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Monday, December 4, 2023

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41321 [41262] rated (+59), 6 [2] unrated (+4).

Running late, so let's make this quick.

Massive Speaking of Which yesterday (7422 words, 173 links), mostly on the genocide Israel is committing, and not just in Gaza, but the death of Henry Kissinger occasioned many glances back into the many atrocities he helped along.

There is also a Q&A related to Hamas, to which I've added a postscript, where everyone doubles down. There's a music review question there, too.

The Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll is coming along nicely, with 48 ballots submitted and counted so far. Deadline is December 15, so a bit less than two weeks away. I meant to send out a reminder to the voters today, but got distracted by other work. Maybe tonight, for sure by tomorrow.

One piece of work is that I wrote up a script to list out the albums that have received votes so far. As the guy counting the ballots, I've been in the enviable position of seeing all this prospecting work, so I thought I should share it. Albums are sorted alphabetically by artist, so you can't tell standings from the lists, but you are certain to discover things you weren't aware of. (At least, I certainly have. All four of this week's A-list jazz albums were unknown to me before the Poll started -- although two of them were recent promos sent to me, that haven't yet received any votes. Two non-jazz albums first came to my attention on Phil Overeem's latest list, which I still have a lot of catching up on.)

I did create my EOY aggregate list file(s), to which I've added 35 lists so far. I usually wind up with more than 300 lists (last year 565), but there is no guarantee I'm going to go that crazy this year.

My own EOY lists for Jazz and Non-Jazz continue to grow (currently 69 and 47 new A/A- albums, respectively). I meant to firm up my Jazz ballot for today's post, but didn't make it on time. Still, the top dozen-plus have been pretty stable recently, with additions landing well down.

I'm probably missing some stuff, especially on indexing. I know I meant to do more maintenance work on the Poll website, yet I've done very little.

Almost done with Viet Tranh Nguyen's Nothing Ever Dies, and I'm getting tired of it. I've long understood how memories of war are orchestrated to promote more wars, not least because I grew up with a counterexample: my father had no fond memories of his "service" in WWII, and while he had no quarrel with the mission, he was quite certain that his role in it was utterly superfluous (unlike the years before and after when he helped build the B-29s, B-47s, and B-52). Next up is the final chapter on "forgetting," which is long overdue.

Not sure what's next to read, but I'm checking Norman Finkelstein's Gaza for reference. I've read a vast amount of material on every aspect of the conflict, so lots of things are instantly clear to me that seem to hopelessly befuddle others. One thing I will say is that the recent books I've read on 1848 impressed on me that we're not very far removed from an age where revolutionary change was only possible through violence -- in large part because it was always resisted with violence. The latter is often still the case today, which is a big problem for the world.

New records reviewed this week:

Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (2023, Rhymesayers Entertainment): Rapper Ian Bavitz, Wikipedia counts 10 albums since 2000, but collaborations come close to doubling that. Usually quick with the words, but slows down a bit here. B+(**) [sp]

André 3000: New Blue Sun (2023, Epic): First solo album by the OutKast partner, has gotten a lot of news as his flute album, but barely registers as such, having settled into pleasantly aimless ambiance. B [sp]

Artchipel Orchestra With Jonathan Coe: Suspended Moment: The Music of Jonathan Coe (2021 [2023], British Progressive Jazz): Coe is a well-known British novelist, with a long interest in music, but I'm not sure how much he has actually recorded -- minimally a 2014 solo album called Unnecessary Music. The Italian group takes five of Coe's pieces here for a live concert, with Coe playing keyboards. The first is most impressive as jazz, after which they get more theatrical. B+(**) [bc]

Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (2023, Mississippi): Large (17 members) collective from Dakar, Senegal, mostly drums and vocals. B+(*) [sp]

Richard Baratta: Off the Charts (2023, Savant): Drummer, has a couple recent Jazz in Film discs. Quintet here with Jerry Bergonzi (tenor sax), David Kikoski (piano), John Patitucci (bass), and Paul Rossman (congas). B+(**) [sp]

Michael Bates: Metamorphoses: Variations on Lutoslawski (2022 [2023], Anaklasis): Canadian bassist, several album since 2003. Hard to parse the cover here, as credit could be for Michael Bates' Acrobat -- quintet with Marty Ehrlich (clarinet), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Fung Chern Hwei (violin), and Michael Sarin (drums) -- and Lutoslawski Quartet (a string quartet), with vocals (one track) by Anna Lobelian. B+(**) [sp]

Antonio Borghini: Banquet of Consequences (2023, We Insist!): Italian bassist, albums since 2002, leads a Berlin-based sextet of Tobias Delius, Anil Eraslan, Rieko Okuda, Steve Heather, and Pierre Borel. Playfully juxtaposes multiple styles and elements. B+(***) [r]

Bounaly: Dimanche à Bamako (2023, Sahel Sounds): Guitarist Ali Traore, from Niafounke in north Mali, recorded live at a wedding bash in Mali's capitol city, a haven for many refugees from the jihad in the north. With vocals, drums, and calabash, the recording a little crude but powerful. A- [sp]

Danny Brown: Quaranta (2023, Warp): Rapper, actual last name Sewell, sixth album since 2010 -- not counting his recent JPEGMafia duo, which continues to confound me. This rolls on so easily I gave it three plays before I decided all I had to do was tack on a grade. A- [sp]

VV Brown: Am I British Yet? (2023, YOY): British pop singer-songwriter, mother Jamaican, father Puerto Rican, 2009 debut was one of my favorite records that year, this only her 3rd since, and by far the most race-focused. There's probably a story there, quite possibly a grim one, that I feel bad for not taking the time to dig out. But I did catch: "the revolution will not be digitised." And: "this melanin is magical." B+(***) [sp]

Buck 65/Doseone/Jel: North American Adonis (2023, Handsmade): Mixtape with raps by the first two, production by the later. Starts off as nimbly as the former, but loses a bit when the latter aims for more punching power, but winds up just heavy. B+(***) [sp]

Butcher Brown: Solar Music (2023, Concord Jazz): Jazz-funk fusion group from Richmond, Virginia; ninth album since 2013. Many guests this time out. B [sp]

Chicago Edge Ensemble: The Individualists (2023, Lizard Breath): Chicago group, third album, guitarist Dan Phillips is the composer (except for one joint piece, called "Mutualism in Action"). Joined by Josh Berman (cornet), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Krzysztof Pabian (bass), and Hamid Drake (drums). B+(**) [bc]

Michael Dease: Swing Low (2023, Posi-Tone): Mainstream trombonist, has played tenor sax in the past, tries his hand at baritone sax here, with three originals and a bunch of covers, standards and jazz tunes, including a couple by fellow trombonists (Melba Liston, Julian Priester). With Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, trombone (Altin Sencalar 3 tracks), piano (Art Hirahara),' bass (Boris Kozlov), and drums (Rudy Royston). B+(**) [sp]

Hannah Diamond: Perfect Picture (2023, PC Music): British pop singer-songwriter, second album. B+(*) [sp]

Aaron Diehl & the Knights: Zodiac Suite (2023, Mack Avenue): Pianist, several albums since 2013, tackles Mary Lou Williams' 1945 cycle of twelve pieces inspired by the stars. She was one of the major swing pianists of the era, but her bid for high-art respect always struck me as a bit forced. Here, however, Diehl pushes it over the top, with what is billed as "the first fully-fledged professional recording of this incredible arrangement." Even ends with a ridiculous high soprano aria. B- [sp]

Marcelo Dos Reis & Luís Vicente: (Un)prepared Pieces for Guitar and Trumpet (2022 [2023], Cipsela): Guitar and trumpet, electric guitar but feels densely acoustic. Seems marginal, but I find it captivating. A- [cd]

Marcelo Dos Reis: Flora (2023, JACC): Guitarist, trio with Miguel Falcão (bass) and Luis Filipe Silva (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet: Rising Sun (2021 [2023], Motéma Music): Pianist, from Mongolia, first album, has won a bunch of prizes since she landed in Munich. Quartet with Anton Mangold (alto/soprano sax, flute), bass, and drums. B+(***) [sp]

Diego Figueiredo: My World (2023, Arbors): Brazilian guitarist, couple dozen albums since 1999, with several recent ones on this swing-oriented label: the connection appears to be through Ken Peplowski, who co-headlined an album in 2019, and who plays clarinet and sax here, along with Nicholas Payton (trumpet), Helio Alves (piano), Nilson Matta (bass), and Duduka Da Fonseca (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Don Fiorino/Andy Haas: Accidentals (2023, Resonant Music): No hype sheet, can't even find mention of this on the web. Cover just has the title, so it's probably also meant as the group name, but I substituted the artists' names: a duo, the former playing electric fretless bass and guitar, the latter saxophones with effects. Haas has a longer discography, starting in a new wave rock group I liked in 1980, Martha & the Muffins. They do have one previous duo album, and several more as two-thirds of Radio I-Ching (Discogs lists one album, but I've listened to four, with 2009's No Wave Au Go Go the pick). The other third was Jay Dee Daugherty, aka Dee Pop, and I found a memorial for him (1956-2021). This wanders a bit, which can happens when you loose your drummer. But this is odd and interesting enough, and it delights me. Now if only I can find a cover scan. A- [cd]

Five-Way Split: All the Way (2023, Ubuntu Music): UK jazz quintet, with original material by Quentin Collins (trumpet), Vasillis Xenopoulos (tenor sax), and Rob Barron (piano), plus bass (Matyas Hofecker) and drums (Matt Home). B+(*) [sp]

Michael Formanek Elusion Quartet: As Things Do (2022 [2023], Intakt): Bassist, emerged as a strong leader in the 1990s, second album with this powerhouse group: Tony Malaby (tenor sax), Kris Davis (piano), and Ches Smith (drums). Strong out of the gate, aims for a soft landing. B+(***) [dl]

Sullivan Fortner: Solo Game (2023, Artwork, 2CD): Pianist, from New Orleans, played in Roy Hargrove's group 2010-17, has led a couple albums on Impulse! This is solo, 20 songs, 79 minutes, mixed up a bit with electric keyboards, percussion, and some vocalizing. B+(*) [sp]

Ghost Train Orchestra and Kronos Quartet: Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog (2023, Cantaloupe): Moondog was an alias for Louis Hardin (1916-99), a composer, performer, poet, and inventor of musical instruments, largely self-taught, although he drew on Native American music from his childhood in Wyoming, augmented by everything else he ran across, including Latin, jazz, classical, and the minimalists he worked with in New York. I should look deeper into his work, especially given how enticing this improbable collaboration is. Brian Carpenter's 13-piece orchestra is bottom-heavy (bass clarinet, baritone and bass saxophone, bassoon, trombone, and tuba), which keeps the string orchestra centered. And the guest vocalists are mostly from the rock world (or wherever you would slot Petra Haden and Karen Mantler), so they never fall into the usual jazz-classical traps. Dedicated to Hal Willner, who would really dig this. A- [sp]

Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (2023, Saustex): Ed Hamell, antifolk singer-songwriter from upstate New York, albums since 1989, some weird and many funny. This one seems exceptionally scattered, with some of the music sounding like he's found new toys, and some I simply don't quite get, but 37 seconds of Ruth Theodore on Tucker Carlson brought a chuckle, and there's probably more (including four more bits with her). B+(**) [sp]

Lafayette Harris, Jr.: Swingin' Up in Harlem (2023, Savant): Pianist, been around a while (at least since 1992), but has no Wikipedia page, and it's hard to construct a discography from Discogs. But he does have friends: Peter Washington (bass) and Lewis Nash (drums), with Houston Person producing (but not playing). B+(*) [sp]

Benjamin Herman: Nostalgia Blitz (2023, Dox): Dutch alto saxophonist, debut 1993, cites James Chance and John Lurie as early inspirations, as well as Parker, Hodges, and -- the one he both played with and covered brilliantly -- Misha Mengelberg. This is just freaky enough to cover all those bases. A- [sp]

Nitai Hershkovits: Call on the Old Wise (2022 [2023], ECM): Israeli pianist, first album was a 2012 duo with bassist Avishai Cohen; fifth album, solo, quietly contemplative. B+(*) [sp]

Anthony Hervey: Words From My Horn (2023, Outside In Music): Trumpet player, has appeared in Christian McBride's big band, this is his first album, produced by Ulysses Owens Jr., with alto sax (Sarah Hanahan), piano (Isaiah J. Thompson and Sean Mason), bass (Philip Norris, and drums (Miguel Russell). Impressive chops, mainstream ideas, so-so vocal. B+(**) [sp]

Jungle: Volcano (2023, Caiola/AWAL): British electropop project, led by producers John Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, fourth album since 2014, lead vocalist Lydia Kitto. B+(*) [sp]

Sean Mason: The Southern Suite (2023, Blue Engine): Pianist, from North Carolina, based in New York, first album, with trumpet (Tony Glausi), tenor sax (Chris Lewis), bass (Felix Moseholm), and drums (Domo Branch). B+(*) [sp]

MIKE: Burning Desire (2023, 10K): Rapper Michael Bonema, alias choice made him hard to look up when he started c. 2017, but he's piled up six studio albums, five mixtapes, a dozen EPs. B+(*) [sp]

Lisa O'Neill: All of This Is Chance (2023, Rough Trade): Irish singer-songwriter, fifth album since 2009. Folkish, darkly. B+(**) [sp]

OMD [Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark]: Bauhaus Staircase (2023, 100%): One of the new wave bands of the early 1980s to find a synth-fueled dance groove, originally a duo of Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), had a nice run until Humphreys split in 1989. McCluskey carried on until 1996, then reunited with Humphreys in 2006, finally releasing an album in 2010. Third album since, initials on the cover, what these days could be called "classic modernism." With music to match. B+(**) [sp]

