses over a lot of obvious subjects (e.g., whole books have been
written about Pinochet and Friedman).
Dara Horn: People Love Dead Jews: Reports From a Haunted
Present (2021; paperback, 2022, WW Norton): A novelist of
some note, writes about the state and legacy of antisemitism in
America (and elsewhere?), recalling Shakespeare's Shylock and Anne
Frank and "the Jewish history of Harbin, China" and, no doubt, much
more. Which is bound to be disturbing on some level, but exactly
how cannot be known except to looking deeper into the details and
nuances. That could be interesting, but hardly seems important
compared to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, on top of the broader
and deeper discrimination against non-Jews in Israel, which is
not only fueled by the same kinds of prejudices that have been
used against Jews for ages, but is also fortified by internalizing
the sort of tales of victimhood Horn engages in.
Also on antisemitism (and Holocaust remembrance, the trump card in
the eternal victimization story):
- David Baddiel: Jews Don't Count (2021, TLS Books):
Short (144 pp), argues antisemitism is overlooked or underappreciated.
- Omer Bartov: Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of
a Town Called Buczacz (2018; paperback, 2019, Simon &
Schuster): In Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
- Omer Bartov: Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine:
First-Person History in Times of Crisis (paperback, 2023,
Bloomsbury).
- Jószef Debreczeni: Cold Crematorium: Reporting From the Land
of Auschwitz (2024, St Martin's Press).
- Susan J Eischeid: Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark
Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at
Auschwitz-Birkenau (2023, Citadel).
- Cary Nelson: Israel Denial: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism,
& the Faculty Campaign Against the Jewish State (paperback,
2019, Indiana University Press).
- Dan Stone: The Holocaust: An Unfinished History (2024,
Mariner Books).
- Bari Weiss: How to Fight Anti-Semitism (2019; paperback,
2021, Crown).
Leah Hunt-Hendrix/Astra Taylor: Solidarity: The Past, Present,
and Future of a World-Changing Idea (2024, Pantheon): Liberals
and leftists may share common beliefs in principles and rights, but
there is an essential difference: liberals celebrate individuals,
while the left sees groups, acting together, bound by solidarity,
a sense not just that interests are shared but that only collective
action can secure them. Not long ago, Thomas Geoghegan made a big
point on how solidarity was what distinguishes the labor movement
from liberalism in America, and how alien the former seems to the
latter. But when I look around today, I see a lot of emphasis on
solidarity.
More recent books on left activism:
- Chris Benner/Manuel Pastor: Solidarity Economics: Why
Mutuality and Movements Matter (paperback, 2021, Polity).
- Deepak Bhargava/Stephanie Luce: Practical Radicals:
Seven Strategies to Change the World (2023, New Press).
- David Fenton: The Activist's Media Handbook: Lessons From
Fifty Years as a Progressive Agitator (2022, Earth Aware
Editions).
- Kelly Hayes/Mariame Kaba: Let This Radicalize You:
Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (paperback,
2023, Haymarket Books).
- Tricia Hersey: Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto
(2022, Little Brown Spark).
- Mie Inouye: On Solidarity (paperback, 2023, Boston
Review): Leads a forum, with William J Barber II, Charisse Burden-Stelly,
Jodi Dean, Nathan R DuFord, Alex Gourevitch, Juliet Hooker, Daniel
Martinez HoSang, David Roediger, Sarah Schulman, Astra Taylor, Leah
Hunt-Hendrix, Liz Theoharis, plus articles by others.
- Raina Lipsitz: The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals
Are Shaping the Future of American Politics (2022, Verso).
- Staughton Lynd/Mike Konopacki: Solidary Unionism: Rebuilding
the Labor Movement From Below (paperback, 2015, PM Press).
- Daisy Pitkin: On the Line: Two Women's Epic Fight to Build
a Union (2022; paperback, 2023, Algonquin Books).
- Andrea J Ritchie: Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and
Emergent Strategies (paperback, 2023, AK Press).
- Erica Smiley/Sarita Gupta: The Future We Need: Organizing
for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century (paperback,
2022, ILR Press).
- Cenk Uygur: Justice Is Coming: How Progressives Are Going
to Take Over the Country and America Is Going to Love It
(2023, St Martin's Press).
Of course, solidarity is a theme that extends beyond the US, as
many recent books attest:
- Jennifer Lynn Kelly: Invited to Witness: Solidarity Tourism
Across Occupied Palestine (paperback, 2023, Duke University
Press).
- Margaret M Power: Solidarity Across the Americas: The
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-Imperialism (paperback,
2023, University of North Carolina Press).
- Rob Skinner: Peace, Decolonization and the Practice of
Solidarity (2023, Bloomsbury Academic).
- Firuzeh Shokooh Valle: In Defense of Solidarity and Pleasure:
Feminist Technopolitics From the Global South (2023, Stanford
University Press).
- Daniel Widener: Third Worlds Within: Multiethnic Movements
and Transnational Solidarity (paperback, 2024, Duke University
Press). Foreword by Vijay Prashad.
Book series: Abolitionist Papers:
- Mariame Kaba: We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist
Organizing and Transforming Justice [Abolitionist Papers, 1]
(paperback, 2021, Haymarket Books).
- Angela Y Davis/Gina Dent/Erica R Meiners/Beth E Richie:
Abolitionism. Feminism. Now. [Abolitionist Papers, 2]
(paperback, 2022, Haymarket Books).
- Robyn Maynard/Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: Rehearsals
for Living [Abolitionist Papers, 3] (paperback, 2022,
Haymarket Books).
- Mizue Aizeki/Matt Mahmoudi/Coline Schupfer, eds: Resisting
Borders and Technologies of Violence [Abolitionist Papers]
(paperback, 2024, Haymarket Books).
Book series: Emergent Strategy (a series of
12 books):
- Adrienne Maree Brown: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change,
Changing Worlds [Emergent Strategy, 0] (paperback, 2017, AK
Press).
- Adrienne Maree Brown, ed: Pleasure Activism: The Politics
of Feeling Good [Emergent Strategy, 1] (paperback, 2019, AK
Press).
- Adrienne Maree Brown: Holding Change: The Way of Emergent
Strategy Facilitation and Mediation [Emergent Strategy, 4]
(paperback, 2021, AK Press).
Jonathan Karl: Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of
the Grand Old Party (2023, Dutton): Every one of these posts
offers a new crop of Trump books, so the only question is which one
to lead with. Lots of legal baggage down list, with his trials and
tribulations likely to crowd out his more fundamental obnoxiousness
and more pathetic malapropisms. But no other politician has remotely
come close to the amount of press he's garnered, and that's unlikely
to change any time soon. Although I'm inclined to add that this
segment's collection of new Trump books is among the most boring
ever:
- Martin Baron: Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the
Washington Post (2023, Flatiron Books).
- Ken Block: Disproven: My Unbiased Search for Vote Fraud for
the Trump Campaign, the Data That Shows Why He Lost, and How We Can
Improve Our Elections (2024, Forefront Books).
- Clay Cane: The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black
Republicans From the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
(2024, Sourcebooks).
- Alan Dershowitz: Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties,
Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law (2023, Hot
Books): Fourth (or sixth?) book the world's most opportunistically
liberal lawyer has written defending Trump.
- Elie Honig: Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With
It (2023, Harper): Former prosecutor, now CNN Legal Analyst,
tells us something we already suspected, which is that the rich and
famous enjoy huge advantages in America's so-called justice system.
Granted, some of his famous examples (Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein,
Bill Cosby) did wind up in jail, but only after extraordinary efforts.
But his main example, Donald Trump, is still at large.
- Cassidy Hutchinson: Enough (2023, Simon &
Schuster): Trump White House aide, testified memorably to the
Jan. 6 Select Committee (e.g., about Trump throwing food).
- Michael Isikoff/Daniel Klaidman: Find Me the Votes: A
Hard-Charging Georgia Prosecutor, a Rogue President, and the Plot
to Steal an American Election (2024, Twelve).
- Melissa Murray/Andrew Weissmann: The Trump Indictments:
The Historic Charging Documents With Commentary (paperback,
2024, WW Norton).
- Tim Murtaugh: Swing Hard in Case You Hit It: My Escape
From Addiction and Shot at Redemption on the Trump Campaign
(2024, Bombardier Books).
- Mark Pomerantz: People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account
(2023, Simon & Schuster): New York prosecutor, resigned when
he thought Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was too slow in prosecuting
Trump.
- Ethan Porter/Thomas J Wood: False Alarm: The Truth About
Political Mistruths in the Trump Era (paperback, 2019,
Cambridge University Press): 80 pp.
- Charles Renwick: All the Presidents' Taxes: What We Can Learn
(and Borrow) from the High-Stakes World of Presidential Tax-Paying
(2023, Lioncrest): Short (180 pp), some but not all on Trump.
- Ramin Setoodeh: Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump
and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass (2024,
Harper). TV writer. Previously wrote: Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive
Story of "The View" (2019). [06-18]
- Tristan Snell: Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting
Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully (2024, Melville
House): Snell was the New York prosecutor on the Trump University fraud
case, which was ultimately settled for $25 million, before Trump became
president, so he didn't take him down very far.
- Ali Velshi: The Trump Indictments: The 91 Criminal Counts
Against the Former President of the United States (paperback,
2023, Mariner Books): Introduction plus documents.
- Bob Woodward: The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty
Interviews With President Donald Trump (paperback, 2023,
Simon & Schuster): Documentation for his books Fear
(2018) and Rage (2020).
Nelson Lichtenstein/Judith Stein: A Fabulous Failure: The
Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism
(2023, Princeton University Press): "How the Clinton administration
betrayed its progressive principles and capitulated to the right."
I'm less inclined to grant him any "progressive principles." I think
his plan all along was to show wealthy donors that backing Democrats
would make them more money than the Reagan cronies ever would, and
he delivered a pretty good case for that. But the other part of his
pitch didn't fare so well: he claimed that "reinventing government"
to make it more business-friendly would "trickle down" to lift up
workers and alleviate poverty, so everyone would win (especially
himself). To some extent, he succeeded there too, but it didn't feel
like much of a win -- especially to the workers who got cut off from
union jobs, to the regions that got stripped of their factories and
livelihoods, and to the millions of Americans who saw the federal
safety net shredded by austerity, and who fell ever deeper in debt,
as a new class of "symbolic analysts" were touted as future elites.
Also by the authors:
- Nelson Lichtenstein: Labor's War at Home: The CIO in World
War II (1983; paperback, 2008, Temple University Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein/Howell John Harris, eds: Industrial
Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise (1993; revised,
paperback, 1996, Cambridge University Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit:
Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (1995,
Basic Books).
- Nelson Lichtenstein, ed: American Capitalism: Social Thought
and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century (2006, University
of Pennsylvania Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein: State of the Union: A Century of
American Labor (2002; revised, paperback, 2013, Princeton
University Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein, ed: Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First
Century Capitalism (2006, paperback, New Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein: The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart
Created a Brave New World of Business (2009, Metropolitan
Books; paperback, 2010, Picador).
- Nelson Lichtenstein/Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, eds: The Right
and Labor in America: Politics, Ideology, and Imagination
(2012; paperback, 2016, University of Pennsylvania Press).
- Nelson Lichtenstein: A Contest of Ideas: Capital, Politics
and Labor (paperback, 2013, University of Illinois Press).