Ryoko Ono/Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (2023, self-released): Japanese saxophone and piano duo. Ono has a number of albums since 2012, and Fujii has well over one hundred. B+(***) [bc]

PinkPantheress: Heaven Knows (2023, 300 Entertainment): British dance-pop singer Victoria Walker, first studio album after a breakout mini-mixtape and a well-regarded EP. Small voice, comfy in the soft beats. B+(***) [sp]

Tineke Postma: Aria (2022 [2023], Edition): Dutch saxophonist (alto/soprano), eighth album since 2005, with Ben Monder (guitar), Robert Landfermann (bass), and Tristan Renfrow (drums), playing original pieces. B+(**) [sp]

Mette Rasmussen/Paul Flaherty/Zach Rowden/Chris Corsano: Crying in Space (2019 [2023], Relative Pitch): Two saxophonists (both alto, but Flaherty also plays tenor), plus bass and drums, for a live set at Firehouse 12. B+(***) [sp]

Ernesto Rodrigues/Dirk Serries/João Madeira/José Oliveira: Dripping (2023, Creative Sources): Viola, archtop guitar, double bass, percussion. B+(*) [bc]

Aksel Røed's Other Aspects: Do You Dream in Colours? (2023, Is It Jazz?): Norwegian octet, the leader one of three saxophonists, with trumpet (another Røed, Lyder Øvreás), trombone, piano (Isach Skeidsvoll), bass, and drums. B+(**) [bc]

Alex Sipiagin Quintet: Mel's Vision (2022 [2023], Criss Cross): Russian trumpet player, moved to US in 1990, has a substantial discography since 1998, a post-bop player with real chops. Quintet with Chris Potter (tenor sax), David Kikoski (piano), Matt Brewer (bass), and Johnathan Blake (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Guido Spannocchi: Live at Porgy & Bess Vienna (2022 [2023], Audioguido): Italian alto saxophonist, several albums since 2017, this with Danny Keane (piano), Ruth Goller (bass), and Pete Adam Hill (drums). Very strong showing. B+(***) [sp]

Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis: Calibrating Friction (2023, New Amsterdam): Canadian composer, based in New York, bills this as "a muscular, pyrotechnic blend of progressive metal and symphonic classical music." Somehow not quite that bad. B+(*) [sp]

Chris Stapleton: Higher (2023, Mercury Nashville): Country singer-songwriter, from Kentucky, fifth album since 2015. Strong voice, deep roots, simple ideas. B+(*) [sp]

Earl Sweatshirt & the Alchemist: Voir Dire (2023, ALC/Tan Cressida): LA rapper, Theba Kgositsile, one of the more successful to come out of the Odd Future collective. First with Alan Maman producing, a short one: 11 tracks, 26:37. B+(*) [sp]

Isaiah J. Thompson: The Power of the Spirit (2023, Blue Engine): Pianist, from New Jersey, second album, leads a quartet with tenor sax (Julian Lee), bass (Philip Norris), and drums (Damo Branch or TJ Reddick). B+(***) [sp]

Tyvek: Overground (2023, Ginkgo): "Garage lo-fi punk band" from Detroit, self-released debut 2006, eponymous album on a small but real label 2009, somewhere along the timeline added a saxophone (Emily Roll), adding some overtones to the guitar thrash. Kevin Boyer sings. Reminds me of the early Buzzcocks. A- [sp]

VHS Head: Phocus (2023, Skam): Blackpool electronica artist Ade Blacow, third album. Glitchy, but that's only a first approximation. B+(*) [sp]

J.D. Walter: The Last Muse (2023, Arkadia): Jazz singer, eight or so albums since 2000, second this year (but the one I landed on by accident). Mostly standards, title song and two other originals, unclear on credits (but reportedly "stellar"). Like many male jazz singers, he has considerable technical skills, but sounds tortured. B- [sp]

Jeppe Zeeberg: Occasionally, Good Things Do Happen (2023, self-released): Danish pianist, half-dozen albums since 2014. This is circus-y and/or cartoon-ish, or maybe just a stab at phantasmagorical, not that I care after a while. Near the end, a piano solo that finally puts weird to good use. B- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Geri Allen/Kurt Rosenwinkel: A Lovesome Thing (2012 [2023], Motéma Music): Piano and guitar duo, a live set from the Philharmonie de Paris. B+(**) [sp]

Axolotl: Abrasive (1981 [2023], Souffle Continu): French avant-jazz trio, recorded one more album after this debut, the group consisting of Etienne Brunet (alto sax/bass clarinet), Jacques Oger (tenor/baritone sax), and Marc Dulourd (guitar). B+(*) [bc]

Graham Collier Music: Smoke-Blackened Walls & Curlews (1970 [2023], British Progressive Jazz): British bassist, his sextet an important group of the era. Previously unissued tape, the music a bit on the brooding side, meant to frame John Carberry's narration, which is not without interest, just not a lot. B+(*) [bc]

Don Ellis: How Time Passes (1960 [2023], Candid): Trumpet player (1934-78), first recording as leader, a quartet with Jaki Byard (piano/alto sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Charlie Persip (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Jean-Marc Foussat: Abattage (1973-81 [2023], Fou): Deluxe reissue of the French sound artist's early work, where he plays guitar, piano, "voix, objets, radio," etc., etc., fascinated with whatever he conjures up. B+(***) [cd]

Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae ([2023], Habibi Funk): I don't see any recording dates, but reports are that Hesnawi (b. 1954) recorded more than 15 albums from the 1980s to 2000s, yielding nine tracks here, the riddims build up with electric keyboards, and vocals in English and Arabic. B+(*) [sp]

Wynton Marsalis: Wynton Marsalis Plays Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens (2006 [2023], Blue Engine): This promises "technically flawless performances . . . transposing the timeless music of the 1920s to the 21st century." Hard to know where to begin here, or whether to bother. No one will mistake Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goines, or Jon Batiste for the originals, and the late-breaking vocals hardly try. B [sp]

Mike Osborne: Starting Fires: Live at the 100 Club 1970 (1970 [2023], British Progressive Jazz): British alto saxophonist, one of the first important ones on the avant-garde, paired here with tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore, backed by Harry Miller (bass) and Louis Moholo (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Pet Shop Boys: Smash: The Singles 1985-2020 (1985-2020 [2023], Parlophone, 3CD): Fifty-five songs, most from worthy albums -- even such recent ones as Super (2016) and Hotspot (2020) -- the first two discs largely recapitulating the 2003 2-CD compilation, PopArt: The Hits, plus an extra 68:37 from the later period. A- [r]

Todd Snider: Crank It, We're Doomed (2007 [2023], Aimless): Long-shelved album, recorded after The Devil You Know (perhaps his best studio album ever), "paradoxically [he] felt the album was both too much and too little, needing more but already too much." Some songs were salvaged for Peace Queer and The Excitement Plan, and several were re-recorded later, so much of this is semi-familiar. Perhaps reassuring to recall the doom we (mostly) survived, as opposed to the doom still to come. A- [sp]

Old music:

Don Fiorino/Andy Haas: American Nocturne (2018, Resonant Music): Radio I-Ching minus the drummer, saxophonist Andy Haas making do with a drum machine and electronics, while Don Fiorino plays guitar, glissentar, and lap steel guitar. B+(***) [bc]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Marcelo Dos Reis: Flora (JACC) [09-01]
• Marcelo Dos Reis & Luís Vicente: (Un)prepared Pieces for Guitar and Trumpet (Cispela) [10-01]
• Don Fiorino/Andy Haas: Accidentals (self-released)
• Jean-Marc Foussat: Abattage (1973-81, Fou)
• Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio: Jet Black (Libra) [01-24]
• Adam Schroeder/Mark Masters: CT! Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry (Capri) [01-19]
• Josh Sinton: Couloir & Book of Practitioners Vol. 2 (Form Is Possibility, 2CD) [01-12]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, December 3, 2023

I spent some time today crafting a Q&A on "two fundamental flaws in your thinking" about Hamas, Palestine, and Israel. It draws on my comment to the De Luca/Cavazuti piece on Hamas, below. There is, of course, zero chance that Biden's going to tell Netanyahu: hey, maybe Hamas has a point after all, so let's talk about it a bit, before we get too carried away with this war thing.

Like I said, zero chance. Which leads me to ask an even deeper question: what's the use of having all this wealth and power if it just locks you into doing senseless things that are stupid and cruel? I can see where Hamas might use their power to do something so self-destructive, because they don't have enough power to get noticed otherwise. But Israel and the United States have so much wealth and power, they could actually put it to some good, and people would love it. Instead, they just blow things up and kill and starve people. And maybe they wonder a bit why so many people despise them, but not so much really, because no one else has the power (or the death wish) to stop them.

Top story threads:

Israel: The "pause" for exchanging prisoners (aka hostages) ended on Friday, with Israel immediately resuming its bombardment of Gaza. The number of Palestinians confirmed killed and the number of displaced passed the total levels of the 1948-50 war (aka Nakba) -- although the displaced are still locked in besieged Gaza, instead of scattered in the exile Israel is working so hard to promote. The euphemism "ethnic cleansing" has become a common term for the forced expulsion of people from their homes (in Gaza, many of which were already refugee encampments, set up as temporary during the 1948-50 war). But the more formal legal term is "genocide," which is still the most accurate description of the war Israel is waging, and of the professed intentions behind this war. The whole world should find this alarming, especially those in the democracies that have long given Israel their support, even in its project to turn a haven for oppressed Jews into a fortress of ethnic supremacy.

• Mondoweiss:

  • [11-27] Day 52: Palestinians in Gaza brace for resumption of Israeli attacks as truce reaches final day.

  • [11-28] Day 53: Hostage exchange continues, Israel, Hamas agree to extend truce.

  • [11-29] Day 54: Two children killed by Israeli forces in Jenin amid discussions of truce extension.

  • [11-30] Day 55: Palestinians in Gaza are once again counting down the hours until the bombing restarts.

  • [12-01] Day 56: Truce ends, Israel kills over 100 in Gaza.

  • [12-02] Day 57: 'Not an inch' of Gaza is spared by Israeli strikes after truce ends.

  • [12-03] Day 58: Israel kills 700 in Gaza over 24 hours as Palestinians get forced further south toward Egypt.

• Yuval Abraham: [11-30] 'A mass assassination factory': Inside Israel's calculated bombing of Gaza: "Permissive airstrikes on non-military targets and the use of an artificial intelligence system have enabled the Israeli army to carry out its deadliest war on Gaza."

• Aja Arnold: [12-01] The case against the Merrimack Three is an attack on the Palestine movement as a whole: "Three activists are facing possible decades in prison for taking non-violent direct action against an Israeli military company."

• Avishay Artsy:

  • [12-01] How Israel fractured the left and united the right. Transcript of a podcast interview with Washington reporter David Weigel, which means it's about Washington politics, not the real left. Democrats aren't fractured so much as stunned: torn between the blind love and loyalty they swore to AIPAC and the horrifying reality on their screens and in their feeds, something they simply lack the tools to process.

  • [12-03] Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, briefly explained.

• Jaclynn Ashly: [11-28] The grim reality of Israel's corpse politics: "Israel is the only country in the world that has a policy of confiscating and withholding human remains, which is a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law."

• James Bamford: [11-17] Israel's war on American student activists: "For years the Israel on Campus Coalition -- a little known organization with links to Israeli intelligence -- has used student informants to spy on pro-Palestinian campus groups."

• Ross Barken: [11-30] The pro-Palestinian left is booming: Not a term I'm happy with. Pro-Palestinian can mean several different things, and not all (or even most) of them align with the left. You can be on the left and not give a toss about any nationalist movement. On the other hand, some people on the left do identify as pro-Palestinian, primarily because they believe in solidarity with the oppressed, and hardly anyone is more oppressed than Palestinians these days. But no one on the left wants to pick sides in a war. We want peace, and with peace, equality and freedom. Describing that as pro-Palestinian, or even as anti-Israeli, really misses the point.

  Barkan continues his effort to muddy the waters with this: "The left is split over what it wants to see in the region: One or two states." That's a false dichotomy, imposed by powers with ulterior motives. What we on the left want is equal rights for all people in whatever nations exist. As for how this relates for forming viable electoral coalitions in America, it probably doesn't. Here, too, the left faces the problem of achieving more equitable rights.

• Daniel Brumberg: [11-30] How Hamas has made life harder for Iran and its allies: "The October 7 assault has shaken the assumptions of every player in the Middle East, including Tehran."

• Jessica Buxbaum: [11-30] 'Erase Gaza': How genocidal rhetoric became normalised in Israel.

• Samantha Chery: [12-02] Julianna Margulies apologizes for saying Black, LGBTQ people hate Jews: That's nice, and no doubt sincere, but it does rather prove the point, which is that when atrocities occur, not everyone has the presence of mind, let alone the tact, to say precisely and clearly the right things first. Actually, that's quite rare, which is why one should be generous enough not to try to hang people for their rash, out-of-context quotes. There is another example in this piece, a quote from Susan Sarandon that is bad on several counts, for which she, too, has sincerely apologized. I could point out a few differences, like that consequences (at least in America) seem to be more more severe for insensitivity and disrespect to Jews than to Palestinians, and that many of the people (not just Jews, and not only Jews) who are so quick to remind us of the evil of antisemitism have shown similar concern for Palestinians, despite (how shall we put this?) ample evidence on numerous occasions in the 75 years since the Nakba.

• Thalif Deen: [11-27] How the US made Israel's military what it is today: "Washington has provided over $130 billion in unrestricted aid and weapons to Tel Aviv, more than any other country, ever."

• Dan De Luca/Lisa Cavazuti: [10-25] Gaza is plagued by poverty, but Hamas has no shortage of cash. Where does it come from? "Hamas has an investment portfolio of real estate and other assets worth $500 million, say experts, and an annual military budget of as much as $350 million." I found this piece when I was looking for some backup reference for a reader's assertion that "at its core Hamas is essentially a criminal enterprise which made nearly a billion in the last few years. Pornography, drugs and human trafficking." (Also: "Hamas merely acts as a beard for Iran.") This piece provides some support for those assertions, but even here the headline gets trimmed down pretty fast: "Estimates for its annual military budget range from $100 million to $350 million, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources." (Article says $100 million, of which $40 million "goes to terror group's tunnel digging work." The "Palestinian sources do not include Hamas.)

  We're supposed to react to such numbers by thinking they're huge (and wasteful, and a shade demonic), but are they really? Israel's military budget is more than $23 billion (and they're spending at a much higher rate right now -- the $14 billion Biden requested gives you an idea how much), so even by these lavish estimates, Hamas is spending at most 1% as much as Israel, probably less than 0.5%. Moreover, while labor costs may be cheap in Gaza, the cost of goods must be very dear, as they have to be purchased illicitly, then smuggled into Gaza.

  As for all that cash, the article points out that Qatar is a major source, but all Qatari cash passes through Israel, with its safeguards against redirection to Hamas. The US and others have been sanctioning Hamas for years. While that never seems to work 100%, it does strain credibility to think that Hamas leaders are sitting on huge cash reserves in foreign resorts. And if they were living so high on the hog, why did they blow it all up by launching that Oct. 7 revolt?

• Connor Echols: [11-30] The myth of the 'surgical' war: Interview with Sam Moyn "about what international law really means."

• Rabea Eghbariah: [11-21] The Harvard Law Review refused to run this piece about genocide in Gaza.

• Thomas L Friedman: [12-01] I'm not going to try to argue the points, but this is basically similar to the Gaza separation proposal I've been pushing since the war started (and, effectively, for many years prior). Not exactly the same: it's meaner-spirited, and more petulant (renewing the post-Munich assassination teams). But he's got a good lede, quoting Confucius: "'Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves' -- one for your enemy and one for yourself." Israel has no solution for Gaza, nor even any help. Just ever-renewing problems, not least for itself.

• Melvin Goodman: [12-01] Mainstream media largely ignore Israel's duplicity and deceit: Examples go all the way back to 1948.

• Bassam Haddad/Sinan Antoon: [11-28] This open license must be revoked: The "license" refers to the charge of "antisemitism against any and all critics of Israel." Who granted it, and how it can be "revoked" aren't clear. But its use to defend Israel is at best confusing. (So, the people against genocide are the antisemites? And the people who support Israel's militarized apartheid state aren't antisemites? Even the ones who sound so much like antisemites of yore?) And in the long run, it's likely to backfire, either by making antisemitism seem like not such a bad thing, or turning it into a badge of honor.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [11-30] 'They shot her son in her arms and forced her to throw his body': testimonies from the death march on Salah al-Din Street.

• Imad Abu Hawash: [11-22] 'If you don't leave, we'll kill you': Hundreds flee Israeli settler violence in Hebron area.

• Noah Hurowitz: [11-27] Not in Their Name: "Jewish Voice for Peace doesn't just oppose the war; it challenges the link between Jewish identity and support for Israel."

• Ellen Ioanes: [12-02] Israel moves into southern Gaza after a week-long truce -- and its goals are murkier than ever.

• Hebh Jamal: [11-30] How Israel's war is deliberately making Gaza uninhabitable.

• Nadim Khoury: [11-30] Israel-Palestine war: Why the West can't conceive of a Palestinian right to security.

• Menachem Klein: [11-28] Israeli arrogance thwarted a Palestinian political path. October 7 revealed the cost: Explains a 2021 Fatah-Hamas agreement, which "offered a different political horizon," but was quashed by Israel and the US, refusing to allow Palestinians to elect new leaders to represent them in talks with Israel.

• Ken Klippenstein: Joe Biden moves to lift nearly every restriction on Israel's access to U.S. weapons stockpile.

• Dan Lamothe/Alex Horton: [11-27] Thousands leave behind American lives to join Israel's war in Gaza.

• Zach Levitt/Amy Schoenfeld Walker: [12-02] What the scale of displacement in Gaza looks like.

• Eric Levitz: [11-28] In Bibi's Israel, Musk's brand of antisemitism is kosher. This article touches on a number of important points -- more than I feel up to unpacking at the moment: the decline and resurfacing (largely after Trump encouraged the crypto-nazis to pop up) of antisemitism in America; the historic pact of convenience between antisemites and Zionists, who before Israel were opposed by left and orthodox Jews, and ignored by the masses who preferred emigration to America; the hardening of Israel as a racist colonial project, with alliances to right-wing political movements around the world; the propaganda war that seeks to discredit opposition to Israel's apartheid and emergent genocide by branding critics as antisemitic. But for now, here's a paragraph to mull over:

  There is no inherent conflict between the interests of Jews in Israel and those who live everywhere else. Yet there is an inescapable contradiction between the values of Israel's far-right government and those that best serve the Jewish diaspora. As minority populations, diasporic Jewish communities have an interest in pluralism, egalitarianism, and inviolable human-rights protections. By contrast, as the vanguard of a Jewish supremacist project that aims to either ethnically cleanse Palestinians in the occupied territories or subject them to unending apartheid, the current Israeli government is hostile to all of those values. Therefore, its search for allies abroad inevitably leads it into the arms of parties and political figures who are bad for the (diaspora) Jews.

• Gideon Levy:

  • [11-12] Children are children, whether in Israel or Gaza. They never deserve to die: "In the fascist reality now sweeping Israel, even such a statement is considered treasonous and an expression of Israel hatred."

  • [11-29] "There is nothing cheaper than Palestinians' lives in Israel".

• Charisma Madarang: [11-30] Israel knew Hamas' attack plan a year before Oct. 7: Report. Draws on Ronen Bergman/Adam Goldman: [11-30] Israel knew Hamas's attack plan more than a year ago: "Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings."

• Joseph Massad: [11-30] Why Israeli claims have no credibility outside of the West.

• Nicole Narea: [11-22] The many, many times Israelis and Palestinians tried to make peace -- and failed. Useful checklist, but the reason all these "tries" fell through is almost always Israel refused or reneged. For another piece on the same subject, see Jon Schwarz: [11-28] All the times Israel has rejected peace with Palestinians.

• Jonathan Ofir: [12-01] Israel's Gaza onslaught is the next stage of the Dahiya Doctrine: "The Dahiya Doctrine was coined by current Minister Gadi Eisenkot when he was Chief of Northern Command in 2008. The military doctrine, named after the Dahiya quarter of Beirut that Israel targeted and leveled during the 2006 war, outlines 'what will happen' to any enemy that dares attack Israel." In other words, it calls for massive collective punishment of any neighborhood where anyone defies Israel.

• Yumna Patel: [11-30] Israel has a long history of taking Palestinian children captive.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [12-02] Biden works to create plausible deniability as he backs Israel's assault on Gaza. With their leaked notes advising caution and prudence, it's almost as if they're seeding their defense brief for eventual trial in The Hague.

• Maria Rashed: [11-29] UK protests expose wide gulf between gov't and public on Palestine.

• Dan Sabbagh: [12-01] Israel's military strategy threatens to make a desperate situation utterly dire.

• Jeremy Scahill: Israel's insidious narrative about Palestinian prisoners.

• Areeba Shah: [11-24] "Powerful influence of wealthy lobbyists": Right-wing group pressures lawmakers on pro-Israel bills: "ALEC, the group behind a wave of bills to crack down on Israel boycotts, urges states to unconditionally back war."

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [11-30] Language, social media, and the Gaza information war: "Mainstream media no longer dominate battle for hearts and minds in Gaza war."

  • [11-30] IDF efforts to eliminate Hamas have failed: Much ado about body counts.

  • [12-01] Israeli claims of Hamas sexual assaults lay its credulity on the line. I usually find Silverstein to be pretty credible in his detailed pieces about how Israel operates, but will note here that Eric Levitz is now saying "there is no excuse for denial now," citing this article. While I'm sure any rapes were horrific, as indeed was the mere appearance of armed Palestinian intruders in any Israeli home, this strikes me as a small matter in the broad scheme of things. It is, however, the sort of detail that propagandists love to pounce on.

    [PS: In a later tweet, Levitz backs down a bit, admitting the article he cites is a bit fishy. In the meantime, I was reading the part in Viet Tanh Nguyen's Nothing Ever Dies where he talks about the inevitability of rape in war, in much the same terms Levitz uses. As a general rule, sure, but do the rapes really start on the first day of a war (which for Hamas was the only day out of their cage, where they had potential victims, at a time when their position was so precarious that most were bound to die)? My impression is that war rapes mostly happen after the war has ground down, in secure but still alien territory, with the complicity of your fellow troops.]

    [PPS: Mondoweiss also has a piece debunking the rape reports.]

  • [12-01] Netanyahu plan to "thin out" Gaza population to "bare minimum": "Israel claims it is not ethnic cleansing, but a humanitarian gesture."

  • [12-03] As Israel plans Gaza ethnic cleansing, US says no.

  • [12-03] Israeli MKs, messianic evangelicals lobby Congress for ethnic cleansing.

• Margaret Sullivan: [11-28] The Israel-Hamas war is deadly for journalists. Lives are being lost, and truth: "At least 53 journalists have been killed since 7 October, the deadliest figure in the 30 years of keeping these dire statistics."

• Philip Weiss: [11-29] Biden became 'Genocide Joe' thanks to the Israel lobby.

• Sammy Westfall/Helier Cheung: [11-30] Here are the hostages released by Hamas and those remaining in Gaza.

• Jason Willick: [12-01] What Chuck Schumer gets wrong about antisemitism on the left: This piece has been bugging me, and it's probably not worth the trouble trying to figure out why. Obvious first point is that anyone who talks about antisemitism in the left doesn't know the most basic definitions. If you're on the left, you believe that all people deserve the same rights and respect, and there's no reconciling that belief with discrimination on race, ethnic group, religion, creed, sex, or any other arbitrary division. But also, and this is the part that right can't wrap their minds around, you also don't believe that people who have been oppressed should have the right to oppress others.

  Schumer and Willick are slightly at odds here, but Willick is reluctant to attack such a reliable mouthpiece for Israeli interests. His own views are more clear from his recent columns:

  • Biden's efforts to constrain Israel could backfire [10-26]
  • We can't ignore the truth that Hamas uses human shields [11-14]
  • Benjamin Netanyahu, moderate [11-22]
  • Identity politics is a game Jews can't win [10-17]

  The latter is most relevant here, as it confuses the left with the Democratic Party, echoing a common (mostly from centrist elites) complaint about intersectional coalition building. Also note a better critique of Schumer's speech:

  • Dave Zirin: [11-29] Chuck Schumer is antisemitism's great enabler. In his speech, Schumer refers to Zirin's previous article: [11-15] The March for Israel was a hate rally: "What kind of gathering against antisemitism invites antisemites?"

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Zack Beauchamp: [11-29] Nikki Haley's "rise" and the Republican flight from reality: The Koch political arm, Americans for Prosperity Action, endorsed Haley. Given the current polls, Beauchamp thinks this utter folly. But there is still a non-trivial chance that Trump's candidacy could simply implode, leading to a desperate search for any kind of replacement. The current Republican field screams "none of the above" -- the obvious contenders from 2016 chose to sit this one out, leaving it to a few perishables and extreme longshots. But of the field, Haley is the one who's managed to get serious press support, and without compromising her stake on evil. So I'm not sure this is such a bad bet (except for America, of course). Speaking of Haley, here's some of the latest:

  • Jonathan Chait: [12-02] Nikki Haley's rocket ride to second place.

  • Paul Krugman: [11-27] Nikki Haley is coming for your retirement.

  • Harold Meyerson: [11-30] Nikki wins the Wall Street primary: "Unlike Trump, Haley's not crazy, merely far (far!) right." After recounting Haley's anti-union militancy, Meyerson notes: "South Carolina is one of the six states that has never enacted a minimum-wage law, and boasts the lowest rate of unionization (1.7 percent) of any state, in keeping with its history as the staunchest defender of slavery in antebellum America."

  • Catherine Rampell: [12-01] Supposed 'moderates' like Nikki Haley would blow up the government, too. As Steve M. explains, "This is why the Koch network endorsed Haley."

• Kyle Cheney/Josh Gerstein: [12-01] Trump may be sued over Jan. 6 incitement claims, appeals court panel rules.

• Chauncey DeVega: [12-01] The violence is Trump's goal: "It is both the means as well as the goal of Trump's fascist political project."

• Hailey Fuchs/Heidi Przybyla: [11-28] Leonard Leo firm received $21M from Leo-linked group.

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [11-28] Melania Trump adds awkward touch to Rosalyn Carter funeral. What's awkward is the whole "presidential wives club" concept. And while it's easy to separate Melania as the odd duck out, isn't there a deeper divide between Democrats and Republicans: the Democratic wives feel more like partners (Clinton more in the spotlight, Carter less, but every bit as solid), whereas the Republicans have more constrained, specialist roles -- a feminist critic could have a field day deconstructing all that.

  • [11-30] Gag order can't derail Trump's tirade about judge's wife.

• Robert Kagan: [11-30] A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending. Long, serious piece, but yes, that Robert Kagan, so just noted in passing, without the scrutiny to root out its rotten core. Seriously, warmongers like Kagan make Trump look not so bad (but then he hires ones like McMaster, Pompeo, and Bolton, and screws up even worse).