- Romain Huret/Nelson Lichtenstein/Jean-Christian Vinel, eds:
Capitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies (2020,
University of Pennsylvania Press).
- Roy Rosenzweig/Nelson Lichtenstein/Joshua Brown/David Jaffee
[American Social History Project]: Who Built America? Working
People and the Nation's History: Volume Two: 1877 to the Present
(third edition, paperback, 2007, Bedford/St Martin's).
- Judith Stein: The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and
Class in Modern Society (1985; paperback, 1991, Louisiana
State University Press).
- Judith Stein: Running Steel, Running America: Race, Economic
Policy, and the Decline of Liberalism (paperback, 1998,
University of North Carolina Press).
- Judith Stein: Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded
Factories for Finance in the Seventies (2010; paperback, 2011,
Yale University Press).
Antony Loewenstein: The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel
Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World
(paperback, 2023, Verso). Israel isn't just one of the world's
most authoritarian societies, they've pioneered advanced technology
to surveil and repress the people they don't like, and they've
tested it extensively, so they know what works, and fix what still
needs work. But they're not selfish. They got that entrepreneurial
spirit, so would-be fascists anywhere in the world, whether running
a country or just a local police department, can get in on the act
and buy proven technology to oppress their own people. As Noam Chomsky
explains: "A sad and sordid record of how 'the light unto the nations'
became the purveyor of the means of violence and brutal repression
from Guatemala to Myanmar and wherever else the opportunity arose."
Related books:
- Alon Arvath: The Battle for Your Computer: Israel and the
Growth of the Global Cyber-Security Industry (2023, Wiley).
- Antony Loewenstein: The Blogging Revolution: How the Newest
Media Revolution Is Changing Politics, Business and Culture in India,
China, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Cuba and Saudi Arabia (2008;
paperback, 2015, Jaico Publishing House).
- Antony Loewenstein: My Israel Question (3rd ed,
paperback, 2009, Melbourne University Press).
- Antony Loewenstein/Ahmed Moor, eds: After Zionism: One State
for Israel and Palestine (2012; paperback, 2024, Saqi Books).
- Antony Loewenstein: Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing
out of Catastrophe (paperback, 2017, Verso).
- Antony Loewenstein: Pills, Powder, and Smoke: Inside the
Bloody War on Drugs (paperback, 2019, Scribe).
Rachel Maddow: Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism
(2023, Crown): Popular left-of-center newscaster, but she's been
super annoying ever since she got Putin stuck in her craw during
the 2016 election and never managed to either swallow or spit it
out. But I have to wonder: who actually writes her books? And why
does she put her name on the cover? I mean, I can sort of imagine
her writing Drift in 2012 to show she's really a warmonger
at heart, and then Blowout -- well, she totally cornered
the "blame Russia" niche for three years up to 2019 -- but why
write a book about Spiro Agnew during the 2020 election season?
And now this, about how Nazi sympathizers in 1941 got rejected
and some kind of comeuppance? Title suggests that we can also
stand up to fascists today, but it's not that simple, because
we're not the same us, and they're not the same them. Blurring
those distinctions may sell whatever, and that's clearly the
level she wants to work at, but it hardly solves anything.
Nazis are a perennial theme, so here are more recent books:
- Michael Benson: Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters
Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America (2022, Citadel).
- David De Jong: Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of
Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties (2022, Mariner Books).
- Kathryn S Olmsted: The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons
Who Enabled Hitler (2022, Yale University Press): As WWII
approached, these six American and British moguls praised Hitler
and sought to keep their countries neutral and friendly towards
Nazi Germany.
- Susan Ronald: Hitler's Aristocrats: The Secret Power
Players in Britain and America Who Supported the Nazis, 1923-1941
(2023, St Martin's Press).
Branko Milanovic: Visions of Inequality: From the French
Revolution to the End of the Cold War (2023, Belknap Press):
Economist, has written several books on capitalism and inequality,
moves here from the evidence of such to the realm of philosophy,
focusing on what six important economists said about inequality:
François Quesnay, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Vilfredo
Pareto, and Simon Kuznets.
Also on inequality:
- Ann Case/Angus Deaton: Deaths of Despair and the Future
of Capitalism (2020; paperback, 2021, Princeton University
Press).
- Chuck Collins: Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes
the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing
to the Common Good (paperback, 2016, Chelsea Green).
- Chuck Collins: Is Inequality in America Irreversible?
(paperback, 2018, Polity).
- Chuck Collins: The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay
Millions to Hide Trillions (paperback, 2021, Polity).
- Angus Deaton: Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist
Explores the Land of Inequality (2023, Princeton University
Press).
- Oded Galor: The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth
and Inequality (2022, Dutton): Big picture synthesis of all
of human history plus what we know about pre-history, particularly
interested in the growth of wealth and inequality.
- Michelle Jackson: Manifesto for a Dream: Inequality, Constraint,
and Radical Reform (paperback, 2020, Stanford University Press).
- Destin Jenkins: The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making
of the American City (2021, University of Chicago Press).
- Eyal Press: Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll
of Inequality in America (2021, Farrar Straux and Giroux;
paperback, 2022, Picador Press).
Luke Mogelson: The Storm Is Here: An American Crucible
(2022, Penguin): Reporter used to covering the War on Terror decided
the real action was back in the USA in 2020, reporting on the Michigan
militias and their anti-lockdown protests/crimes, police violence both
before and after the George Floyd killing, and so forth up through
January 6.
William L Patterson: We Charge Genocide: The Crime of
Government Against the Negro People (1951; paperback, 2017,
International Publishers): I saw this among the recommendations in
a list of books about Israel, and figured anyone ahead of the curve
deserved a mention. Turns out it's a much older book, a brief that
the author (1891-1980, "a Marxist lawyer, author, and civil rights
activist") presented before the UN in 1951. That's a stretch -- the
American system was still more focused on exploiting labor, as an
extension of slavery, than on killing people, not that they had much
compunction about those they did kill -- but coming early after the
world belatedly decided that genocide is a major crime, Patterson
offered them a real and pressing case to think about.
Heather Cox Richardson: Democracy Awakening: Notes on the
State of America (2023, Viking): Historian, has written
several useful books on the Republican Party and Reconstruction.
Recently, she's become a prolific blogger, attempting to understand
contemporary events in the context of history, and often impressive
as such. But her views are pretty conventionally liberal, and I've
found her recent attempts to valorize Biden's foreign policy really
lame even before they turned so spectacularly embarrassing. (But I
can't say I've noted much by her on that of late.)
Tricia Romano: The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive
History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American
Culture (2024, Public Affairs): Structured as an oral history,
assembled quotes from interviews and other sources, this chronicles
New York's (well, America's) biggest little underground newspaper from
1956 to its demise c. 2012, with skeletal coverage of the business and
editorial masters, and a broad selection of the ever-revolting workers,
who took every opportunity to transcend its economics. Much more could
have been done on the latter. Just in music, there's nothing much on
the brilliant jazz writing of Gary Giddins and Francis Davis (although
Stanley Crouch throws enough punches to get noticed), nothing at all
on the exceptional new music coverage of Tom Johnson and Kyle Gann,
and not a single mention of yours truly (or dozens of others I can
name who were more regular contributors). My own history goes back to
subscribing when I was an 18-year-old dropout in Wichita, gathering
seeds that later transformed my life, even with no clear desire let
along plan to do so. All it took was an openness to say, hey, that
might be interesting.
Nouriel Roubini: Megathreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil
Our Future, and How to Survive Them (2022, Little Brown): Worth
listing: The Mother of All Debt Crises; Private and Public Failures; The
Demographic Time Bomb; The Easy Money Trap and the Boom-Bust Cycle; The
Coming Great Stagflation; Currency Meltdowns and Financial Instability;
The End of Globalization?; The AI Threat; The New Cold War; An
Uninhabitable Planet? Ends with two versions of "Can This Disaster Be
Averted?" Roubini got a lot of credit as one of the first economists
to predict the crash of 2008. There's some real stuff here, but it
also is some kind of hustle.
Timothy W Ryback: Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power
(2024, Knopf): Focuses on the few months lealding up to "January 30,
1933" (chapter 22 title here), when Germany's transferred effective
power to Hitler, who then swiftly moved to seize everything else,
fashion his peculiar version of MAGA ("The Third Reich," he called
it), and drive Germany to war, extermination, and ruin. The broad
outline is familiar by now, the nuances in the details over just
how much of Hitler's program was anticipated and relished by his
benefactors (almost everything, I dare say) and how many of them
regretted their decision (very few, at least until the war turned
against them).
David E Sanger: New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's
Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West (2024,
Crown): Journalist, covers national security for the New York Times,
which evidently requires him to believe that conflicts with nuclear
powers are necessary but also stable and benign, like they think
the Cold War was. This was mostly nonsense, wrapped up in American
myopia and arrogance, also ideological incoherence -- as Russia
and China became more capitalist, the real distinction came down
to them having their own arms markets, independent of the American
cartel. Nothing boosts arms sales like the spectre of enemies, and
falling back on decades of distrust, Russia and China were easy
villains. That Russia took the bait in Ukraine should have alerted
us to the risks of such thinking, but for now the arms industry is
booming.
- David E Sanger: The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and
Fear in the Cyber Age (2018; paperback, 2019, Crown).
- Sanjaya Baru/Rahul Sharma: A New Cold War: Henry
Kissinger and the Rise of China (2021, HarperCollins).
- Michael Doyle: Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War
(2023; paperback, 2024, Liveright): One of the few books in this
section not bought and paid for by the arms cartel. He previously
wrote:
- Michael Doyle: Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism,
and Socialism (paperback, 1997, WW Norton).
- John Bellamy Foster/John Ross/Deborah Veneziale: Washington's
New Cold War: A Socialist Perspective (paperback, 2022,
Monthly Review Press): Introduction by Vijay Prashad.
- Gordon M Hahn: Ukraine Over the Edge: Russia, the West
and the "New Cold War" (paperback, 2018, McFarland).
- Matthew Kroenig/Dan Negrea: We Win They Lose: Republican
Foreign Policy & the New Cold War (2024, Republic Book
Publishers): Foreword by Mike Pompeo. Declared the New Cold War
has started, and China is the enemy. Kroenig is a long-time hawk,
as you can see from:
- Mark Kroenig: The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy: Why
Strategic Superiority Matters (2018; paperback, 2020, Oxford
University Press).
- Matt Pottinger: The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend
Taiwan (paperback, 2024, Hoover Institution Press). [07-01]
- Sten Rynning: NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine, a History
of the World's Most Powerful Alliance (2024, Yale University
Press): Rather puffy for what's basically a useless symbol -- except
when it is used, it quickly turns into a liability.
- Jim Sciutto: The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China,
and the Next World War (2024, Dutton): CNN "national security"
correspondent, two previous big books along these lines, including
The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World.
- Richard Sakwa: Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold
War (paperback, 2023, Lexington Books).
- George S Takach: Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence
in the New Battle Between China, Russia, and America (2024,
Pegasus Books).
- Noam Chomsky: Towards a New Cold War: US Foreign Policy
From Vietnam to Reagan (1982; paperback, 2003, New Press):
Searching for "new cold war" I found this ancient text, from the
period when Reagan's hawks still had an old Cold War to escalate.