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [11-28] Iowa kingmaker Vander Plaats thinks state will 'rise up' against Trump: Having picked Republican caucus winners in 2008, 2012, and 2016, he's coming out for DeSantis now.

  • [12-02] Trump plans to make civil service a MAGA spoils system.

• Paul Krugman: [11-30] Donald Trump still wants to kill Obamacare. Why? Probably just because people still call it Obamacare. He could just pass the same law again, maybe with a couple extra loopholes for graft, and call it Trumpcare, and he'd be peachy keen. (That's basically what happened when NAFTA became USMCA.) Also:

  • Catherine Rampell: [11-28] Efforts to kill Obamacare made it popular. Trump says he'll try again.

• Heather Digby Parton: [12-01] Newsom humiliates DeSantis on Fox News. Also:

  • Lloyd Green: [12-01] His debate with Gavin Newsom showed Ron DeSantis will never be president.

  • Ellie Qujinlan Houghtaling: All the things that went wrong for Ron DeSantis in his latest debate failure.

• Amanda Marcotte: [11-30] Students for Trump founder said guns made "women equal" -- before allegedly pistol-whipping a woman: "Ryan Fournier repeatedly said MAGA are women's true protectors -- he's under arrest for hitting his girlfriend."

• Donald P Moynihan: [11-27] Trump has a master plan for destroying the 'deep state': I.e., the "administrative state," the professional civil servants, who work to serve the public, according to the laws they are sworn to uphold, regardless of the political interests of the president.

• Timothy Noah: The GOP showed again how anti-worker it really is.

• Christian Paz: [12-01] Can the party of Trump really become a multiracial coalition? Patrick Ruffini is pushing that line, especially in his book, Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP.

• Beth Reinhard/Manuel Roig-Franzia/Clara Ence Morse: [12-02] Trump pardoned them. Now they're helping him return to power.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Ryan Cosrtello: [12-01] House Dems sabotage Biden's Iran diplomacy: Israel über alles!

• Andrew Prokop: [11-27] Is Biden doomed in 2024? 3 theories about the president's bad polls. None very good, but they cover the range, and reveal the limits, of conventional wisdom.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Gabrielle Gurley: [11-30] Abortion confusion in Texas: "State courts must now decide how to handle life-threatening pregnancy issues that state attorneys, lawmakers, and medical officials refuse to clear up."

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [11-28] Elon Musk's attempt to silence his critics will be heard by one of America's worst judges.

  • [11-28] The new Trump judge revolt against the Voting Rights Act, explained.

  • [11-29] The Supreme Court seeks a middle path between following the law and blowing up the government: SEC v. Jarkesy.

• Cristian Farias: [12-02] The Supreme Court Sandra Day O'Connor left behind is dead, too: "Her successors abandoned the principles of pragmatism and compromise she represented." She just died, at 93. Just think: if she hadn't resigned, we wouldn't have gotten Samuel Alito, and Biden would be able to appoint her successor. But she was a Republican partisan, a Reagan appointee, who proved her bona fides in throwing the 2000 election to GW Bush. Our friend Liz Fink was always a shrewd judge of Supreme Court justices -- she was the first I knew who suggested that David Souter might not turn out to be so bad -- had this take on O'Connor: that while she would allow states to hassle women seeking abortions, she would never rule against that right of well-to-do white women, like herself. She never did, but she did pave the way for her Party to take away your rights.

• Stephen I Vladeck: [11-28] The Fifth Circuit is making the Supreme Court look reasonable.

Climate and environment:

• COP 28 Climate Summit: Updates on the global warming talks.

  More on COP 28:

  • Elizabeth Kolbert: [11-25] The road to Dubai: "The latest round of international climate negotiations is being held in a petrostate. What could go wrong?"

  • Anatol Lieven: [12-01] COP28: Will there be an honest stocktaking on climate?

  • George Monbiot: [11-29] Here's a question Cop28 won't address: why are billionaires blocking action to save the planet?

• Kevin Crowe/Brady Dennis: [11-30] Extreme weather helped fuel surge in malaria cases last year.

• Scott Dance: [11-30] This year will be Earth's hottest in human history, report confirms.

• William B Davis/Judson Jones: [12-02] 2023 hurricane season ends, marked by storms that 'really rapidly intensified'. Somehow, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean got spared (aside from Idalia), despite record warm temperatures, with a lot of storms turning north far out in the Atlantic. But also there were a lot of storms in the eastern Pacific -- and, though not detailed there, in the western Pacific, and for that matter in the Indian Ocean.

• Oliver Milman: [11-27] US oil and gass production set to break record in 2023 despite UN climate goals: 12.9m barrels of crude oil. That's more than double since 2009, when Obama became president, after 8 years of declining production and soaring prices under GW Bush.

Economic matters:

• Eric Levitz: [11-30] You don't want 2020 prices back: Why deflation is usually not a good thing, with one counterexample to make a point.

• Emily Stewart: [11-28] Why Diet Coke got so expensive: "The economy, explained by Diet Coke, kind of."

Ukraine War:

• Connor Echols: [12-01] Diplomacy Watch: New revelations shed light on early talks.

• Jen Kirby: [11-30] There are now more land mines in Ukraine than almost anywhere else on the planet: "Ukraine is staring down a massive humanitarian challenge -- now and into the future."

Around the world:

• Aparna Gopalan: [11-28] Israel's brutality is stoking the imagination of India's far right: "As the genocide in Gaza continues, India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi is taking notes." The mutual affinity of the world's foremost racist/ethnocrats is striking: "In the past four decades, Hindu nationalism has become the dominant political ideology in India, and the country's support for Zionism has risen in tandem."

• Jeet Heer: [12-01] If Narenda Modi is running a global death squad, he'll be protected by the Kissinger doctrine: "Trying to murder American citizens on American soil is no big deal -- so long as the foreign policy elite likes you."

• Phillips Payson O'Brien: [12-02] The U.S. keeps thinking it's a greater power than it is.

• Hans Steketee: [12-01] The sensible Dutch take a sharp turn to the right: "Far-right anti-immigrant campaigner Geert Wilders emerged as the leader of the largest party in the new parliament."

Henry Kissinger: He died, a nice round 100 years old, elites sucking up to him to the very end. Which raises the question: who is the new worst person in the world? (Here's a reddit thread, which still needs some work -- although I'd keep Murdoch and Netanyahu for the short list, maybe Putin too. More fun is who Kissinger succeeded? If not his partner-in-crime, Nixon, I'd nominate Winston Churchill, who exceeded Kissinger not only in the amount of damage he caused, but also in the amount of praise -- if not necessarily money -- he collected along the way. One difference was that people kept forgetting Churchill's disasters, allowing him more chances, whereas Kissinger's crimes were studiously documented (as will be evident below), even though people in power never seemed to care.

• Dylan Matthews: [11-30] What Henry Kissinger wrought. The bullet points (subheds):

  • Henry Kissinger supported Pakistan's genocide in Bangladesh
  • Henry Kissinger supported Indonesia's bloody invasion of East Timor
  • Henry Kissinger backed brutal bombing raids in Cambodia
  • Henry Kissinger sabotaged peace talks with Vietnam
  • Henry Kissinger supported military coups against democratic leaders in Chile and Argentina
  • Henry Kissinger's good deed: opening China

• Spencer Ackerman: [11-29] Henry Kissinger, war criminal beloved by America's ruling class, finally dies.

• John Bartlett/Uki Goñi/Julian Borger: [11-30] Latin America remembers Kissinger's 'profound moral wretchedness'.

• Daniel Boguslaw: [11-30] Members of Israel's ruling Likud Party once planned to assassinate Henry Kissinger: This was in 1977, "according to a news report from the time." One should recall that in 1948 Lehi, led by future Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, assassinated UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte.

• Greg Grandin:

  • [11-29] Henry Kissinger: To die at the right time.

  • [11-29] A people's obituary of Henry Kissinger: "For decades, Kissinger kept the great wheel of American militarism spinning ever forward."

  Grandin previously (2015) wrote: Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman. He also wrote the introduction to a Jacobin book expected to ship later this month: The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger.

• Jonathan Guyer: [12-01] The 4 final acts of Henry Kissinger: "Accountability never came, only more birthday cake." Many good lines here, like: "He said a lot of words and told anecdotes that in the moment riveted the room, but there was no great substance about how to solve perennial problems that would explode again in less than 48 hours."

• Brian Karem: [12-01] My conversations with Henry Kissinger, a man I abhorred.

• David Klion: Henry Kissinger only cared about one thing: "All of the death and misery he left in his wake was a mere by-product of his single-minded pursuit of elite power."

• Charisma Madarang: [11-30] Media, conservatives team up to lionize war criminal Henry Kissinger.

• Joseph Massad: [11-30] The murderous legacy of Henry Kissinger.

• Tom McKenna: [11-30] Scathing obituaries of Henry Kissinger don't mince words about his bloody legacy.

• Ben Rhodes: [11-30] Henry Kissinger, the hypocrite.

• Jon Schwarz: On top of everything else, Henry Kissinger prevented peace in the Middle East.

• Choire Sicha: [11-29] Henry Kissinger, the devil at the dinner party: "His long final act -- after Harvard and D.C. and Cambodia -- was spent at New York's more rarefied tables."

• Norman Solomon: [11-30] Henry Kissinger was the definition of elite impunity.

• Tatyana Tandanpolie: [11-30] "Murderous scumbag": Anthony Bourdain's brutal takedown of "war criminal" Henry Kissinger goes viral.

• Nick Turse: [12-01] Ask brutalized Cambodians what they think of Kissinger.

• Travis Waldron/George Zornick: [11-29] Henry Kissinger, America's most notorious war criminal, dies at 100: "The titan of American foreign policy was complicit in millions of deaths -- and never showed remorse for his decisions."

• Politico Magazine: [11-30] 'My mother told me not to speak ill of the dead': Political experts on Henry Kissinger's legacy. They consulted ten "experts," and took the title from Rosa Brooks, who added, "which pretty much precludes me from saying anything at all about Henry Kissinger." Even the ones who try to say something nice have trouble conveying the notion.

• Responsible Statecraft: [12-01] Symposium: Peace or destruction -- what was Kissinger's impact?: "Wide range of experts and commentators weigh in on the conflicted legacy of an American statesman." George Beebe is one of the few to applaud Kissinger, in terms that Tom Blanton immediately punctures in the next entry:

  The declassified legacy of Henry Kissinger undermines the triumphant narrative he labored so hard to build, even for his successes. The opening to China, for example, turns out to be Mao's idea with Nixon's receptiveness, initially dissed by Kissinger. His shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East did reduce violence but it took Anwar Sadat and then Jimmy Carter to make the peace that Kissinger failed to accomplish. The 1973 Vietnam settlement was actually available in 1969, but Kissinger mistakenly believed he could do better by going through Moscow or Beijing. Meanwhile, Kissinger's callousness about the human cost runs through all the documents.

Other stories:

Tim Alberta: [12-01] The bogus historians who teach evangelicals they live in a theocracy: "A new book on the Christian right reveals how a series of unscrupulous leaders turned politics in to a powerful and lucrative gospel." That would be Alberta's own book: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.

Jeremy Barr: [11-30] MSNBC draws backlash for canceling Mehdi Hasan show. Also:

• John Nichols: [12-01] American discourse needs more Mehdi Hasan, not less.

Ryan Cooper:

• [11-30] The Cybertruck is the dumbest thing I've ever seen: "Elon Musk enters his Caligula era."

• [11-21] Tesla faces off against Nordic labor solidarity.

Chas Danner/Nia Prater: [12-01] George Santos has been expelled from Congress: Live updates. The House vote was 311-114: Democrats voted 206-2 (2 present) to expel; Republicans 112-105 to not expel. The measure required a two-thirds supermajority (282 votes). Five Republicans (including Kevin McCarthy) and three Democrats (including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) did not vote.

• Li Zhou: [12-01] George Santos's messy expulsion vote, briefly explained.

• Michelle Goldberg: [12-01] Farewell to George Santos, the perfect MAGA Republican.

• Lydia O'Connor: [12-01] 'George Santos is an ass': House colleagues share their true feelings after his ouster.

• Adam Serwer: [12-01] Expelling George Santos was a mistake.

• Matt Stieb/Margaret Hartmann: [12-01] Here's every single lie told by George Santos: This article has been kicking around ever since shortly after the 2022 election, with many updates. I've never bothered reporting it, but now seems like the time.

• Kara Voght/Ben Terris/Jesús Rodriguez: [12-01] The last days of George Santos, U.S. Congressman "Scenes from the final act of a Washington farce."

Silvia Foster-Frau/N Kirkpatrick/Arelia R Hernández: [11-16] Terror on Repeat: "A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings."

Penelope Green: [11-30] Larry Fink, whose photographs were 'political, not polemical,' dies at 82. I noted Larry's death last week, and complained that the New York Times didn't have an obituary up. (When his sister, Elizabeth Fink, died a few years back, her obituary appeared, at least briefly, above that of Yogi Berra.) Here it is, complete with a nice selection of his photographs ("the chilly anomie of Manhattan's haute monde, the strangeness of Hollywood royalty and the lively warmth of rural America").

Jeet Heer: [11-26] Garry Wills and the real Kennedy curse: Unfortunately, this is a 1:43:30 podcast with no transcript, so I can't imagine myself slogging through it, but I want to at least note that my interest was piqued by "our shared love for Garry Wills's The Kennedy Imprisonment, a revelatory book about not just the Kennedy family but also the nature of 'great man politics.'" I've read a number of Wills's books, starting (long ago) with Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man, which at the time I saw as a brilliant dissection.

Anita Jain: [12-01] How Franklin Roosevelt tamed Wall Street: Review of Diana B Henriques: Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism. Over the course of American history, there have been few cases where presidential leadership actually meant something, but the most brilliant of all was Roosevelt's handling of the banking panic in the first weeks of his administration. He ordered a "banking holiday" to stop the withdrawals, and addressed the nation via radio, where he explained in authoritative detail how banking worked, why it was vulnerable to panics, and how they can be avoided with a little patience. When he reopened the banks, the panic had subsided, but he still moved quickly to pass a new law to make sure such panics wouldn't happen again (as they had regularly throughout American history). This law was the Carter-Glass Act, which worked brilliantly -- especially federal deposit insurance -- for 65 years, until Citibank got the Republican Congress and Clinton to repeal it, a mere ten years before the biggest banking crisis since 1933. This was the cornerstone of Roosevelt's famous "100 days," which remains the "gold standard" for what Democratic government can do with a large majority in Congress and business back on their heels. (And yes, one of the most important things they did was get rid of the gold standard, which had become a dead weight on the world economy.)

A good book to read on this is Adam Cohen: Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America. As someone who was born in 1950, I grew up with little sense of what Roosevelt accomplished, even though it was all around me. Democrats were way too modest. This contrasts starkly with the Republicans' systematic efforts to memorialize Lincoln and Reagan.

Sarah Jones: [11-29] The infidel turned Christian: "When Ayaan Hirsi Ali renounced Islam for atheism, her conversion made her a global star." Now, she's reinventing herself.

Ezra Klein: [12-03] The books that explain where we are in 2023. A noble undertaking, but a hard one for anyone to read enough to undertake. None here that I've read, but half or so I've reported on. Still, isn't it a bit strange that when he looks for a book on Israel, all he comes up with is Ari Shavit's 10-year-old My Promised Land? I did read a substantial extract from that book, where he describes in considerable detail the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians from Lydda and Ramle -- we'd call that "ethnic cleansing" these days -- and rationalizes it as essential to the founding and glory of his beloved Israel.

I could complain that much more has been written on Israel/Palestine since then, but the book I still most recommend came out in 2004: Richard Ben Cramer's How Israel Lost: The Four Questions. The most enduring of those questions is why Israel keeps pushing the parameters of a peace settlement beyond what Palestinians are willing to accept. But he also has some insights as to why Palestinian leaders have proven so inept at negotiating with Israel.

More book lists/reviews:

• The New Yorker: [11-29] The best books of 2023.

Keren Landman: [11-29] US life expectancy no longer catastrophic, now merely bad.

Clay Risen: [11-30] Pablo Guzmán, Puerto Rican activist turned TV newsman, dies at 73: A name I recognize from back in the 1970s, involved with a group called the Young Lords.

Nathan J Robinson: [11-28] Why you should primarily focus on your own country's crimes: "Why don't U.S. activists focus on the crimes of the Chinese government? Because we're responsible for what is done in our name, and what we can most affect." Well, also because echoing a moral critique by Americans in power is taken to ratify and promote hostile foreign policies that often only make the problems worse, and in any case are beyond what the US should be doing abroad. And also because, regardless of how pure your intentions are, you're not likely to be heard beyond the din of American saber-rattling. As for other countries that are allied with America (like Israel and Saudi Arabia), you have no business interfering with them, but you can certainly question why the US helps them oppress their own people.

Aja Romano: [11-17] The Crown increasingly becomes a fantastical apologetic for the royal family.

Jeffrey St Clair: [12-01] Roaming Charges: The Dr. Caligari of American Empire: Title refers to Kissinger, the opening subject here, with much more to follow.

Washington Monthly: [11-28] Remembering Charlie Peters: A useful compendium of articles and other tributes occasioned by the death of Washington Monthly's founder and long-time editor. I cited James Fallows: Why Charlile Peters matters last week. No need to list them all here, since that's what this article is for, but let me point out:

• Robert Kuttner: [11-27] Charlie Peters and the odyssey of neoliberalism.

Clinton Williamson: [11-23] You have "the right to be lazy": "Paul Lafargue's anti-work manifesto is newly relevant in a time when the very idea of labor is changing." Lafargue (1842-1911) published his book in 1883.

Scattered tweets:

Ryan Grim:

The irony of conflating anti-zionism with antisemitism is that in the beginning, zionism's most essential backers, the British government, supported zionism because they were actively antisemitic and wanted to make sure Jewish refugees from Russian pogroms didn't come to Britain

Richard Yeselson:

Eye for an eye is now twenty eyes for one eye. And ever trending up. Gotta stop. Hamas' taking of the first eye was horrific. How much more horror will Israel and the US now inflict in response? Gaza is being vaporized. For what?

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, November 27, 2023

November archive (finished).

Music: Current count 41262 [41210] rated (+52), 2 [9] unrated (-7).

I posted another substantial Speaking of Which last night (5716 words, 106 links). The writing went late, and I had to cut it off with a lot of unfinished business. In particular, I was taken aback by opposition to my plan to end the war by splitting Gaza off from Israel. My intro starts to sketch out the distinction between left as teleology and as practical politics -- one that should be easy enough to keep clear, but again and again we see practical proposals that would actually do some good torpedoed by people who quite rightly want something better. I might get a better response pitching my plan as the only achievable "two-state solution" to the mainstream crowd who still entertains the possibility. (It is the only version that Israel could be persuaded to agree to, and as we should know by now, nothing is possible without Israel's consent.) But no one in that crowd reads me or cares what I think, so I find myself in this dark spiral, ever more convinced of the necessity of moving left, and of the impossibility of actual left politics.

That's already more than what I meant to say here. Other than to note that if I was serious about political writing, I'd be shopping around an essay right now on "Why I've Never Called Myself Pro-Palestinian, and Why It Doesn't Bother Me if You Do." The first part of that I've been considering for a while. The second part is a reaction to a recent conversation with a friend complaining about "the pro-Palestinian left." My core point is that the left is not your problem. Good people having occasional bad thoughts is not your problem. Your problem is quite simply on the right.

Meanwhile, we have quite a bit of business to deal with below.

I'm continuously updating my year-end lists for Jazz and Non-Jazz. Currently there are 65+1 A-list entries in jazz, 44+3 in Non-Jazz. The + numbers are albums in previous years' tracking files that I only got to this year. Other 2022 releases appear in the main lists if they weren't even in the tracking files (or were released on or after Dec. 1, 2022).

The split has increased in recent weeks, as I've focused on new jazz, and had little time to do any non-jazz prospecting.

I've made two promotions this week from A- to A (Irreversible Entanglements and Steve Lehman). These were not surprises, nor would the current number 4: James Brandon Johnson's For Mahalia, With Love.

One thing to note is that my entire 2022 demo queue has been reviewed. No new mail this past week, but I have two unopened packages today: one from Portugal, the other from France, so they are probably 2022 releases. I am sitting on a couple of 2024 releases, but I'm in no hurry for them (well, maybe for Ballister).

It's almost two weeks since the first batch of ballot invites for the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll went out. I have 24 ballots counted, naming 264 albums. (Maximum is 16 per ballot: 10 new, 3 old, 1 each vocal, debut, latin.) As new records receive votes, I add them to my tracking file and to the unheard section of my 2024 jazz list. (Note to self: I should write a program to pull up all of the albums with jazz poll votes, sorted by artist so I don't give away the standings.)

Hopefully the ballots will start rolling in soon. Deadline is December 15. I still have a bunch of notes on possible voters. I'm not done sending out invites, but I haven't had much time to vet them yet. But this is probably your last chance to make a case, for you or someone else, to vote. My approximate guidelines are that you should have listed to more than 200 new jazz records in the last year, and that you should have written about ten or more. As for "broadcast journalists," I have no idea what the criteria should be. Francis Davis invited several dozen, and a few others nominated themselves or others. They've generally been a credit to the Poll, but as someone who literally never listens to jazz radio, I'm in no position to judge.

It's impossible to tell whether we'll wind up with more than last year's 151 voters, but it is very likely that we'll see an increase in ballots from outside the US.

One thing I haven't done yet is set up an EOY aggregator, like I've did for 2022, 2021, etc. It's easy enough to do, and it's probably the only way I'll ever get a handle on non-jazz prospects. But my first glance at the AOTY Aggregate is pretty dismal (top 20, w/my grades): Lankum [**], Sufjan Stevens [*], Young Fathers [***], Julie Byrne [**], Boygenius [B], Wednesday [*], Blur [*], Lana Del Rey [**], PJ Harvey [*], Grian Chatten [**], Caroline Polachek [*], Mitski [*], Paul Simon [B], Yo La Tengo [A-], Anohni [**], Nation of Language [?], JPEGMafia & Danny Brown [*], Kelela [*], Yussef Dayes [A- this week], Overmono [*]. A/A- down in the next 25: Billy Woods & Kenny Segal (28), Robert Forster (32), Joanna Sternberg (43), Olivia Rodrigo (45). That's only 6 of 44 non-jazz A/A- records I've already found this year.

Of course, the real value of the EOY lists isn't who gets the most mentions, but what are the interesting records deep down in isolated lists. I will note that so far 7 of the top 10 new releases in our Jazz Critics Poll are A/A- in my book. That's a freakishly high share, but evens out with just 2 in the second 10, and just 1 of the second 20. Also, after 27 you get into the single-vote albums, most of which won't get more than a couple more votes, if that.

November Streamnotes archive is closed, but not indexed yet.

New records reviewed this week:

Ambrose Akinmusire: Beauty Is Enough (2023, Origami Harvest): Trumpet player, from Oakland, became a star when Blue Note picked up his second album in 2010, and remained near the top of the polls with five albums through 2020. However, this self-released solo album appeared with little fanfare, and will remain an item of minor interest. B+(*) [sp]

Balimaya Project: When the Dust Settles (2023, New Soil): West African (Mandé) group, based in London, led by djembe player Yahael Camara Onono, second album. Vocals suggest afropop, but they're playing for a jazz crowd. B+(***) [sp]

Jerry Bergonzi: Extra Extra (2023, Savant): Tenor saxophonist, steady stream of albums since 1984, With Sheryl Bailey (guitar), Harvie S (bass), Luther Gray (drums), plus Phil Grenadier (trumpet) on 3 tracks. B+(*) [sp]

John Butcher/Pat Thomas/Dominic Lash/Steve Noble: Fathom (2021 [2023], 577): English avant-saxophonist, records started appearing around 1985, more frequently after 1998. Live set from Cafe Oto, with regulars on piano, bass, and drums. B+(*) [dl]

Gunhild Carling: Good Evening Cats (2022, Jazz Art): Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist (trombone seems to be her first choice, but double bass, banjo, flute, bagpipes, and harp are barely half of the list), started out at 10 in her family's Hot Five band. Old-fashioned swing with a touch of cabaret, not all in English but that just adds to the charm. B+(***) [sp]

Daniel Carter/Leo Genovese/William Parker/Francisco Mela: Shine Hear Vol. 1 (2021 [2023], 577): Sax, piano, bass, drums, with Carter and Parker (who also plays gralla and shakuhachi) going way back. B+(**) [dl]

Joan Chamorro & Friends: Jazz House Sessions With Scott Hamilton (2023, Associació Sant Andreu Jazz Band): Spanish bassist, sometime saxophonist, has led several bands, principally the swing-oriented Sant Andreu Jazz Band (others worth noting include Barcelona Hot Seven and the Fu Manchu Jazz Servants). He has a dozen or so albums where he "presents" guests, starting with Scott Robinson in 2011. This one collects pieces from four sessions, going back to 2013 (but no specific credits). Hamilton sounds terrific with a hard-swinging band. I'm less taken by the vocals, which sound Brazilian. B+(**) [sp]

Yussef Dayes: Black Classical Music (2023, Brownswood/Nonesuch): British drummer, first solo album although he had a group called United Vibrations, and duos with Kamaal Williams and Tom Misch. Big album (19 songs, 73:54), a dozen guest spots, I wouldn't say it's jazz, much less classical, but crosses over into a rarefied atmosphere of groove and light, an ambience you can dance in. A- [sp]

Paul Dunmall Ensemble: It's a Matter of Fact (2022 [2023], Discus Music): British saxophonist (tenor/soprano here), very polific since 1986, ensemble here with Julie Tippetts (voice), Martin Archer (alto/baritone sax), trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, and drums. B+(**) [bc]

Paul Dunmall: Bright Light a Joyous Celebration (2022 [2023], Discus Music): The saxophonist leads a sextet here, with two more saxophonists (Soweto Kinch and Xhosa Cole), vibes (Corey Mwamba), bass (Dave Kane), and drums (Hamid Drake). The drummer goes without saying, but I'm really impressed by the vibes here, and the saxophones live up to the title. A- [bc]

Paul Dunmall New Quartet: World Without (2021 [2023], 577): Tenor/alto sax, backed by guitar (Steven Saunders), bass (Dave Kane), and drums (Mike Levin). Intense, for better or worse. B+(**) [dl]

Peter Evans [Being & Becoming]: Ars Memoria (2022-23 [2023], More Is More): Trumpet player, formerly of Mostly Other People Do the Killing, group name derived from a 2020 album, also with Joel Ross (vibes) and Nick Jozwlak (bass), but with a different drummer: this time it's Michael Shekwoaga Ode. B+(***) [bc]

Kate Gentile: Find Letter X (2021-23 [2023], Pi, 3CD): Drummer, based in New York, several albums since 2015, including a 6-CD 2021 box with pianist Matt Mitchell that was too much for me to handle. Mitchell returns here, with electronics as well, Kim Cass (acoustic and electric bass), and Jeremy Viner (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet). Might be remarkable, but that there's so much of it makes it hard to tell (or care). B+(***) [dl]