The reprint, with a new introduction by John Pilger, clearly marked
their plans for a revival with the Global War on Terror already
going sideways, and reminds us that their blueprints just fed on
old propaganda, easily recycled.
Along the way, I ran into some new books on the old Cold War,
which bear mention here:
- Paul Thomas Chamberlin: The Cold War's Killing Fields:
Rethinking the Long Peace (2018; paperback, 2019, Harper).
- Campbell Craig/Fredrik Logevall: America's Cold War:
The Politics of Insecurity (2009; second edition, paperback,
2020, Belknap Press).
- Jeffrey A Engel: When the World Seemed New: George HW
Bush and the End of the Cold War (2017; paperback, 2018,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
- Bridget Kendall: The Cold War: A New Oral History
(paperback, 2018, BBC Physical Audio).
- Chris Miller: The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy:
Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR (2016,
University of North Carolina Press).
- Jeff Shesol: Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy,
and the New Battleground of the Cold War (2021; paperback,
2022, WW Norton).
- Natalia Telepneva: Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union
and the Collapse of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1975
(paperback, 2022, University of North Carolina Press).
- Odd Arne Westad: The Cold War: A World History
(2017, Basic Books; paperback, 2019, Random House). He previously
wrote:
- Odd Arne Westad: The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions
and the Making of Our Times (2005; paperback, 2011, Cambridge
University Press).
Tom Schaller/Paul Waldman: White Rural Rage: The Threat
to American Democracy (2024, Random House): "A searing
exposé on what drives the average Republican voter in white rural
America and what can be done to combat their rage." One of the more
talked-about political books of late, as it documents and in many
ways reinforces the divide between the Trump mob and their imagined
enemies (urban, liberal, elitist, woke, ever so quick to castigate
you as "deplorable"; even those who don't think of themselves as
enemies are just as likely to offend with pity as loathing).
- Michelle Wilde Anderson: The Fight to Save the Town:
Reimagining Discarded America (2022; paperback, 2023, Avid
Reader Press/Simon & Schuster).
- Steven Conn: The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America
for What It Is -- and Isn't (2023, University of Chicago
Press).
- Justin Gest: The New Minority: White Working Class Politics
in an Age of Immigration and Inequality (paperback, 2016,
Oxford University Press).
- Nicholas F Jacobs/Daniel M Shea: The Rural Voter: The
Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America (2023,
Columbia University Press). Jacobs previously co-wrote:
- Nicholas F Jacobs/Sidney M Milkis: What Happened to
the Vital Center?: Presidentialism, Populist Revolt, and the
Fracturing of America (paperback, 2022, Oxford University
Press).
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson/Paul Waldman: The Press Effect:
Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories That Shape the Political
World (2002; paperback, 2004, Oxford University Press).
- Jonathan M Metzl: What We've Become: Living and Dying in
a Country of Arms (2024, WW Norton).
- Lainey Newman/Theda Skocpol: Rust Belt Union Blues: Why
Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away From the Democratic Party
(2023, Columbia University Press).
- Paul Waldman: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies
and Why the Media Didn't Tell You (2004, Sourcebooks).
- Paul Waldman: Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives
Can Learn From Conservative Success (2006, Wiley).
Adi Schwartz/Einat Wilf: The War of Return: How Western
Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to
Peace (paperback, 2020, St Martin's Griffin): Two "liberal
Israelis supportive of a two-state solution" argue that there is no
legal basis for a "right of return" (unlike Israel's Law of Return?),
and that the very suggestion is "one of the largest obstacles to
successful diplomacy and lasting peace in the region." They think
UNRWA should be abolished, because it perpetuates the notion that
the descendants of Palestinian exiles from 1948 are refugees, and
as such are entitled to return to their homeland. This book is
described as "a runaway bestseller in Israel," and as such is a
fair document of the state-of-mind that was prepared to commit
genocide when Oct. 7, 2023 happened.
Other recent books on Israel, from all over the spectrum, including
one somewhat sympathetic to Hamas, and lots that are pure hasbara
(also see the lists under Boyarin, Horn, and Loewenstein):
- Ami Ayalon: Friendly Fire: How Israel Became Its Own
Worst Enemy and the Hope for Its Future (paperback, 2021,
Steerforth Press): Former Shin Bet director, who understands that
"when Israel carries out anti-terrorist operations in a political
context of hopelessness, the Palestinian public will support
violence, because they have nothing to lose." He isn't the only
Israeli to realize that, but he's one of the few who do who sees
it as a problem.
- Sumaya Awad/Brian Bean, eds: Palestine: A Socialist
Introduction (paperback, 2020, Haymarket Books).
- Tareq Baconi: Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification
of Palestinian Resistance (2018; paperback, 2022, Stanford
University Press): Billed as "the first history of the group on its
own terms," but critical, arguing that "the movement's ideology
ultimately threatens the Palestinian struggle and, inadvertently,
its own legitimacy," especially where "its brutality . . . has made
permissible the collective punishment of millions of Palestinian
civilians." I would caution, though, that regardless of what Hamas
does, it is ultimately Israel that decides to punish, up to and now
including genocide.
- Jacques Baud: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood: The Defeat of the
Vanquisher (paperback, 2024, Max Milo Editions): "The way
Israel is fighting the Palestinians is leading to a loss of legitimacy
that seems to be accelerating."
- Jonah Jeremy Bob/Ilan Evyatar: Target Tehran: How Israel
Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination -- and Secret Diplomacy --
to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East (2023,
Simon & Schuster): Israelis, bragging.
- David Brog: Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights,
and the Struggle for Peace (2017; paperback, 2018, Regnery):
Note blurbs by John Hagee and Glenn Beck.
- Alan Dershowitz: War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas
Barbarism (2023, Hot Books): His usual The Case Against
Israel's Enemies, quickly rebranded post-October 7.
- Asaf Elia-Shalev: Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals
Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth (2024, University of
Calilfornia Press).
- George Gilder: The Israel Test: How Israel's Genius
Enriches and Challenges the World (paperback, 2024,
Encounter Books) [07-30].
- Daniel Gordis: Impossible Takes Longer: 75 Years After
Its Creation, Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founders' Dreams?
(2023, Ecco): Author of many Israel fluff books, also the primary
biography of Menachem Begin.
- Marc Lamont Hill/Mitchell Plitnick: Except for Palestine:
The Limits of Progressive Politics (2021; paperback, 2022,
New Press): Authors "spotlight how one-sided pro-Israel policies
reflect the truth-bending grip of authoritarianism on both Israel
and the United States."
- Adam Race Hochdorf: Israel Has the Right to Exist &
Defend Itself (paperback, 2024, Purple Poppy Publishing):
Short (90 pp) but strident propaganda screed.
- Michael A Horowitz: Hope and Despair: Israel's Future in
the New Middle East (2024, Hurst). [06-01]
- Dan Kovalik: The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and
Why You Should Care (2024, Hot Books). [05-28]
- Mitri Raheb: Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People,
the Bible (paperback, 2023, Orbis Books).
- Dan Senor/Saul Singer: The Genius of Israel: The Surprising
Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World (2023,
Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster).
- Raja Shehadeh: What Does Israel Fear From Palestine?
(paperback, 2024, Other Press). [06-11]
- Avner Shur/Aviram Halevi: Sayeret Matkal: The Greatest
Operations of Israel's Elite Commandos (2023, Skyhorse): No
other nation brags about its illegal foreign ops quite like Israel
does.
- Grant F Smith: How Israel Made AIPAC: The Most Harmful
Foreign Influence Operation in America (paperback, 2022,
Institute for Research).
- Jamie Stern-Weiner, ed: Deluge: Gaza and Isarel From Crisis
to Cataclysm (paperback, 2024, OR Books): First serious book
I'm aware of to reassess Israel after the Gaza genocide started.
- Thomas Suárez: Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an
Apartheid State From River to Sea (paperback, 2022, Olive
Branch Press).
- Nathan Thrall: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy
of a Jerusalem Tragedy (2023, Metropolitan Books).
More recent books on older Israel/Palestine history:
- Teresa Aranguren/Sandra Barrillaro: Against Erasure: A
Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba (2024,
Haymarket Books).
- Linda Dittmar: Tracing Homelands: Israel, Palestine, and
the Claims of Belonging (paperback, 2023, Interlink Books):
A memoir, starting in the 1940s, later searching out ruins of
villages destroyed in the Nakba.
- Alan Dowty: Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine: Two Worlds
Collide (paperback, 2021, Indiana University Press).
- Frederic C Hof: Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story
of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace (2022,
USIP Press): US ambassador, mediator of 2009-11 peace talks, which
were scuttled by Obama's turn against Assad in the Arab Spring.
- JMN Jeffries: Palestine: The Reality: The Inside Story of
the Balfour Declaration (paperback, 2016, Olive Branch
Press).
- Uri Kaufman: Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War
and How It Created the Modern Middle East (2023, St Martin's
Press).
- Oren Kessler: Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots
of the Middle East Conflict (2023, Rowman & Littlefield):
Fairly major history of an oft-overlooked but very pivotal event.
- Jamie Kirkpatrick: The Tales of Bismuth: Dispatches From
Palestine, 1945-1948 (paperback, 2024, independent).
- Peter Shambrook: Policy of Deceit: Britain and Palestine,
1914-1939 (2023, Oneworld Academic).
- Gardner Thompson: Legacy of Empire: Britain, Zionism and
the Creation of Israel (2020; paperback, 2022, Saqi Books):
This is an important part of the story, as Israelis learned the art
and craft of colonialism directly from the British, sometimes in
concert and sometimes in opposition, retaining the legal framework
and much of the mentality of their captors and patrons.
Timothy Shenk: Realigners: Partisan Hacks, Political
Visionaries, and the Struggle to Rule American Democracy
(2022; paperback, 2023, Farrar Straus and Giroux): Portraits of
pivotal political figures from the founding to the present, not
always going with the obvious choices (e.g., he goes with William
Sumner over Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Hanna over William Jennings
Bryan).
Richard Slotkin: A Great Disorder: National Myth and the
Battle for America (2024, Belknap Press): This is a sweeping
history of myth in America, the stories we've invented to explain
and convince ourselves, starting with the frontier and the founding,
and picking up every cliché of the last 240, not neglecting Trump
and MAGA, which gets the better half of Part V ("The Age of Culture
War").
Also by Slotkin:
- Richard Slotkin: Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier
in Twentieth-Century America (paperback, 1998, University of
Oklahoma Press).
- Richard Slotkin/James K Folsom, eds: So Dreadfull a Judgement:
Puritan Responses to King Philip's War 1676-1677 (paperback,
1999, Wesleyan University Press).
- Richard Slotkin: Regeneration Through Violence: The
Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1860 (paperback,
2000, University of Oklahoma Press).
- Richard Slotkin: Lost Battalions: The Great War and the
Criris of American Nationalism (paperback, 2006, St Martins
Press).
- Richard Slotkin: The Long Road to Antietam: How the Civil
War Became a Revolution (paperback, 2013, Liveright).
- Richard Slotkin: Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier
in the Age of Industrialization, 1800-1890 (paperback, 2017,
University of Oklahoma Press).
Brian Stelter: Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News,
Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy (2023,
Atria/One Signal): Expands on his previous Hoax: Donald Trump,
Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth (2020). Fox
News has long struck me as the single most important cog in the
Republican mind control matrix, combining as it does self-funding,
vast outreach, ideological rigor, and the immediacy and intimacy
of television.
More on Fox:
- Chris Stirewalt: Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine
Divides America and How to Fight Back (2022, Center Street):
Former Fox News political editor, so he's contributed to the rage
he writes about, and no doubt observed much more (and worse); senior
fellow at AEI, which keeps him safely on the right, although he can
try to pose that as balanced.
- Kat Timpf: You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny,
Nothing Is Sacred, and We're All in This Together (2023,
Broadside Books): Gutfeld! co-host and Fox News contributor.
- Michael Wolff: The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch
Dynasty (2023, Henry Holt): Author of three insider-ish books
on Trump, goes after the big fish this time.
Stuart Stevens: The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways
My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy (2023,
Twelve): "Never Trumper," former Lincoln Project strategist, back
in 2020 wrote It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became
Donald Trump, returns with deeper thinking on what is no longer
just his personal dilemma. He identifies "five autocratic building
blocks": Propagandists; Support of a major party; Financers; Legal
theories to legitimize actions; and Shock Troops.
Rory Stewart: How Not to Be a Politician (2023,
Penguin Press): Wrote a book about hiking in Afghanistan, just
after the Taliban fled. Wrote a book about being a British civil
servant in Iraq, shortly after Bush and Blair invaded. Went back
to England and wrote another book about how none of that worked.
Decided to try his hand at politics, so he ran for a Tory MP seat,
and won. Then he ran for party leader/prime minister, and lost.
So by now, he figures he's failed enough he can write a memoir
about it all. In the UK, he more optimistically called this book
Politics on the Edge. For America, however . . . he opted
to face the music, and 'fess up.
Yaroslav Trofimov: Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian
Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence (2024, Penguin
Press): Wall Street Journal correspondent, born in Kyiv, highly
partisan, but hailed as "the most comprehensive, authoritative
book on the war to date."
Latest batch of books on Ukraine:
- Jacques Baud: The Russian Art of War: How the West Led
Ukraine to Defeat (paperback, 2024, Max Milo Editions).
Swiss military analyst, has a history of disparaging the West, or
maybe just flattering Putin: Putin: Game Master? (2023);
Operation Z (2023); The Navalny Case: Conspiracy to Serve
Foreign Policy (2023).
- Hal Brands, ed: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and
the Return of a Fractured World (paperback, 2024, Johns
Hopkins University Press).
- Glenn Diesen: The Ukraine War & the Eurasian World
Order (paperback, 2024, Clarity Press): Appeals to "world
order" obsessives, leaving little concern for Ukrainians.
- Rory Finnin: Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity
and the Poetics of Solidarity (paperback, 2024, University
of Toronto Press).
- Igort: How War Begins: Dispatches From the Ukrainian
Invasion (2024, Fantagraphics): Graphic journalism.
- Volodymyr Ishchenko: Towards the Abyss: Ukraine From
Maidan to War (paperback, 2024, Verso).
- Michael Kimmage: Collisions: The Origins of the War in
Ukraine and the New Global Instability (2024, Oxford
University Press).
- Fadi Lama: Why the West Can't Win: From Bretton Woods to
a Multipolar World (paperback, 2023, Clarity Press):
Ukraine is one example.
- Christopher A Lawrence: The Battle for Kyiv: The Fight
for Ukraine's Capital (2024, Frontline Books).
- Paul Moorcraft: Putin's Wars and NATO's Flaws: Why Russia
Invaded Ukraine (2024, Pen and Sword Military): Author has
a long list of war books, "from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe."
- Simon Schuster: The Showman: Inside the Invasion That
Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
(2024, William Morrow).
Yanis Varoufakis: Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism
(paperback, 2024, Melville House): Greek economist, had a brief fling
with fame as finance minister under the radical Syriza government, but
quit rather than accept the austerity measures the EU insisted on. He
argues that something fundamental has changed: "Big tech has replaced
capitalism's twin pillars -- markets and profit -- with its platforms
and rents. With every click and scroll, we labor like serfs to increase
its power."
- Joel Kotkin: The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the
Global Middle Class (2020; paperback, 2023, Encounter Books):
Not much difference between Varoufakis' "techno feudalism" and this
one, especially from the vantage point of the neo-serfs.
Alexander Ward: The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore
American Foreign Policy After Trump (2024, Portfolio): Major
reporting on Joe Biden's foreign policy team, their critique of Trump's
offenses against "democratic allies" and coddling of "authoritarians"
(especially the much despised Vladimir Putin), and how they sought to
return America to its pre-Trump eminence as the leader of the Free
World. Less reporting on how often that backfired, with the book's
cutoff date minimizing the stalemate in Ukraine, and omitting any
mention of the unfolding genocide in Gaza, or Israel's persistent
efforts to embroil America in war with Iran and other irrelevant but
easily maligned enemies. The problem is that Biden remains trapped
in the supposedly benign superpower cult that emerged post-Cold War
under Clinton, Bush, and Obama, and even more committed to the real
dictators of American foreign policy: Israel and the arms cartel --
precisely the graft Trump most indulged, so he's not so different
from Trump after all.
Fareed Zakaria: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash
From 1600 to the Present (2024, WW Norton): Big-picture
history, with opening chapters on the Netherlands, England, and
France, then shifts focus to industrialization in Britain and the
United States, then his more topical concerns of globalization
and contemporary geopolitics.
Additional books, noted without comments other than for clarity. I
reserve the right to return to some of these later (but probably
won't; many are here because I don't want to think about them
further).
Kali Akuno/Ajamu Nangwaya [Cooperation Jackson]: Jackson
Rising; The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination
in Jackson, Mississippi (paperback, 2017, Daraja Press).
Thomas J Baker: The Fall of the FBI: How a Once Great Agency
Became a Threat to Democracy (2022, Bombardier Books): Actually,
the FBI was always a threat to democracy.
Stephen Breyer: Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism,
Not Textualism (2024, Simon & Schuster): Retired Supreme
Court Justice.
Jennifer Burns: Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative
(2023, Farrar Straus and Giroux).
Liz Cheney: Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning
(2023, Little Brown).
Jared Cohen: Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their
Search for Purpose Beyond the White House (2024, Simon &
Schuster). Previously wrote (suggesting a business plan, which is
supported by his biography):
Jared Cohen: Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed
America (2019; paperback, 2020, Simon & Schuster).
McKay Coppins: Romney: A Reckoning (2023, Scribner).
Jeremy Eichler: Time's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust,
and the Music of Remembrance (2023, Knopf).
Philip Gefter: Cocktails With George and Martha: Movies,
Marriage, and the Making of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(2024, Bloomsbury).
Doris Kearns Goodwin: An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal
History of the 1960s (2024, Simon & Schuster).
Phil Gramm/Robert Ekelund/John Early: The Myth of American
Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate (2022,
Rowman & Littlefield).
Adam Kinzinger: Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty
in Our Divided Country (2023, The Open Field): Former
Representative (R-IL), voted to impeach Trump, served on House
Jan. 6 Committee.
Erik Larson: The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris,
Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
(2024, Crown).
Michael Lewis: Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New
Tycoon (2023, WW Norton): A profile of FTX founder ("crypto's
Gatsby") Sam Bankman-Fried (since convicted for massive fraud).
Yascha Mounk: The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies
Fall Apart and How They Can Endure (2022, Penguin Press).
Yascha Mounk: The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power
in Our Time (2023, Penguin Press).
Peter Pomerantsev: This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the
War Against Reality (2019, PublicAffairs).
Peter Pomerantsev: How to Win an Information War: The
Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler (2024, PublicAffairs):
On Thomas Sefton Delmer, who worked for Britain during WWII, but
also thinking about the author's favorite subject, Vladimir Putin.
Marilynne Robinson: Reading Genesis (2024, Farrar Straus
and Giroux).
Rick Rubin: The Creative Act: A Way of Being (2023,
Penguin Press): Music producer (Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash).
Patrick Ruffini: Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial
Populist Coaliltion Remaking the GOP (2023, Simon &
Schuster).
Salman Rushdie: Knife: Meditations After an Attempted
Murder (2024, Random House).
Lucy Sante: I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of
Transition (2024, Penguin Press).
Erella Shadmi: The Legacy of Mothers: Matriarchies and the
Gift Economy as Post Capitalist Alternatives (paperback, 2021,
Inanna Publications).
John Sides/Chris Tausanovitch/Lynn Vavreck: The Bitter End:
The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American
Democracy (2022; paperback, 2023, Princeton University Press).
Benn Steil: The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the
Fate of the American Century (2024, Avid Reader/Simon &
Schuster).
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, ed: Did It Happen Here? Perspectives
on Fascism and America (2024, WW Norton).
Matthew Stewart: An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical
Philosophy, the War Over Slavery, and the Refounding of America
(2024, WW Norton).
Calvin Trillin: The Lede: Dispatches From a Life in the
Press (2024, Random House). Also note:
Calvin Trillin: Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years
of Funny Stuff (2011; paperback, 2012, Random House).
James Traub: True Believer: Hubert Humphrey's Quest for
a More Just America (2024, Basic Books).
Jacob L Wright: Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History
of Scripture and Its Origins (2023, Cambridge University
Press).
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Monday, April 15, 2024
Music Week
April archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 42126 [42104] rated (+22), 30 [37] unrated (-7).
We have some friends my late sister virtually adopted -- we consider
them virtual family -- who live on a farm in the Arkansas Ozarks, and
they made a big push to get all of their closest family and friends to
congregate there for the eclipse. We didn't give it much consideration,
but my brother and his son and their families drove there from Washington
and back, stopping here in Wichita both ways. (My brother's daughter and
her family also made the trip, but flew in and out of Tulsa, bypassing
us.) The rapid-fire visits took up a big chunk of my time the last two
weeks. We did more cooking on the first leg, but on return I schemed to
get help on a bunch of housework tasks. Both activities cut my normal
output way back, as is evident here.
They finally left on Saturday afternoon. After that, I cobbled together
a bit of
Speaking of Which, which I posted late last night. I should go back
and do some reviewing and editing and such, but I started feeling ill
that night, and that's carried over today, so even this bit of shovelware
has become a chore. Probably nothing serious, but at my age, one does
fret a lot more than in the past.
But also I've lost a good ten hours since Thursday trying to get Cox
to solve an AUP#XSNDR error in SMTP that totally keeps me from sending
email. As best I can figure this out -- which, by the way, is probably
better than anyone at Cox has yet managed -- is that when I send a piece
of email (using Thunderbird connecting to smtp.cox.net), the SPF or DKIM
list of legit IP sender addresses doesn't include the one Cox my one
(assigned to me via DHCP, or substituted in transit?), and some forwarding
server notices the discrepancy and kicks it back (which takes about 20
seconds, so there may be multiple stops for multiple lists before it
fails).
I only have a couple things to say about the records below. The brief
dive into Ken Colyer came about because someone sent me a typo correction
to a Penguin Jazz Guide
file I put together ages ago. When I was glancing through it I noticed
a Colyer album I hadn't heard, so tried to track it down. I've always
liked trad jazz, and that shared fondness was one of the things that
I loved about Penguin Guide.