Terry Gibbs Legacy Band: The Terry Gibbs Songbook (2022 [2023], Whaling City Sound): Vibraphonist, birth name Julius Gubenko, recorded for Savoy in 1951, kicking off a very long career, leading his Dream Band, up to a fine 2017 record called 92 Years Young. At 98, he's even credited with a bit of "2-fingered piano" here (also the amuising "vocals on track 4"). The sextet features singer Danny Bacher and tenor saxophonists Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen, with son Gerry Gibbs on drums. B+(***) [sp]

Frode Gjerstad With Matthew Shipp: We Speak (2022 [2023], Relative Pitch): Norwegian alto saxophonist, started in the early 1980s with Detail, then Circulasione Totale Orchestra. Also plays clarinet here, in duets with piano. Hard to think of anyone better in that role than Shipp. B+(**) [sp]

Rich Halley Quartet: Fire Within (2023, Pine Eagle): Tenor saxophonist from Portland, Oregon, has turned his retirement project into a remarkable career. (Checking myself, I find that he had a few albums as far back as 1986 before I first noticed him in 2005 with Mountains and Plains, and that he was only 58 then, but the model stuck in my head, partly because I have other examples, like Fred Anderson and Mort Weiss.) I can't say that he's getting better, but he's been remarkably inspired for two decades, aided here by his best rhythm section ever: Matthew Shipp (piano), Michael Bisio (bass), and Newman Taylor Baker (drums). A- [cd] [12-01]

Matthew Halsall: An Ever Changing View (2023, Gondwana): British trumpet player, 11th album since 2008, also plays keyboards and many percussion instruments, and is credited with several field recordings. He likens this to landscape painting, which gives you the idea. B+(**) [sp]

Scott Hamilton Quartet: At PizzaExpress Live: In London (2022 [2023], PX): Tenor saxophonist, has been "a good wind" blowing retro-swing since 1978, here with his long-running quartet of John Pearce (piano), Dave Green (bass), and Steve Brown (drums), playing standards with consummate ease and grace. B+(***) [sp]

Eirik Hegdal/Jeff Parker/Ingebrigt Håker Flaten/Øyvind Skarbø: Superless (2022 [2023], Øyvind Jazzforum): Norwegian saxophonist (here: C melody, sopranino, bass clarinet, synth), probably best known for his Team Hegdal, although he's played in the larger Angles configurations, in Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and else where. With guitar, bass, and drums, in an eponymous group album where he wrote five (of 8) compositions. B+(***) [sp]

Henry Hey: Trio: Ri-Metos (2023, self-released): Pianist, has another Trio album from 2003, but many side credits since 1994, including Rod Stewart and David Bowie, also the fusion band Forq. Drummer Jochen Rüeckert returns from his previous trio, with Joe Martin on bass. All contribute songs, plus a standard and two from Vince Mendoza. B+(***) [dl]

Homeboy Sandman: I Can't Sell These Either (2023, self-released): New York rapper Angelo del Villar II, has dropped short albums/long EPs several times a year since 2007, the best in recent years a compilation of stray tracks called I Can't Sell These, hence the title of this 20-track, 59:07 monster. I suspect the commercial lapses have more to do with uncleared samples than any weakness in the material, which certainly isn't obvious. A- [bc]

Jon-Erik Kellso and the EarRegulars: Live at the Ear Inn (2023, Arbors): Trad jazz trumpet player, from Detroit, based in New York, where he's led this band on Sunday nights since 2007. This draws on two dates, so there are some personnel shifts, but most tracks feature Scott Robinson (sax), John Allred (trombone), Matt Munisteri (guitar), and Neal Miner (bass). Catherine Russell sings the closer, "Back O' Town Blues." B+(***) [sp]

Snorre Kirk: Top Dog (2021 [2023], Stunt): Drummer, from Denmark, fifth album since 2012, playing original pieces that aim to swing like Ellington and Basie. Quintet, the saxophone divided between Stephen Riley and Michael Blicher, backed by piano, guitar, and bass. Very nice. B+(***) [sp]

Location Location Location [Michael Formanek/Anthony Pirog/Mike Pride]: Damaged Goods (2023, Cuneiform): Bass, guitar, drums, jointly credited, but still mostly the guitarist's record, which is to say fractured fusion. Group name derives from recording this piecemeal, from different places, then splicing it together. B+(*) [dl]

Harold López-Nussa: Timba a la Americana (2023, Blue Note): Cuban pianist, ten or so albums since 2007. Several albums since 2007, this one a quintet with Gregoire Maret plus lots of rhythm. B+(**) [sp]

John Paul McGee: A Gospejazzical Christmas (2023, Jazz Urbano): Pianist, from Baltimore, teaches at Berklee, coined "gospejazzical" in his dissertation on "A Sound for Distressed Souls" -- the "ical" is the tail end of "classical." Probably weighs out to a third of each, stealthily sneaking up on Xmas standards (with one original). B [cd]

Thandi Ntuli With Carlos Niño: Rainbow Revisited (2019 [2023], International Anthem): Pianist, from South Africa, also sings, title refers back to a song from her 2019 album. Duo with the percussionist, recorded on his turf in Los Angeles. B+(**) [sp]

Øyvindland Med Eirik Hegdal & Erik Johannessen: Nonett (2021 [2023], Øra Fonogram): Leader, and composer, here is Norwegian trumpet player Øyvind Frøberg Mathisen, who has one previous album under his own name. Featured guests play C melody sax/bass clarinet and trombone, and they're counted in the nonet, along with Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (clarinet/tenor sax), guitar, piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Engin Ozsahin: Conversations in Chaos (2023, self-released): Turkish pianist, studied at New England Conservatory but returned to Istanbul. Second album, sextet, not a lot of details, but sounds like very fancy postbop. B+(**) [sp]

Robert Prester & Adriana Samargia: Quenara (2023 [2024], Commonwealth Ave. Productions): Piano and voice, normally the singer would get top billing. He has, uh, a previous album from 2013, on this same label. She doesn't, but has a very distinctive voice and delivery on standards as well worn as "You Go to My Head," "Lover Man," "Body and Soul," and "Sophisticated Lady." Not one I especially like, but one she deserves credit for. He wrote the title song, which I've already forgotten. B+(*) [cd] [01-19]

Quartet San Francisco/Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band/Take Six: Raymond Scott Reimagined (2023, ViolinJazz): String quartet led by violinist Jeremy Cohen, trained in classical but prefers "non-traditional and eclectic," a definition that could have been coined for Scott. This is clearly their project, with the other well-established artists, a big band and a vocal group, brought in for scale and depth. With interview snippets from Scott. B+(***) [sp]

Red Hot + Ra: Solar [Sun Ra in Brasil] (2023, Red Hot Org): New York-based 50(c)(3) non-profit, raises money for "organizations on the front lines of global health epidemics, epidemics, and health crises," notably by organizing star-studded benefit albums, starting with Red Hot + Blue in 1990, taking aim at AIDS. Twenty-some albums later, this is neither their first venture into Brazil nor their first to focus on Sun Ra. Eight tracks by as many groups, with Brazilian rhythms where you might expect swing, and some rap mixed in the vocals. B+(***) [sp]

Red Hot + Ra: Nuclear War: A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 1 (2023, Red Hot Org): Only four artists here, all very specifically in tune with Sun Ra: Georgia Anne Muldrow (3:39), Angel Bat David (30:25), Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o (12:09), and Irreversible Entanglements (18:22). B+(**) [sp]

Ernesto Rodrigues/João Madeira/Hernâni Faustino: No Strings Attached (2023, Creative Sources): Portuguese avant-string trio, Rodrigues plays violin, the other two double bass, at least for the 8-part "Expecting String Expression" (30:56). This is followed by a 32:00 live set, with Rodrigues on viola. B+(**) [bc]

Sam Ross: Live at the Mira Room, Vol. II (2023, self-released): Pianist, also plays rhodes here (mostly), in a trio with Simba Distis (upright and electric bass) and Dr. Mimi Murid (drums), following up on a similar 2021 album. Also credit the crowd, which is boisterous enough to deserve a credit, and maybe even steal the show. Short: 5 tracks, 29:51. B+(**) [cd]

Andreas Røysum Ensemble: Mysterier (2022 [2023], Motvind): Norwegian clarinetist, third group album, twelve-piece group of considerable power, plus vocals that don't help much. B+(**) [sp]

John Scofield: Uncle John's Band (2022 [2023], ECM, 2CD): Guitarist, trio with Vicente Archer (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums). Fourteen songs (86:41), half originals, closes with the Grateful Dead song, opens with "Mr. Tambourine Man." B+(**) [sp]

Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (2021 [2023], self-released): Alto saxophonist, based in New York, describes this as a "sax-heavy version of a Nwe Orleans-style 'brass' band" -- three or four saxes (the extra is bass sax on 5 of 8 tracks), trumpet, trombone, a revolving cast of stringed instruments, and drums. The trad jazz angle is a sweet spot for me, but the arrangements are very slippery, leaving me with wonder whether what seems exceedingly clever at first will hold up for the long haul. A- [bc]

Elijah Shiffer: City of Birds: Volume 1 (2023, self-released): Ten songs, each named for a bird sighted in New York City. Third album, alto sax, plus Kevin Sun on tenor sax, Dmitry Ishenko (bass), and Colin Hinton (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Apostolos Sideris: Past-Presented (2023, Parallel): Bassist, from Greece, seems to be in Paris now, after Istanbul and New York, with a previous album on a Spanish label. Sextet, with piano (Leo Genovese), ney, violin, bass, drums, extra percussion, with some background vocals. B+(*) [bc]

Speakers Corner Quartet: Further Out Than the Edge (2023, OTIH): Originally the house band for "the infamous hip-hop/spoken-word open-mic night Speakers' Corner in Brixton, London." Slotted as jazz, but sounds more like trip-hop, with different guests for each song, names (but not voices) I mostly recognize. B+(**) [sp]

Jason Stein/Damon Smith/Adam Shead: Hum (2022 [2023], Irritable Mystic): Bass clarinetist, has a number of albums since 2007, some quite impressive; backed here by bass and drums, for two 21-minute improv pieces. B+(**) [bc]

Elias Stemeseder/Christian Lillinger: Penumbra (2021 [2022], Plaist): Austrian pianist, German drummer, both with sides in synthesizers and other electronics. Agreeably choppy. B+(**) [sp]

Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 17: Lonnie Liston Smith (2023, Jazz Is Dead): Funk-fusion keyboard player, led the Cosmic Echoes 1973-85, first new record since 1998. B+(*) [sp]

Dhafer Youssef: Street of Minarets (2023, Back Beat Edition): Tunisian singer-songwriter, plays oud, has lived in Europe since 1990, mostly playing with jazz musicians: here including Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (keybs), Nguyên Lê (guitar), Dave Holland or Marcus Miller (bass), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri), and Adriano Dos Santos (percussion). B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Chantal Acda & Bill Frisell: Live at Jazz Middelheim (2017 [2023], self-released): Dutch/Belgian singer-songwriter, has records going back to 1999, backed here by the famed guitarist. Originally released by Glitterhouse in 2018. B+(*) [sp]

Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott's (1964 [2023], Gearbox): Tenor saxophonist, an unabashed be-bopper, first records 1956, including a particularly notable appearance with Thelonious Monk. Quartet here, with a local band: Stan Tracey (piano), Malcolm Cecil (bass), and Jackie Dougan (drums), on three side-long pieces (53:54). Not to be confused with a 2008 same-title (In+Out). B+(***) [sp]

Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (2006 [2023], ESP-Disk, 2CD): Israeli pianist, based in New York, has a half-dozen albums, mostly 2011-14. Two live sets here, the first disc called "Astral Voyages," the second "Cosmic Canticles." Band names also appear on front cover, offset just enough to spare me listing them all on the slugline, but worth mentioning here: Roy Campbell (flute/trumpet), Daniel Carter and Sabir Mateen (saxophones/clarinet), William Parker (bass), and Federico Ughi (drums). A- [cd]

Old music:

Peter Evans/Joel Ross/Nick Jozwlak/Savannah Harris: Being & Becoming (2019 [2020], More Is More): Billed as a new group, but since the names are on the cover, handy to just credit them: trumpet, vibes, bass, drums. Ross has gotten a lot of praise for his Blue Notes, but this is much trickier, and he's really superb. [was: U++] A- [bc]

Elijah Shiffer and the Robber Crabs: Unhinged (2017 [2018], self-released): Alto saxophonist, first album, group with Andrew Shillito (guitars and banjo), electric bass, and drums, with Jay Rattman on two cuts (bass saxophone and slide whistle). He has a unique sound, drawing on trad jazz but with impossibly funky rhythms. A- [bc]

Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Kate Gentile/International Contemporary Ensemble: B i o m e i.i (2022 [2023], Obliquity): + [yt]

Grade (or other) changes:

Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (2023, Impulse!): [was: A-] A

Steve Lehman/Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (2023, Pi): [was: A-] A

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

None.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, November 25, 2023

I started collecting this on Tuesday, mostly because I didn't want to let the Stevenson piece go without comment. The Mishra, which could still use some work, was also found in the Wichita Eagle that day. I had much more to write about the Ryu Spaeth piece, only some of which got tacked onto the footer section. Two points would have fit only awkwardly, but let me take a brief stab at them here:

1. Most leftists are informed and defined by a core philosophical principle -- that all people are fundamentally equal, and justice demands that they be respected as such -- but the left isn't some sort of religion or cult; it is a political tendency, effectively a party, aiming to incrementally improving justice by recognizing our fundamental equality. People who embrace this core principle will join the left, but you don't have to adopt the right thinking to align with the left. All you need is to find that your interests would be better served by the advance of the left. That happens a lot, especially with oppressed minorities. A bunch of things follow from this (which I'd rather not have to spell out at the moment -- one of which is that Jews in America, where there is risk of oppression, gravitate left, whereas in Israel, where they have attained the power to oppress others, they trend to the right).