The Rail Band album is pictured but not reviewed below. Read about it
next week. It comes from Robert Christgau's
Consumer Guide:
April 2024. I've reviewed most of those albums already, including
an A grade for Heems/Lapgan; A- for Cucumbers, Dan Ex Machina, and Kim
Gordon; similar HMs for Four Tet and Messthetics/James Brandon Lewis;
and lesser grades for Buck 65, Adrianne Lenker, Vampire Weekend, and
Waxahatchee. I've played Buck 65 four more times since the CG came out,
and I always react the same: sounds really great for 10-15 minutes, then
my mind wanders until it returns with a "what the fuck?" ending. Still
a B+(***). The other three are probable EOY list frontrunners that I
can't sustain any serious interest in (despite having noted multiple
A-list albums from each). Still, I'm rather impressed that Bob can
still put on his "rock critic establishment" robes and lobby for
critical consensus like he advocated for fifty years ago.
Hope I'll be able to knock out a
Book Roundup this week. Still, feeling pretty lousy at the
moment, pushing this out with no Speaking of Which updates.
New records reviewed this week:
Cyrille Aimée: Ŕ Fleur De Peau (2018-23 [2024],
Whirlwind): French jazz singer, based in New York, more than a
dozen albums since 2006. Album recorded "at Jake Sherman's
Apartment and Keyboard Haven in Brooklyn," with the singer
credited with acoustic guitar and baritone ukelele, Sherman
with "various," Abe Rounds "drums & percussion," various
others for a song or two.
B+(**) [sp]
Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10 & #11: ON!
(2023 [2024], Hammer): Swiss drummer, started this series working
remotely, but this appears to be a studio meet, extended over two
days (11 tracks, 69 minutes), with more musicians: Yumi Ito (voice),
Percy Pursglove (trumpet/flugelhorn), Ivo Neame (fender rhodes/synths),
Szymon Mika (guitar), and Jim Hart (vibes, marimba, glockenspiel,
percussion).
B+(**) [sp]
Cďtric Dümmies: Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass
(2023, Feel It): Hardcore-punk band from Minneapolis, fourth album
since 2017, cover art designed to evoke Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade.
B+(*) [sp]
Hilary Gardner: On the Trial With the Lonesome Pines
(2024, Anzic): Standards singer, from Alaska, based in Brooklyn,
one-third of the vocal trio Duchess, has a couple solo albums.
looks to the "trail songs" of "singing cowboys" here, which means
Gene Autry but also Bing Crosby.
B+(*) [sp]
Arve Henriksen/Harmen Fraanje: Touch of Time (2023
[2024], ECM): Norwegian trumpet player, dozens of albums since 2000,
duo here with a Dutch pianist who also debuted in 2000.
B+(*) [sp]
Jazz Ensemble of Memphis: Playing in the Yard
(2023 [2024], Memphis International): Memphis group, assembled by
the label owner as a showcase for young talent, remembering other
jazz musicians from Memphis over the years: the eldest here is
saxophonist Charles Pender II (26), the youngest drummer Kurtis
Gray (17), with with Martin Carodine Jr (17, trumpet), Liam O'Dell
(21, bass), and DeAnte Payne (25, keyboards, vibes, congas,
percussion).
B+(*) [cd]
Benji Kaplan: Untold Stories (2023 [2024],
self-released): Guitarist, born in New York but plays Brazilian
influences, including nylon strings. Solo, nine tracks, 28:42.
B+(*) [cd] [05-01]
Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones: New Monuments (2024,
We Jazz): Brooklyn-based vocalist, third group album, also has duos
(Lea Bertucci, Luke Stewart) and has appeared with Darius Jones,
Mary Halvorson, William Parker, and Robert Ashley. Group here with
Matthew Nelson (soprano sax), Leter St. Louis (cello), Eva Lawitts
(bass), and Jason Nazary (drums/synthesizer).
B+(**) [sp]
Joăo Madeira/Margarida Mestre: Voz Debaixo (2022
[2024], 4DaRecord): From Portugal, bass and voice duo, the former
does its job of setting up and framing the latter, which offers
limited interest.
B+(**) [cd]
Old 97's: American Primitive (2024, ATO): Indie
band founded 1992 in Dallas, thirteenth studio album, alongside
eight solo efforts (2002-22) from leader Rhett Miller -- perhaps
a tad more pop, where the band leans harder on the guitar. I ran
out of patience with this one pretty fast, not that objectively
it's all that bad.
B+(*) [sp]
Jonah Parzen-Johnson: You're Never Really Alone
(2024, We Jazz): Baritone saxophonist, also plays flute, from
Chicago, solo here (as are most of his albums), but with some
electronics mixed in. Eight tracks, 39:39.
B+(**) [sp]
Ernesto Rodrigues/Bruno Parinha/Joăo Madeira: Into the
Wood (2023 [2024], Creative Sources): Portuguese trio:
viola, bass clarinet, bass. Live improv set, the bassist does
an exceptional job of binding the sounds together into an engine
of endless fascination.
A- [cd]
Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Smoke in the Sky
(2024, Cellar): Baritone saxophonist, leads a very credible Latin
jazz outfit with trumpet, often a second sax, and a rhythm section
with Manuel Valera (piano), Alex "Apolo" Ayala (bass), and two
drummer-percussionists (Mauricio Herrera and Joel Mateo).
B+(***) [cd] [04-19]
Shakira: Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024, Sony Latin):
Colombian superstar, twelfth studio album, mostly Spanish.
B+(***) [sp]
Curtis Taylor: Taylor Made (2022 [2024], Curtis
Taylor Music): Trumpet player, bio hints at Cleveland, southern
California, University of Iowa ("currently inspiring students"),
seems to have two previous albums, side credits in big bands.
Mainstream group here, backed by piano-bass-drums, with tenor
sax (Marcus Elliot) on four (of 7) tracks.
B+(**) [sp]
Vampire Weekend: Only God Was Above Us (2024,
Columbia): Major group, first three albums (2006-13) were poll
contenders, not so much for their fourth album (2019), where
singer-songwriter Ezra Koenig carried on after the departure
of Rostam Batmanglij. Seems this one is being recognized as a
return to form, but my reaction is very indifferent, even as
I admire their occasional dazzle.
B+(**) [sp]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour
Recordings (1959 [2024], Resonance, 3CD): Starts with a
set I've heard before as St. Thomas in Stockholm 1959,
which I've long recommended as one of his best live sets, and
rarely drops below that level as he moves on across Europe,
trios with Henry Grimes on bass and various drummers (Pete
La Roca, Kenny Clarke, Joe Harris).
A- [cd] [04-20]
Old music:
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen: Club Session With Colyer
(1956 [2000], Lake): English trumpet/cornet player (1928-88),
played trad jazz and skiffle, sang some. Penguin Guide
picked this particular album (originally in Decca in 1957) as
part of their "core collection," and it certainly is a primo
example of the genre, a sextet of Ian Wheeler (clarinet), Mac
Duncan (trombone), John Bastable (banjo), Ron Ward (bass), and
Colin Bowden (drums), playing "good ol' good 'uns."
A- [r]
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen: Up Jumped the Devil (1957-58
[2001], G.H.B.): Eleven songs, originally on Upbeat in 1958, rags
to open and close, Jelly Roll Morton conspicuous in between, septet
here, adding pianist Ray Foxley to the usual suspects.
B+(**) [r]
Ken Colyer and His Jazzband: Colyer's Pleasure
(1963, Society): Sextet plays more classics, John Bastable (banjo)
and Ron Ward (bass) are carryovers from the 1956 band, Sammy
Remington (clarinet) getting a "featuring" credit on the 1993
CD reissue (Lake, with extra cuts I haven't heard).
B+(***) [r]
Joan Díaz Trio: We Sing Bill Evans (2008, Fresh
Sound New Talent): Spanish piano trio, with Giulia Valle (bass)
and Ramón Angel (drums), "introducing" singer Silvia Perez [Cruz],
who had a previous album or two, with a half-dozen more since.
Songs composed by Evans, with lyrics mostly from others (only
one by Perez).
B+(**) [sp]
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Sam V.H. Reese, ed.: The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins (New York Review Books): paperback book.
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Speaking of Which
My company left Saturday afternoon, so I didn't really get started
on this until then. Sunday I started feeling sick, and ran out of
energy. No idea whether Monday will be better or worse, so I figured
I might as well post this while I can. Maybe I'll circle back later.
Big news stories are pretty much the same as they've been of late,
so you pretty much know where I stand on them.
Not a lot of music this week, but if I'm up to it, I'll try to
post what I have sometime Monday. Another pending problem is that
I'm unable to send email, and Cox doesn't seem to have anyone
competent to work on the problem until Monday.
Notable tweets:
Yousef Munayyer
[04-03]:
Joe Biden knows backing Israel's genocide in Gaza could cost him the
election he says American democracy depends on.
Joe Biden doesn't care.
Imagine hating Palestinians so much as a US president that you'd
throw away American democracy for it.
Steve Hoffman
[04-10]:
[meme]: Christians warn us about the anti-Christ for 2,000 years,
and when he finally shows up, they buy a bible from him.
Rick Perlstein
[04-10]:
I mean, protecting criminal presidents from accountability actually
is perfectly on-brand for an organization devoted to the legacy of
Gerald Ford.
[link:
Famed photographer quits Ford over Liz Cheney snub]
Initial count: 188 links, 6,611 words.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
Eman Alhaj Ali: [04-10]
This year, Eid in Gaza is bittersweet.
Ruwaida Kamal Amer:
Michael Arria: [04-11]
The Shift: Are the Dems shifting on Israel? "More Democrats are
beginning to criticize Israel, but it will add up to an actual policy
shift?"
James Bamford: [04-12]
How US intelligence and an American company feed Israel's killing
machine in Gaza. "Now, soldiers and intelligence specialists are
being trained at Camp Moshe Dayan to finish the job -- to bomb, shoot,
or starve to death the descendants of the Palestinians forced into the
squalor of militarily occupied Gaza decades ago."
Ramzy Baroud: [04-12]
Killing humanitarian workers as a strategy: Israel's endgame in
Gaza.
Isaac Chotiner:
Jonathan Cook: [04-09]
Israel's killing of aid workers is no accident. It's part of the plan
to destroy Gaza.
Dave DeCamp:
Keith Gessen: [04-13]
Is this Israel's forever war?: "Foreign-policy analysts whose
careers were shaped by the war on terror see troubling parallels."
The way I'd put it is that Israel has been in a "forever war" since
1948, and they were psychologically prepped for "forever war" much
earlier. They say they always have to fight because of antisemitism,
and there's certainly been lots of that, but their wars since 1948
have just generated more antisemitism, and more war -- even when
you seem to be winning, they just go on, like, forever.
Especially
when you set out to conquer other people, they fight back, and if
you beat them down, they fight back again. Britain went to war in
the 16th century, and was almost continuously at war somewhere or
other until they gave up on their colonies in the 1960s (or the
1990s before they settled the "troubles" in Northern Ireland). The
US was continuously at war from the day Henry Luce proclaimed the
"American Century" until, well, still working on "forever." In
time, Americans walked away from several wars -- most obviously,
Afghanistan and Vietnam, which were never going to surrender their
independence.
Sahar Ghumkhor: [04-08]
For Israel's TikTok serial killers, there is a pleasure in inflicting
racial terror in Gaza.
Faris Giacaman: [04-10]
The Palestine Walid saw, from the little prison to the big
prison.