2. Most leftists in America have come to embrace nonviolence, partly because we have come to realize that violence corrodes the spirit and compounds the difficulties of furthering justice, but also because it's more promising in our political system, which in principle allows for popular reform -- even though the system is heavily stacked against it. It is therefore tempting to raise nonviolence as a moral absolute, to condemn all exceptions, and to purge the left political movement of those who fall short of our ideals. I am pretty close to being an absolute pacifist, but even I have to admit that this would be self-defeating.

   Several reasons: violence, especially in self-defense, is a universal human instinct, one we may disapprove of and often regret, but cannot totally deny, because in some circumstances it seems like the only option for saving our humanity; throughout most history, at least since the left became a distinct political force, the only way change toward greater equality and justice could be achieved was through violence (e.g., the great revolutions from 1776 to 1917); even where reforms have been achieved, they were often conceded to hold back the threat of revolutionary violence. Of course, we now more fully realize that our violence has a dark side. But aren't there still situations where nonviolent change is so completely closed off that only through violence can people assert their humanity?

I don't think that we, in neurotic but still fundamentally liberal America, can with certainty assert that people barely surviving in Gaza have any real, viable options. Sure, one may still hope that nonviolent means, like BDS, might persuade Israel to lessen its stifling grip over its Palestinian subjects, but it may be that all the nonviolent protest has achieved -- and it has been tried at least as often as violence -- has been to reaffirm the faith of right-wing Israelis that overwhelming force will always prevail. Even before the rise of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, but accelerating at an alarming rate after they joined the Netanyahu government, West Bank settlers had moved beyond their initial goal of staking claim to land to terrorizing Palestinians, hoping to drive them into exile. Israel's support for Azerbaijan's "ethnic cleansing" of Nagorno-Karabakh sure looked like a dress rehearsal for Israel driving Palestinians out of the West Bank.

While I personally believed that the revolt of Oct. 7 was ill-considered, politically reckless, and morally hazardous, their political and moral struggle was not mine to dictate or to judge. So I saw no point in condemning what appeared to be an act of desperation. Certainly not to make myself feel more righteous in comparison. Even less so as it would lend comfort to those who would take this act of violence and use as excuse to strike back even harder. And that part took no imagination on my part, as by the time I had heard the news, many Israelis were already clamoring for massive revenge -- as could have been expected, given that Israel's whole system of governing is based on their capacity for inflicting overwhelming violence.

Similarly, I can hardly condemn Israelis for defending themselves once the revolt broke out of Gaza. I would only point out that the defense was complete, and should have ended, once the attackers were rebuffed, and the border secured -- which happened within 24 hours of the initial attacks. The war since then, including some 40,000 tons of bombs Israel has dropped on Gaza, cannot be considered self-defense. This bombardment is no less than an act of systematic destruction and slaughter, an act that can only be summed up in the word "genocide."

Israelis have disputed that word, but with independence in 1948 they established a formal caste system with distinct legal status for Jews and Arabs, driving some 700,000 of the latter into exile, expropriating their property, and forbidding their return. They've also, building on the British model, regularly practiced collective punishment, including indiscriminate killing. Those are two of the three essential constituents of genocide. The third is the loss of inhibition against killing, which has been happening continuously since the 2000 Intifada and the 2006 loss of Gaza to Hamas, such that the Oct. 7 revolt merely tipped the impulse into action, with public statements to match. It is still possible that Israel's leaders will come to second thoughts and rein their killing in, but until they do, shying away from the term only encourages them to proceed.

Much more I could write on this, but time to post on schedule is running out.

Top story threads:

Israel: If you are at all unclear on how we got to the revolt on Oct. 7 and the subsequent intensification of the Israeli war against Gaza, start with this timeline: Countdown to genocide: the year before October 7.

• Mondoweiss:

  • [11-20] Day 45: Israeli military besieges the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza.

  • [11-21] Day 46: Israeli tanks besiege Indonesian Hospital as bombardment of Gaza continues.

  • [11-22] Day 47: Israel and Hamas agree to a temporary truce, release captives and prisoners.

  • [11-23] Day 48: Ahead of temporary ceasefire, Israeli forces continue to terrorize hospitals.

  • [11-24] Day 49: Four-day truce begins in Gaza after a night of heavy bombardment.

  • [11-25] Day 50: First Israeli and Palestinian hostages released as Gaza takes stock of devastation.

  • [11-26] Day 51: Israel fires at Palestinians attempting to return to northern Gaza amid shaky truce. The latter point is especially significant, as well as "Israeli forces prevent any scenes of celebration of the released prisoners in Jerusalem." Israel's leaders were not just very reluctant to agree to any sort of "pause," they are embarrassed that they did, and horrified that anyone might treat their compromise as any sign of weakness.

• Ghada Ageel: [11-25] While the world has abandoned Gaza, its doctors have done the opposite. They are our heroes.

• Michael Arria: [11-26] Three Palestinian students shot in Vermont in apparent hate crime.

• Erin Banco/Nahal Toosi: [11-21] US has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes: Which didn't exactly work, or did it?

• Zack Beauchamp: [11-22] The Israel-Hamas deal is not a real ceasefire.

• Roger Cohen: [11-20] Between Israelis and Palestinians, a lethal psychological chasm grows: This "chasm" is real, but its symmetry is forced. One side has immensely more power than the other to punish and/or to forgive, and as such has responsibility for perpetuating the hostility.

• Dave DeCamp: [11-22] Biden admin worries the pause in Gaza will give journalists more access to expose Israeli atrocities.

• Richard Falk: [11-24] When is 'a humanitarian pause' genocidal?

• Abdallah Fayyad: [11-22] Why Israel imprisons so many Palestinians: "150 Palestinian prisoners are being released as part of Israel and Hamas's recent hostage deal. But thousands more remain behind bars."

• Joshua Frank: [11-19] The dangers only multiply: "Could Israel's war on Gaza go nuclear?" No surprise that at least one of Israel's more sociopathic politicians suggested that it should, but common sense argues that it won't: mostly because the target is too close to risk the nuclear fallout. On the other hand, it's sobering to read this line: "Indeed, well over 25,000 tons of bombs had already been dropped on Gaza by early November, the equivalent of two Hiroshima-style nukes (without the radiation)." One thing that's not stopping Israel is scruples about genocide.

• Sophia Goodfriend: [11-24] Israel's 'thought police' law ramps up dangers for Palestinian social media users. The amendment was first drafted a year-and-a-half ago, but only passed in the current panic.

• Jonathan Guyer: [11-22] The Israel-Hamas hostage deal, explained: "This is a deal that has essentially been on the table for about a month," i.e., well before Israel's ground offensive.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [11-25] A 'temporary ceasefire' means realizing how much we've lost.

• Sam Hamad: [11-18] Understanding Hasbara: Israel's propaganda machine.

• Benjamin Hart: [11-22] How long could the Israel-Hamas ceasefire last? Interview with Gershon Baskin ("an Israeli peace activist who played a key role in the freeing of Gilad Shalit" in 2006), who plainly states: "There is no scenario where the war ends with Hamas in control of Gaza."

• Ellen Ioanes: [11-24] The controversial phrase "from the river to the sea," explained.

• Amira Jarmakani: [11-20] The ADL is leading the attack against free speech on Palestine.

• Caitlin Johnstone: [11-13] Israelis keep hurting their own PR interests by talking.

• Fred Kaplan: [11-22] One factor behind the Gaza cease-fire deal: A massive shift in the US relationship with Israel.

• Kathy Kelly: [11-24] Tunnels for safety and tunnels for death.

• Jen Kirby: [11-22] How Qatar became a key broker in the Israel-Hamas deal.

• Daniel Larison: [11-22] The warfare of starvation: "The siege will kill Palestinian civilians and by doing nothing, the US is supporting it."

• Lauren Leatherby: [11-25] Gaza civilians, under Israeli barrage, are being killed at historic pace: "In less than two months, more than twice as many women and children have been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after two years of war." Also see the Corey Robin tweets, below.

• John Mueller: [11-21] What if Israel didn't set out to 'destroy Hamas'? "The case for a limited response after the October 7 attacks."

• Orly Noy: [11-23] What Israelis won't be asking about the Palestinians released for hostages: "The list of Palestinians slated to be exchanged for Israelis should provoke reflection over the role of mass imprisonment in the occupation."

• Taha Ozhan: [11-25] The West will pay a heavy price for expending its credibility on Israel.

• Matthew Petti: [11-20] Media amplified US, Israeli narrative on Palestinian deaths: "Following senior officials' lead, many prominent Western news outlets started linking Hamas to hospitals in Gaza."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [11-24] Israel wants to pull the U.S. into a regional confrontation, but Biden remains reluctant.

• Mouin Rabbani: Two pieces that Norman Finkelstein published: [11-26] Thoughts on the truce; and Israel has lost the plot: This provides a cogent explanation of why "the elimination of Hamas is unattainable" -- not exactly the one I was thinking of, but good enough for all practical purposes. Given that the root-and-branch elimination of Hamas is doomed to failure, serious thought should be given to how to turn Hamas into a force for reform: basically, how to domesticate it. Israel has long complained about not having a "partner for peace," but Israel never wanted one (else they would have made an effort). Also see this [11-07] discussion between Rabbani and Finkelstein: Gaza one month later.

• Mohannad Sabry: [11-22] Israel's killing of journalists and denial can't hide the horrific toll in Gaza.

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [11-20] Former IDF commander calls for Gaza genocide: "Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland argues inflicting disease and starvation will hasten Gaza's surrender."

  • [11-21] Friendly-fire incidents killed 10 IDF officers, wounded dozens of others, killed many civilians: "Israeli drones and helicopters killed Israeli hostages as Hannibal Directive was invoked."

  • [11-24] Amalek: 'Erasing' Gaza.

• Tom Suarez: [11-26] The masterful propaganda of 'deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust': "Israel and its supporters are engaging in Holocaust revisionism to justify its genocidal attack on Gaza."

• Jeffrey St Clair:

  • [11-25] Complete and utter carnage: "The Scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war." Too bad this is paywalled, leaving free riders with another St Clair reprint (see Rebirth of a Nation: US history according to DW Griffith).

  • [11-18] Enter the moral abyss: The previous week's entry in "The Scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war."

• Struan Stevenson: [11-20] Iran's 'axis of resistance' to Israel begins to crack. Author is a former member of the European Parliament (from Scotland), and a former chairman of a group called Friends of a Free Iran. This piece, like his previous [10-17] Iran's tyrannical mullahs created the Hamas monster, is vivid and vitriolic propaganda aimed at pinning the Oct. 7 Gaza revolt on Iran, for reasons known only to the diabolical mullahs. Much of what Stevenson writes is patently false, and much more is simply hard to believe. Iran didn't invent Hamas, and had essentially no interest in the Palestinian struggle until the 1990s, when Israel turned on Iran, figuring that Iraq could no longer be painted as an existential threat, and that Iran would play better with the Americans, who still nursed a grudge over the 1980 hostage thing. Even so, there's no credible accounting of how much support Iran has ever provided to Hamas. Stevenson's claim that "the mullahs have provided hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Hamas" is especially mind-boggling. (That's more like the levels of arms the US supplies to Ukraine and Israel.) Even if Iran is using its "proxies" just to stir up trouble, it would be much easier and cheaper to negotiate some kind of détente, or better still a normalization of relations, which would allow them (and others) the opportunity to enjoy peace, instead of just beating them with sticks like like Mojahedin-e Khalq (the Israel-supported terrorist group Stevenson is allied with).

• Philip Weiss: [11-26] Weekly Briefing: The Israeli perspective -- on genocide -- dominates our airwaves.

• Oren Ziv/Yotam Ronen: [11-22] Carrying the pain of loss on October 7, these families are pleading for peace: That the families of hostages have been the loudest and most visible opponents of the war against Gaza reflects, I think, two deeper truths. One is that sympathy gives them a forum to speak publicly where most Israelis (and all Palestinians) are intimidated into silence. The other is that they realize that Israel will gain nothing by prosecuting the war, while they stand to lose their families for no good reason.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Thomas B Edsall: [11-22] The roots of Trump's rage.

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [11-20] Trump is still obsessed with the 'golden showers' rumor.

  • [11-22] Trump posted 19 videos in a row on Truth Social in a cry for help.

• Eric Levitz: [11-24] Trump as a plan for massively increasing inflation. Clever to note that while Republicans hammer away at Biden for inflation -- when he wasn't threatening to beat up Teamsters, Markwayne Mullin was lying about diesel prices (see [11-22] GOP Senator swiftly fact-checked after whining about gas prices for his massive truck) -- aren't solutions, and in many ways only make the problem worse. Still I'm not convinced that Trump's 10% across-the-board tariff idea is such a bad one: true it will raise consumer prices, and it may not stimulate much new domestic production, but it should reduce the trade deficit (which I've long taken to be a bad thing, although economists tend to argue otherwise). I also doubt that another round of Trump tax cuts will have much effect on consumer price inflation -- although it will undoubtedly lead to inflated asset values (something economists refuse to count as inflation). On the other hand, no mention here of antitrust (which Trump will presumably cripple, unless he can use it vindictively to attack his political enemies), which if enforced should push prices down, and if neglected will allow companies to become more predatory. Or of more deregulation, which helps unscrupulous companies increas profits both through higher prices and by passing costs on to the public (pollution, which includes the effects of global warming, is the most famous of these externalities). Still, Republicans do have one effective tool to quell inflation: recession. That's cure much worse than the disease it claims to treat. It's also the end-state of the last three Republican presidencies. Whereas this and the last two Democratic presidents (but not Carter) ended up with sustained economic growth, and (more modest) wage growth. Maybe a little inflation isn't such a bad thing.