Eliza Griswold: [03-21]
The children who lost limbs in Gaza: "More than a thousand
children who were injured in the war are now amputees."
Tareq S Hajjaj: [04-11]
'Come out, you animals': how the massacre at al-Shifa Hospital
happened.
Tony Karon/Daniel Levy: [04-11]
After the carnage: "Solutions crafted by outsiders to avoid,
suppress, and restrict Palestinian agency are bound to fail.
Palestinians should decide their own future." How dumb (or
senselessly cruel) do you have to be not to understand this?
Back on Oct. 8, I dusted off my plan for a free Gaza, the only
real requirements being that Israel has no control or presence
and that the people of Gaza be free to select their own leaders
and organize themselves as they see fit. Democratic processes
and individual rights could be conditions for receiving aid,
which Gaza needed sorely even then, but the right to select
their leaders, form of government, etc., is theirs and theirs
alone. Otherwise, they'll never be wholly responsible for their
own actions. If they elect Hamas, I'll pity them, but I shouldn't
be able to stop them. And Israel, having shown nothing but contempt
and inhumanity to Gaza and its people ever since 1948, doesn't
deserve any hearing at all.
Menachem Klein: [04-09]
Netanyahu isn't the only one interested in prolonging the war:
"A broad coalition of political forces, from Israel's far right to
the Zionist left, have different motivations for turning the war
into the new normal."
Ibtisam Mahdi: [04-10]
Against the magnitude of death, our pens feel powerless in Gaza:
"Israel's onslaught made me a refugee, a bereaved sister, and a mother
to starving children. My journalistic endeavors have become almost
impossible."
Nina Martin: [04-13]
How famine and starvation can affect generations to come:
"Research on WWII's Dutch 'Hunger Winter' has terrifying implications
for Gaza's children -- and for their children."
Qassam Muaddi: [04-14]
Unleashed: Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank villages, kill
two people, injure dozens: "Israeli settlers went on a two-day
rampage in the region northeast of Ramallah when a settler teenager
was reported missing on Friday. They burned dozens of houses and
killed two Palestinians, while effectively blockading some ten
villages."
James Ray: [04-12]
The killing of Ismail Haniyeh's children exposes Israel's weakness:
"Israel has always punitively killed the families of leaders and
resistance figures as collective punishment. It is a sign of Israel's
inability to extract a military victory on the ground." Doesn't it
also suggest some "soft" targets for the "eye-for-an-eye" crowd? My
own way of thinking is that identifying a credible opposition leader
like Haniyeh presents an opportunity to negotiate, to find common
grounds and convert an enemy into a partner. Killing his family just
makes any such resolution more difficult. It sends the message that
you can never trust us, because we'll never be satisfied until we
kill you and everything and everyone you hold dear. As long as that's
Israel's position, it's hard to blame Hamas for any form of resistance,
even acts that out of context seem completely abhorrent.
Fayyha Shalash: [04-11]
Israel shuts down a town in the occupied West Bank, cancelling Eid
for Palestinians.
Jeffrey St Clair: [04-13]
Intolerable cruelty: Diary of a genocidal war.
Mosab Abu Toha: [02-24]
My family's daily struggle to find food in Gaza.
Maknoon Wani: [04-09]
Israel's spy-tech industry is a global threat to democracy.
Robin Wright: [03-22]
What it takes to give Palestinians a voice: "A new poll conducted
during war in Gaza and escalating tensions in the West Bank allows
Palestinians to tell the world what they want for their future."
I'm pretty skeptical of this, partly because it's pretty easy to
rig polls to produce certain results, but also because Palestinians
have no real sense of what can be done -- nearly everything one can
imagine is proscribed by Israel -- and also no real accountability
from their leaders.
Israel vs. Iran:
Will Porter:
James Carden: [04-14]
Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to drag the US into war with Iran.
Juan Cole: [04-14]
Netanyahu, empowered by Biden's grant of impunity, baits Iran into
his genocidal Gaza war.
Dave DeCamp: [04-14]
Israel's missile defense against Iran attack estimated to cost over
$1 billion.
Kevin Drum: [04-13]
Iran sues for peace:
Drones? And a few small missiles? All of which Iran knew would be
routinely shot down? This was obviously intended to be a pinprick
attack, just enough to save face but not to do any serious damage.
It couldn't be more obvious if Iran spelled out a message on the moon.
This is similar to Iran's measured response to Trump's assassination
of General Soleimani: one flurry of firepower that was inconsequential,
then Iran announced they were satisfied as long as they didn't have to
respond to further attacks.
Belén Fernández: [04-14]
Sorry, but Iran is not the aggressor here: "Amid the Israeli genocide
in Gaza, Western condemnation of the intercepted Iranian attack on Israel
is sickeningly cynical."
Mel Gurtov: [04-14]
The Israel=Iran confrontation: Episode or war?
Michael Hirsh:
Iran's attack seems like it was designed to fail. So what comes
next?
Murtaza Hussain:
Israel and Israel alone kicked off this escalation -- in a bid to drag
the US into war with Iran.
Patrick Kingsley: [04-14]
Strikes upend Israel's belief about Iran's willingness to fight it
directly: "Israel had grown used to targeting Iranian officials
without head-on retaliation from Iran, an assumption overturned by
Iran's attacks on Saturday." Also in the New York Times, their
idiot-savant columnists offer what they imagine to be helpful
advice while reassuring us of their loyalties:
Daniel Larison: [04-12]
Biden should not follow Netanyahu into war with Iran: "The Israeli
government appears to want to goad Tehran into a military response to
divert attention from the slaughter and famine in Gaza and to trap the
US into joining the fight."
Aaron Maté: [04-14]
Seeking Middle East 'quiet,' Biden fuels regional carnage.
Trita Parsi: [04-14]
Iran launches risky attack on Israel: "Biden could have thwarted it,
but chose to put Netanyahu before US, which is now at risk of getting
dragged into war tonight."
Vijay Prashad: [04-12]
Violating diplomatic missions.: "From Israel's bombing of Iran's
embassy in Damascus to Ecuador's raid on the Mexican in Quito, leaders
feel emboldened by the impunity granted by the Global North."
Barak Ravid: [04-14]
Biden told Bibi US won't support an Israeli counterattack on Iran.
Scrolling down I see earlier posts: "Iran launches retaliatory drone
and missile attack on Israel"; "Iran warns US to stay out of fight
with Israel or face attack on troops"; "Biden returns to the White
House as imminent Iranian attack on Israel is possible."
Ali Rizk: [04-09]
Hezbollah leader ups ante after attack on Iranian consulate.
Israel vs. world opinion:
Nadeine Asbali: [04-12]
Does anyone in the UK really know what 'British values' are?
Perhaps not, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that people in Ireland,
India, Palestine, and dozens of other former colonies have a pretty good
idea of "British values." I even know a few things about them from 1775
America.
Synne Furnes Bjerkestrand/Bayan Abu Ta'ema: [04-13]
Jordanian protesters demand ending normalization with Israel, despite
arrests.
Ellen Cantarow: [04-14]
Dead on arrival: Israel's blowback genocide.
Helena Cobban: [03-18]
It's past time to end the demonization of Hamas.
Marjorie Cohn: [04-14]
Nicaragua takes Germany to the World Court: "Germany is second
only to the US as the largest supplier of weapons to Israel."
Jack Crosbie: [04-09]
l
Inside the pro-Palestine movement bird-dogging Biden everywhere he
goes: "These activists turned Biden's ritzy New York City fundraiser
into a night of protests against Israel's war in Gaza."
Richard Falk: [04-12]
Western powers never believed in a rules-based order.
Saleema Gul: [04-10]
Debate over political response to Gaza genocide marks pivotal moment
for Muslim Americans.
Ali Harb: [03-11]
'Reject AIPAC': US progressives join forces against pro-Israel lobby
group: AIPAC is the dominant American lobby for whichever faction
is currently in power in Israel -- effectively it is a tool of Israeli
foreign policy, as tightly controlled as the diplomatic and espionage
efforts -- and it has built such vast influence over both US parties
that nearly every politician in Washington follows whatever line they'
are given. One way they enforce their power is by recruiting and funding
primary challenges, especially to progressive Democrats who recognize
social injustice even when it's practiced in Israel. So this is, in
jargon Israelis should understand, self-defense, or as those behind
Reject AIPAC put it, "a crucial step in putting voters back at
the center of our democracy."
Katherine Hearst: [04-09]
Naomi Klein enters the mirror world of conspiracy, colonialism and
fascism: On the use of Klein's Doppelganger for understanding
"the current Israeli onslaught on Gaza."
Abir Kopty: [04-13]
Police raid Berlin conference as repression of Palestine activism
escalates in Germany.
Robert Kuttner: [04-08]
If not now, when?: "Has Biden's pressure finally ended Israel's
war on Gaza's civilians? O4r is the US allowing Bibi one more head
fake?"
Blaise Malley: [04-09]
Samantha Power: Aid workers says crisis in Gaza 'unprecedented'.
Branko Marcetic: [04-13]
Biden's attempt to get tough on Netanyahu quietly failed.
Mitchell Plitnick: [04-13]
The liberal Jewish community is beginning to fracture over the Gaza
genocide: "J Street is reportedly losing staff and support as
they prioritize Israeli militarism over Palestinian rights. The
Gaza genocide is revealing the tension between Zionism and liberal
Jewish values, a divide which will only continue to grow more stark."
Dahlia Scheindlin: [03-26]
Inside Israel's disturbing denial of starvation in Gaza.
Rick Sterling: [04-09]
From Six Day Victory to Six Month Failure: "As Israel's international
stature grew after the Six Day War, it is collapsing after the Six Month
Siege and Massacre in Gaza."
Ramsey Telhami: [04-11]
I resigned from World Central Kitchen because it refused to tell the
truth about the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Yanis Varoufakis: [04-13]
The speech that got me banned from Germany. "Judge for yourselves
what kind of society Germany is becoming if its police ban the
sentiments below."
Philip Weiss: [04-08]
Biden has no emotional attachment to Israel, it's about politics.
America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:
Election notes:
Robert F Kennedy Jr: And suddenly we have a cluster of
stories on the third-party candidate:
Trump, and other Republicans: But first, let's open up
some space to talk about abortion politics:
David W Chen/Michael Wines: [04-10]
How the GOP molded the Arizona court that upheld the abortion
ban: "Arizona's former governor, Doug Ducey, expanded the court
to seven justices. All solid conservatives, they upheld a 160-year-old
abortion ban that presents a political risk to Republicans."
Rachel M Cohen: [04-11]
Florida and Arizona show why abortion attacks are not slowing
down: "The judges aren't done."
Susan B Glasser: [04-11]
Donald Trump did this: "On abortion, Arizona, and the 2024
Presidential election."
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling:
Kari Lake is trying to make people forget her real abortion
stance.
Sarah Jones: [04-11]
Abortion opponents can't be 'pro-family'.
Ed Kilgore: [04-10]
In a first, Arizona Republicans rush to dismantle a total abortion
ban.
Eric Levitz: [04-09]
Arizona's ban spotlights the fraudulence of Trump's "moderation" on
abortion.
Dahlia Lithwick: [04-12]
Arizona's atrocious abortion law is just the latest example of what
Roe didn't protect.
Harold Meyerson: [04-11]
On the origins of Arizona's new old abortion ban. If Dobbs had
been less of a political hatchet job, they would have started by
clearing the field of all pre-Roe bans, and also of the recent
"trigger bills," forcing states to at least think about what they
were doing. Still, even people who anticipated such rude shocks
were taken aback by this case, a law passed 48 years before Arizona
had enough [white] people to qualify as a state, even before the
end of slavery.
Anna North: [04-08]
Trump may sound moderate on abortion. The groups setting his agenda
definitely aren't.
Nikki McCann Ramirez: [04-10]
Fox News' prime-time shows mentioned Arizona's abortion ban exactly
zero times.
Bill Scher: [04-09]
Trump can't run from his biggest accomplishment: Overturning Roe.
Michael Tomasky:
Trump's abortion gambit proves he's bad a politics.
Bob Topper: [04-14]
Roe v. Wade: Reasoned v. the right.
Ali Breland: [04-13]
Kamala Harris isn't letting Trump dodge on abortion.
We can also group several stories on Trump's court date
on Monday in New York:
That hardly exhausts their capacity for senseless cruelty, starting
with their Fearless Führer:
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Jonathan Chait:
David Dayen: [04-10]
TSMC chips deal promotes the logic of Biden's industrial policy.
John Nichols: [04-05]
More than half a million Democratic voters have told Biden: Save
Gaza! "The campaign to use 'uncommitted' primary votes to send
a message to Biden has won two dozen delegates, and it keeps growing."
I'm sorry, but these are not impressive numbers. And it is telling
that you don't actually have a candidate -- one more credible than
the underappreciated Marianne Williamson, that is -- leading the
challenge (as Eugene McCarthy did in 1968). The obvious difference
is that Americans were more directly impacted by war in Vietnam
than they are now in Gaza: even though many of us are immensely
alarmed by Israel's genocide, its impact on our everyday life is
very marginal. Also, Biden is widely seen by Democrats (if rarely
by anyone else) as the safe option to defend against Trump, who
most Democrats do regard as a clear and present danger. The main
reason there is that the all-important donor class seems to be
satisfied with Biden, but would surely throw a fit (as Bloomberg
did in 2020) if anyone like Sanders or Warren made a serious run
for the nomination. Also, perhaps, that back in 1968, few people
really understood how bad throwing the election to a Republican
would turn out to be.
Evan Osnos: [04-06]
Joe Biden and US policy toward Israel.
Matt Stieb: [04-11]
Biden's leverage campaign against Bibi isn't producing dramatic
results.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Connor Echols: [04-12]
Diplomacy Watch: Ukraine risks losing the war -- and the peace:
"It's now unclear if the US Congress will ever manage to send more
aid to Kyiv."
Dave DeCamp:
John Mueller: [04-09]
Ukraine war ceasefire may require accepting a partition: "Kyiv
wound likely see significant economic and political benefits --
and move closer to the West -- from a cessation of hostilities."
This has become obvious a year ago, but after Ukraine recovered
territory along the northeast and southwest fronts in late 2022,
they held out big hopes for their much-hyped "spring offensive"
of 2023. Nine months later, the "gains" were slightly negative.
Since then, most of the action has been away from the unmovable
front: notably drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and on
Ukrainian power plants. Which is to say, punitive terror attacks,
reminders of the ongoing cost of war that have no bearing on its
conclusion. Before the war, there were two basic options: one was
the Minsk agreements, which would have unified Ukraine but given
Russian minority rights that could have kept western Ukraine from
moving toward economic integration with Europe; the other was to
allow secession following fair referendums, which would almost
certainly have validated the secessionists in Crimea and Donbas
(but probably not elsewhere). In a divided Ukraine, the west
could more easily align with Europe, while the east could keep
its Russian ties. Either of these would have been much preferable
to the war that maximalists on both sides insisted on.
John Quiggin: [04-03]
Navies are obsolete, but no one will admit it: Examples here
start with Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which seems to have provided
little beyond Ukrainian drone target practice, and the US Navy in
the Red Sea, which hasn't been able to thwart Houthi attacks on
Red Sea shipping (Suez Canal traffic is down 70%).
Around the world:
Boeing:
OJ Simpson: Famous football player, broadcaster, convicted
criminal (but famously acquitted on murder charges), dead at 76. I'm
not inclined to care about any of this, but he did elicit another
round of articles:
Other stories:
William J Astore: [04-11]
There is only one spaceship earth: "Freeing the world from the
deadly shadow of genocide and ecocide."
Charlotte Barnett: [04-10]
Declutter, haul, restock, repeat: "The content creators making
a living by cleaning one purs tower, acrylic plastic box, and egg
organizer at a time."
Emmeline Clein: [04-12]
How capitalism disordered our eating: "From Weight Watchers to
Ozempic, big business profits off eating disorders and their
treatments."
Russell Arben Fox: [04-10]
Thinking about Wendell Berry's leftist lament (and more). The Berry
book is The Need to Be Whole: Patriotism and the History of
Prejudice. Also segues into a discussion of Ian Angus: The
War Against the Commons: Dispossession and Resistance in the Making
of Capitalism. The destruction of the commons is a major theme
in Astra Taylor's The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things
Fall Apart, including a critique of the famous "tragedy of the
commons" theory that I was unaware of but long needed. Scrolling
down in Fox's blog, I see a couple pieces I had read in the Wichita
Eagle. (He teaches here in Wichita, and I believe we have mutual
friends, but as far as I know he's not aware of me.)
Robert Kuttner: [04-09]
The political economy of exile: Searching for safe havens from
Trumpism, or escaping from "shithole countries" if you're rich enough.
Michael Ledger-Lomas: [04-14]
The outsize influence of small wars: Review of Laurie Benton's
book, They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence.
These "small wars" were mostly directed by European powers against
their would-be colonies, most fought with a huge technological edge
which complemented their legal scheming, distinguishing them from
the large wars Europeans fought against each other. That's pretty
much the same definition Max Boot used in his book, The Savage
Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power.
Walter G Moss: [04-14]
2024 US anxieties and Hitler 1933: "Here is a friendly reminder
that all it would take for Trump to be elected is a series of mistakes
by the electorate -- many of them not especially earthshaking."
I figured this was a bit far-fetched to include in the section on
Trump, the Republicans, and their more mundane crime interests,
but Hitler-Trump comparisons are a parlor game of some interest for
those who know more than a little about both. Speaking of parlor
games for history buffs, Moss previously wrote:
Yasmin Nair: [03-27]
What really happened at Current Affairs? This looks to be way too
long, pained, deep, and trivial to actually read, but maybe some day.
And having thrown a tantrum or two of my own way back in the days when
I slaved for someone else's parochially leftist journal, it may even
hit close to home. From my vantage point, Nathan J Robinson is a smart,
sensible, and prodigious critic, and Current Affairs is one of my more
reliably insightful sources as I go about my weekly chores. That such
qualities can go hand-in-hand with less admirable traits is, well, not
something I feel secure enough to cast stones over.
John Quiggin: [03-29]
Daniel Kahneman has died.
Ingrid Robeyns: [04-13]
Limitarianism update: Author of the recent book, Limitarianism:
The Case Against Extreme Wealth, with links to reviews, interviews,
etc. Comments suggest that the concept is better than the title.
Luke Savage: [04-13]
The rich: On top of the world and very anxious about it: "The
small handful of ultrawealthy winners are firmly ensconced in their
positions of privilege in power. Yet so many of them seem haunted
by the possibility that maybe they don't deserve it."
Robert Wright: [04-12]
Marc Andreessen's mindless techno-optimism.
Li Zhou: [04-10]
The Vatican's new statement on trans rights undercuts its attempts
at inclusion.
Ask a question, or send a comment.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Music Week
April archive
(in progress).
Music: Current count 42101 [42079] rated (+22), 37 [39] unrated (-2).
Last week was severely disrupted, with several days not spent
anywhere near the computer -- mostly Washington family passing
through town on their way to Arkansas for the eclipse -- so I
figured there was no point playing new music I'd need to take
notes on. So what little I have below was mostly picked up after
they cleared out Saturday, leaving me to cobble together what
turned out to be an exceptionally long
Speaking of Which (217 links, 12552 words). Several links
to music pieces there, including a bunch on Beyoncé.
We did two manage two family major dinners during the week.
The first (plate pictured
here) featured three Ottolenghi recipes (roast chicken with fennel,
mandarins, and ouzo; sweet potatoes with scallions and dates; and a
pearl barley salad) plus old standby recipes for caponata (Sicilian
eggplant and zucchini), horiatiki (Greek chopped salad), and mast va
khiar (Iranian yogurt with cucumbers, scallions, sultanas, walnuts,
and mint), with pineapple upside-down cake for dessert.
Leftovers went into a second dinner which my nephew Mike took charge
of, adding kofta/chicken/swordfish kebabs, pitas, hummus, asparagus,
quick pickles, eggplant slices topped with spiced yogurt, a spinach
salad with dates and almonds, and a mixed bean salad. Another friend
made a carrot cake and white-chocolate cookies. Much more chaos than
I can handle on my own anymore, but I can take some credit for having
the kitchen and pantry organized.
The eclipse was rated at 88% here, so we got the idea, but it
wasn't much compared to what we saw on TV. The dimming was less
than we often get from passing cumulonimbus clouds.
I only heard about the passing of
Clarence "Frogman" Henry after my cutoff, but decided I might
as well squeeze his compilation in here.
Albert "Tootie" Heath also died last week, and my exploration
of his first albums also got promoted.
As noted, I finished Tricia Romano's brilliantly titled book
on the Village Voice, The Freaks Came Out to Write.
My own involvement with the Voice dates back to 1968-69,
when as a high school dropout in Wichita, KS, still in my teens,
I started subscribing, not so much for the politics -- for that
I had I.F. Stone's Weekly, The Minority of One,
and Ramparts -- as for the bohemian culture. I followed
them for most of my life, which in the late 1970s included a
few years living in New York, and thanks to Bob Christgau, they
even published me, both in the
1970s and
much later (most notably
Jazz Consumer Guide. So, while I
was never mentioned in the book, there was a strong sense that
it tracked much of my life: lots of stories I knew, at least
partly (often indirectly), some I didn't, and a few more I could
have added to.
Moving on, I finally got around to Cory Doctorow's
The Internet Con, which I had identified as "in my queue,
waiting for my limited attention" back in my latest
Book Roundup, dated Sept. 23, 2023 -- and way overdue for
a sequel. I see now that I failed to index that post, so more
drudge work to do.
The other still-pending book from that list is Franklin Foer's
The Last Politician, which the death of the political book
project has made unnecessary, especially on top of my mounting
disappointment with "Genocide Joe." At least when we talk about
"lesser evils" in 2024, there won't be any serious debate over
the evil term.
Next week will also be disrupted, as our guests head home from
Arkansas, hopefully passing through here again. Hopefully they will
be a bit less rushed heading back. Where that leaves my weekly posts
I neither know nor much care. They merely mark time while I age
rather gracelessly.
New records reviewed this week:
Neal Alger: Old Souls (2023 [2024], Calligram):
Guitarist, based in Chicago, debut album from 2001, mostly side
credits since, including five albums with Patricia Barber. Here
with Chad McCullough (trumpet), Chris Madsen (tenor sax), Clark
Sommers (bass), and Dana Hall (drums).
B+(**) [cd]
Thomas Anderson: Hello, I'm From the Future (2024,
Out There): Singer-songwriter from Oklahoma, debut 1989, the first
of many finely wrought albums. A dozen new songs here.
A- [sp]
Sam Anning: Earthen (2024, Earshift Music):
Australian bassist, third album, composed nine pieces, leads a
septet most prominently featuring Mat Jodrell (trumpet), with
two saxophones, keyboards, guitar, and drums. Most pieces are
somber-to-haunting, drawing inspiration from aboriginal land.
B+(***) [cd] [04-05]
Alex Beltran: Rift (2022 [2024], Calligram):
Tenor/soprano saxophonist, based in Chicago, looks like his first
album, mostly an energetic mainstream quartet with Stu Mindeman
(piano/wurlitzer), Sam Peters (bass), and Jon Deitemyer (drums),
with guests on two track each: Chad McCullough (trumpet), Lenard
Simpson (alto sax).
B+(***) [cd]
Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter (2024, Parkwood/Columbia):
Mega pop star, "rose to fame" in Destiny's Child, last name then
Knowles, now seems to be Knowles-Carter after the merger with the
now relatively obscure rapper Jay-Z. Eighth solo album since 2003,
first seven debuted at number one, awaiting confirmation on this
one. She's parlayed her music into a business empire, where her
Wikipedia page has as much about "wealth" and "philanthropy" as
music. I thought her early work, both group and solo, was ok at
best, more often not. She got better, but I never found any reason
to think she was more than money talking. Even after I revised my
grade upward and bought a copy, I never played Renaissance
again. My inability to recall any of her songs might be chalked
up to my aging -- I can't recall much Taylor Swift either -- or
maybe just my increasingly broad-but-shallow streaming, where I'm
most likely to pick up on my long-cultivated idiosyncrasies. Aware
of this, I held off writing up my first play, and gave it a closer
listen the morning after. I heard a lot more: nothing I love, but
a wide range of credible bits, enough to suggest that with another
3-5 plays, I could edit this 78:21 sprawl down to a 45-minute high
B+ (but probably not a 35-minute A-). The result would be even less
cowboy than this is: I'm all for genre-fuck, but she gave up that
game with the "Blackbird" cover in the two slot (even with four
certified country guests, including Tanner Adell), then slipped the
album's best song (six writers, but my guess is that Raphael Saadiq
is key) in between "Texas Hold 'Em" and "Jolene." Aside from Saadiq,
other notable contributors include Nile Edwards, Pharrell Williams,
and Shawn Carter, as well as guests Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson,
and Miley Cyrus, and snips from Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson: all
things you can do with money to make more.
B+(**) [sp]
Martin Budde: Back Burner (2023 [2024], Origin):
Guitarist, based in Seattle, seems to be first album but had a
2021 group album as Meridian Odyssey. Recorded in Alaska, eight
originals plus a Joni Mitchell cover, backed by bass (Ben
Feldman) and drums (Xavier Lecouturier). Nice enough.
B+(*) [cd]
Mackenzie Carpenter: Mackenzie Carpenter (2023,
Valory Music, EP): Country singer-songwriter from Georgia, one of
the writers on the Megan Moroney single "I'm Not Pretty," debut
5-song EP (15:57). Annoying when it takes longer to look up a label
and release date than it takes to listen to a record (and that
doesn't even count the 17:27 "Introducing Mackenzie Carpenter"
video on
YouTube).
Offhand, seems about as credible (and about as pretty) as Moroney.
B+(***) [sp]
Chromeo: Adult Contemporary (2024, BMG): Canadian
electropop duo, sixth album since 2004. Dance grooves, hard to resist.
B+(**) [sp]
Hannah Frances: Keeper of the Shepherd (2024,
Ruination): Singer-songwriter, based in Chicago, plays guitar,
released a debut album in 2018.
B+(*) [sp]
Gossip: Real Power (2024, Columbia): Indie band,
formed in Olympia, WA by three Arkansas expats, fronted by plus-sized
singer Beth Ditto, who went on to a solo career, wrote a book, did
some acting, but is back here for their first album since 2012.
B+(**) [sp]
Helado Negro: Phasor (2024, 4AD): Roberto Carlos Lange,
born in Florida, parents from Ecuador, ninth album since 2009. First
approximation is something similar to the slinky Brazilian music of Tom
Zé.
B+(**) [sp]
Last Word Quintet: Falling to Earth (2021-22
[2024], Origin): Group formed when performance poet Marc Kelly
Smith hooked up with "four of Chicago's more active musicians
and songwriters": Al Day (vocals/guitar), Bob Long (piano), Doug
Lofstrom (bass/keyboards), and Brian Gephart (sax), with Sarah
Allen (drums) listed on back cover but not in group pic. Day's
vocals are rather talkie, rather like Mose Allison, so they
blend in with the poetry as opposed to giving you two distinct
voices. For that, you have the sax.
B+(**) [cd]
Molly Lewis: On the Lips (2024, Jagjaguwar):
Musician from Orange County, California, plays ukulele and other
novelty instruments, and whistles, her early albums out for laughs,
this one reminding me more of soft jazz pleasantries.
B+(*) [sp]
Ms. Boogie: The Breakdown (2024, self-released):
Brooklyn-based rapper, drill style, first album.
B+(*) [sp]
Sam Outlaw: Terra Cotta (2024, Black Hills):
Country singer-songwriter, based in Nashville, fourth album since
2015, original name Morgan but adopted his mother's maiden name --
kind of pulls a punch he really never throws.
B+(*) [sp]
Jim Rotondi: Finesse (2021 [2024], Cellar Music):
Trumpet player, originally from Montana, studied at UNT, played in
New York, now based in Graz, Austria. Backed here by the Notes
and Tones Jazz Orchestra, a big band, plus an unnamed Orchestra
with strings and reeds (flute, oboe, bassoon, horn) on six (of 13)
tracks. Jakob Helling arranged and conducted Rotondi's compositions,
with featured soloists Steve Davis, Dick Oatts and Danny Grissett.
B [sp]
Claudio Scolari Project: Intermission (2022 [2024],
Principal): Italian drummer, discography goes back to 2004, seventh
group album (although Discogs only lists two), quartet features a
second drummer, Daniele Cavalca (also keyboards, with Scolari some
"synth programming"), trumpet (Simone Scolari), and electric bass
(Michele Cavalca). Occasionally hits an Miles Davis fusion vibe,
which is excellent, but not really the point, so it tails off into
something more ambient, which is also fine.
A- [cd]
Tyla: Tyla (2024, Epic): Popiano (pop + amapiano)
singer-songwriter from South Africa, last name Seethal, first
album after a worldwide breakout single in 2023 ("Water").
B+(**) [sp]
Bob Vylan: Humble as the Sun (2024, Ghost Theatre):
British grime/punk/hip-hop duo, singer/guitarist Bobby Vylan and
drummer Bobbie Vylan, released a terrific EP in 2018 (We Live
Here), later expanded to album length and followed up with a
2022 album (The Price of Life). Back here with 10 songs,
34:44. Title song suggests they're getting nice, but this picks
up soon enough, and ends strong with the reminder, "I'm Still
Here."
A- [sp]
Dan Weiss: Even Odds (2023 [2024], Cygnus):
Drummer, over 100 side-credits since 1998, a dozen-plus of his
own compositions since 2005, the latter I rarely enjoyed but here
he tries something different: a bare-bones trio with brilliant
improvisers -- Miguel Zenón (alto sax) and Matt Mitchell (piano) --
making the most out of his broken free rhythms.
A- [cd]
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
Burnt Sugar/The Arkestkra Chamber: The Reconstru-Ducted
Repatriation Road-Rage ReMiXeS (2020-21 [2024], Avantgroidd):
Jazz/funk group, mostly under the direction of the critic Greg Tate
from 2000 to his recent death. Marque Gilmore tha' Inna-Most remixes
of their 2021 album Angels Over Oakanda.
B+(**) [bc]
Pete Jolly: Seasons (1970 [2024], Future Days):
Pianist (1932-2004), actual surname Ceragioli, born in Connecticut
but considered a West Coast player; played with Chet Baker, Gerry
Mulligan, Art Pepper, Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne,
many others; 1955 debut title Jolly Jumps In; recorded
this album for Herb Alpert at A&M, with guitar (John Pisano),
bass (Chuck Berghofer), drums, and percussion. A fairly minor
groove album.
B+(*) [sp]
Mixmaster Morris/Jonah Sharp/Haruomi Hosono: Quiet Logic
(1998 [2024], WRWTFWW): The former is Morris Gould. Discogs only
credits him this one album, but also lists DJ Mixes and Compilations
with titles like God Bless the Chilled, Abstract Funk
Theory, and Calm Down My Selector (but not Give Peace
a Dance?). Sharp is younger, from Scotland, also has a rep for
UK chill rooms. Hosono's name wasn't on the original release, but
this was crafted in his studio. Definitely chill, but a lot of
fascinating detail rarely revealed in ambient.
A- [bc]
Old music:
Kuumba-Toudie Heath: Kawaida (1970, O'Be):
Artist per Discogs, but you know him as Albert "Tootie" Heath
(1935-2024), who came out of Philadelphia with his brothers
Percy (1923-2005) and Jimmy (1926-2000) to have major careers
in jazz. He played on numerous classic albums from 1956 on,
but this is the first listing him as leader -- although it
was later reissued under the marquee names of Herbie Hancock
and Don Cherry, with Heath relegated to a second tier of Jimmy
Heath, Buster Williams, James Mtume, and Ed Blackwell, and most
names were Africanized (Mtume was the only one that stuck,
although you may recognize Mwandisi). Mtume (1946-2022, who
was Jimmy Heath's son but grew up with a stepfather's name)
wrote five pieces, the other one credited to "Kuumba." This was
from a heady moment when Black Power, Pan-Africanism, and the
Avant Garde joined forces to make revolution.
A- [yt]
Albert Heath: Kwanza (The First) (1973 [2015],
Elemental Music): Drummer, a rare album as leader, originally on
Muse in 1974, reissued as Oops! on Xanadu in Japan in 1993
with an extraneous piano solo track from 1981. With Jimmy Heath
(tenor/soprano sax, flute), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Kenny Barron
(pianos), Ted Dunbar (guitar), and Percy Heath (bass).
B+(**) [sp]
Clarence "Frogman" Henry: Ain't Got No Home: The Best of
Clarence "Frogman" Henry (1956-64 [1994], MCA): New Orleans
pianist and singer, just passed (1937-2024), title song was a hit
(3 r&b, 20 pop), earned him that frog-in-the-voice nickname
but that wasn't his only trick (cf. "I'm in Love"), had two more
minor hits in 1961 -- "You Always Hurt the One You Love" and "(I
Don't Know Why) But I Do" (better known from Bobby Charles, and
later by Bobby Vinton) -- but settled into a comfortable groove,
which is just fine for filling out an 18-song profile.
A- [sp]
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Noah Haidu: Standards II (Sunnyside) [04-12]
- Chuck Owen & Resurgence: Magic Light (Origin) [04-26]
- Idit Shner & Mhondoro: Ngatibatanei [Let Us Unite!] (OA2) [04-26]
- Geoff Stradling & the StradBand: Nimble Digits (Origin) [04-26]
- Jordan Vanhemert: Deep in the Soil (Origin) [04-26]
Ask a question, or send a comment.
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