• Zachary Petrizzo: [11-16] Trumpworld is already at war over staffing a new Trump White House.

• Roger Sollenberger:

  • [11-24] The secret megadonor behind the MAGA movement's 'nerve center': About Mark Rydin.

  • [11-22] Conservative group accidentally reveals its secret donors. Some of them are liberal orgs. The group is American Compass. The two orgs with a "liberal history" are Omidyar Network and the Hewlett Foundation, both founded by tech moguls.

• Peter Wade: [11-26] Christie blames Trump for increasing antisemitism and Islamophobia: To quote him: "Intolerance toward anyone encourages intolerance toward everyone."

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Branko Marcetic: [11-22] Voters are leaving Joe Biden in droves over his support for Israel.

• Harold Meyerson: [11-20] Can Biden and the Democrats survive their divisions on Israel-Palestine? He offers some suggestions, mostly referring back to the 1968 rift over the Vietnam war, which isn't terribly relevant. Johnson's big liability in 1968 was that he and his administration had repeatedly lied about the war, falling way short of their promises, inspiring no confidence in their future, in a war that had enormous personal impact on millions of Americans. Consequently, Johnson/Humphrey were opposed by prominent Democrats. On the other hand, no major Democrat is going to stand up against Biden, especially not for showing excessive fealty to Israel. Maybe there's an enthusiasm slump as the gap between the Democratic Party leadership and base expands, but party regulars are almost certain to rally against Trump. The volatile center, on the other hand, may not be able to articulate the problem with Biden's wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and (heaven forbid) Taiwan, but the bad vibes could sink him.

• Steven Shepard: [11-25] The polls keep getting worse for Biden.

Tweet from Daniel Denvir on points above:

If Democrats are suddenly worried that Biden will lose to Trump -- as they should be -- the rational thing to do would be to 1) make another, more popular Dem the nominee and 2) move the party away from its pro-genocide position. Blaming the left for saying genocide is bad won't work

Also from Nathan J Robinson:

I'm interested in the theory of how Biden is supposed to turn his numbers around, given that:
(1) The main issue is his age and he gets older every day, and
(2) Humanitarian crisis in Gaza will worsen as disease and starvation set in, and it is causing young Dems to hate him

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ian Millhiser: [11-21] A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump's authoritarian dreams reality: "The 'unitary executive' is back, and it could supercharge Trump's plans to fill the government with his own loyalists."

Economic matters:

• David Dayen: [11-20] How Larry Summers's bad predictions hurt the planet.

• Emily Stewart: [11-20] Wages are rising. Jobs are plentiful. Nobody's happy. "It's a good time to be a worker and a bad time to be a consumer -- the problem is most people are both."

Ukraine War:

• Sophia Ampgkarian: [11-23] Why US-led sanctions on Russia are a failure: "After nearly two years of the tightest embargoes ever, Moscow's economy and war effort are doing far better than anticipated."

• Robert English: [11-24] Bad history makes for bad policy on Ukraine.

• Edward Hunt: [11-21] The Ukraine war has been a 'great bargain' for US in the Black Sea.

Around the world:

• Victor Grossman: [11-24] Split on the left in Germany.

• Eldar Mamedov: [11-22] On foreign policy, Argentina's Milei leans neocon, not libertarian: Notably, he's a "staunch supporter of Ukraine," has a "fervid embrace of Israel," is opposed to Argentina joining BRICS.

• Muhammad Sahimi: [11-24] Iran's political factions aren't united on Hamas, or the Middle East: "But most favor a policy of restraint in reaction to the Gaza war."

• Helmer Stoel: [11-24] Far-right Geert Wilders won the Dutch election because the establishment indulged him.

Other stories:

Ryan Cooper:

• [10-11] The cooperative that could: "How S Group became Finland's most dominant retailer." Pull quotes include: "S Group's business model depends in part on the perception that being a member benefits broader society."

• [11-20] Nefarious corporate overlord accidentally kick-starts media company: "Gamurs Group fired the editor in chief of The Escapist. Most of the publication joined him to start something new, a worker cooperative called Second Wind."

Eileen Crist/Judith Lipton/David Barash: [11-24] End the insanity: For nuclear disarmament and global demilitarization.

Tom Engelhardt: [11-26] A slow-motion Gaza: But isn't it a little soon to turn "Gaza" into a metaphor for the "hell on Earth" that global warming is inching towards?

James Fallows: [11-23] Why Charlie Peters matters: The founder and editor-in-chief of Washington Monthly for 30 years (1969-2000) has died, at 96. I subscribed to the journal for several years early on, possibly from its inception, and found it to be seriously informative and generally sensible about policy workings in Washington. I was rather dismayed later on to find that Peters had coined the "neoliberal" term, though there may be an argument that what Peters had in mind differed significantly from the disparaging use of the term lately -- see Paul Glastris: [01-08] Need a new economic vision? Gotcha covered. Last thing I recall reading by Peters was a sad lament about his home state of West Virginia flipping Republican.

Eric Levitz: [11-22] OpenAI was never going to save us from the robot apocalypse.

Robert Lipsyte: [11-21] Farewell to the New York Times sports department: "Or should it be good riddance?"

Pankaj Mishra: [11-18] The west never had a chance at winning over the world: Talks about the phrase "the global south," and how it's come to the fore since Russia's invasion of Ukraine tightened the bond between the US and Europe, while estranging both from the rest of the world (now known as, the Global South). It surely can't be a surprise that the renewed and militant union of Europe and the US (aka, the West) would be viewed suspiciously by the Global South? Mishra notes that "the Biden administration failed to enlist any major country of the Global South in its cause," i.e., economic war against Russia, ostensibly to defend Ukraine. He adds: "Even worse, the conflict in Gaza may now have mortally damaged Western power and credibility in the Global South."

Olivia Nuzzi: [11-22] The mind-bending politics of RFK Jr.'s spoiler campaign. He's having a moment as a free agent presidential candidate, partly because he might appeal to scattered, disaffected groups that otherwise are stuck in the two-party straitjacket; possibly also on the 60th anniversary of the assassination that turned his family into a cult memory project. Most of his appeal will probably blow over, because the one group he has no appeal for is moderate-tempered centrists. That leaves extremists who hate both parties, and who don't care who wins. How many of them are there really?

However, note that a recent a recent Harvard/Harris Poll, which shows Trump over Biden by 6% in a two-way matchup, gives Kennedy 21% of the vote in a three-way, increasing Biden's deficit to 8%. In a five-way with West (3%) and Stein (2%), Trump loses 1%, Biden loses 2%, Kennedy 3%. St Clair (link above) comments: "If your Lesser Evil countenances the bombing of hospitals and the slaughter of nearly 6000 children in a few weeks, don't you know that you can count me out."

Andrew O'Hehir: [11-26] My mother, the debutante Communist: An American family story of love, loss and J. Edgar Hoover.

Nathan J Robinson: [11-21] Can the left reclaim "security"? A review of Astra Taylor's new book, The Age of Insecurity.

Douglas Rushkoff: [11-25] 'We will coup whoever we want!': The unbearable hubris of Musk and the billionaire tech bros. Reviews some books, starting with Walter Isaacson's Musk.

Anya Schiffrin: [10-13] Fixing disinformation online: "What will it take to regulate the abuses of Big Tech without undermining free speech?"

Katharine Q Seelye: [11-19] Rosalyn Carter, first lady and a political partner, dies at 96: I don't really have anything to say about her, good or bad, but thought I should note her passing in the plainest way possible. While trawling through the NY Times obituaries, I also noticed:

• George Brown, drummer with Kool & the Gang
• A.S. Byatt, scholar who found literary fame with fiction
• Bob Contant, bohemian booksetter [a founder of St Mark's Bookshop]
• Herbert Gold, postwar novelist of love and marriage
• Joan Jara, who found justice for husband slain after coup
• Evelyn Fox Keller, who turned a feminist lens on science
• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, who looked at history from the bottom up
• Charles Peters, Founder of The Washington Monthly

I was surprised not to find an obituary there for the late photographer Larry Fink (82, Mar. 11, 1941-Nov. 25). For some images, start here.

Ryu Spaeth: [11-20] Israel, Gaza, and the fracturing of the intellectual left. Title makes this seem like a big deal, but it's really just comes down to a couple pieces in Dissent between Joshua Leifer and Gabriel Winant, with side glances to a couple more journals (n+1, Jewish Currents). This sort of thing happens every now and then, usually when someone who has long identified with the left freaks out and turns on his former comrades. Back in 1967, I used to read a journal called The Minority of One, which was very strongly opposed to the American war in Vietnam . . . until June 1967, when the editor flipped to support Israel in its Six-Day War, and forgot about everything else. Something similar happened with Paul Berman after 9/11. There have been other cases of leftists turning hard right, but these two (presumably Leifer, too) insisted that they were being consistent, and others in the left had gone haywire. They created some noise, but had little if any impact on the left, which always recovered with a principled examination of the facts.

This article quotes Arielle Angel (Jewish Currents): "What we are watching is a full reactionary moment among many Jews, even some left-wing Jews, because they feel there was no space on the left for their grief." That doesn't seem like too much to ask. The left is fueled by indignity over injustice, and injustice is often first experienced as grief. But few on the left would grant anyone, even Jews (whose suffering has left an indelible mark on most Euroamerican leftists), an exclusive right to grieve, let alone a license to channel that grief into a force that strikes out at and inflicts grief on others.

Most of us realized immediately that's exactly what Israel's leaders had in mind. They saw the Oct. 7 revolt not as a tragic human loss but as an affront to their power, and they immediately moved to reassert their power, with scarcely any regard for more human losses (even on their own side). Over six weeks later, as threats of genocide were turned into practice, we need hardly debate that point.

Glenn Thrush/Serge F Kovaleski: [11-25] Stabbing of Derek Chauvin raises questions about inmate safety. Weren't there already questions? If not, why do police interrogators brag about how treacherous life in prison will be?

Jen Wieczner: [11-22] Behold the utter destruction of crypto's biggest names.

Here are a series of tweets from Corey Robin (I'm copying them down because the original format is so annoying; the chart matches the Leatherby piece above, so that is probably the uncited source here):

1/ "Israel's assault is different. Experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza show that the pace of death during Israel's campaign has few precedents in this century.

2/ "Conflict-casualty experts have been taken aback at just how many people have been reported killed in Gaza -- most of them women and children -- and how rapidly. It is not just the unrelenting scale of the strikes . . . It is also the nature of the weaponry itself.

3/"'It's beyond anything that I've seen in my career,' said Marc Garlasco, a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon. To find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area, he said, we may 'have to go back to Vietnam, or the Second World War.'

4/ "Modern international laws of war were developed largely in response to the atrocities of World War II."

The comments range from stupid to facetious ("It is morally appalling that Hamas decided to start a war with a country that can mount such a powerful air assault, . . . All those tunnels & not one bomb shelter").

Corey also offered a tweet on the Ryu Spaeth article I wrote too much (but not enough) about above:

Everyone's pissed about this piece but I think it has two virtues. 1) It gives a fair, full hearing to the anti-Zionist side. 2) It reveals, inadvertently, the extent to which Zionist progressives depend on debates from 100 years ago. I'll take the win.

One more point I might as well make here, as I didn't consider it appropriate above, is that this article is only of interest to those on the left who are in close proximity to people with a deep psychic identity connection to the very old Zionist left (the romance of the kibbutzim) and/or the trauma of the Holocaust. The Oct. 7 attack hit these people so hard that they suspended their critical facilities, losing track of the context, and therefore unable to foresee the consequences.

Most of us immediately recognized the context that led to the revolt, and understood that the response of Israel's leaders would be genocidal. Hence, no matter how much we may or may not have grieved for the immediate victims of the revolt, we understood that their deaths would soon be dwarfed by Israel's vindictive reassertion of their overwhelming power.

It's worth noting that while such reactions are unusual on the American left, they are very common in Israel. The best example is the long-running Peace Now bloc, which formed after the 1982 war on Lebanon went sour. Ever since then, they have never failed to support initial Israeli military outbursts (e.g., 2006 in Gaza and Lebanon, and the many subsequent Operations in Gaza), although they've almost always come to regret those wars. Israelis, even ones with liberal and/or socialist temperaments, are conditioned to rally under crisis to support the state's warriors, and the national security state pulls their triggers whenever they want to strike out. It's practically an involuntary reflex, even among people who must know better.

It's great credit to Jewish Voice for Peace that they didn't fall for this triggering.

Regarding Larry Fink, I posted the following comment on Facebook:

I met Larry several times. Longest talk we had was mostly about jazz, in the car on the way to a memorial "meeting" for his mother. He took a lot of notable photographs of jazz musicians. Liz had one framed, of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald sitting together in a table in a club somewhere. On 9/11, he called Liz, and told her he was thinking about rounding up some fowl for a "chickens come home to roost" photo, echoing the famous Malcolm X quote. He was living on a farm in PA at the time, but I don't recall whether he had his own chickens, or whether he ever took that photo. But of the myriad reactions to 9/11, his was one of the smartest. (Or maybe I thought so because I was already thinking about the same quote.)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, November 20, 2023

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41210 [41160] rated (+50), 9 [22] unrated (-13).

Another Speaking of Which last night. I didn't have much time to work to search out stories, even less to annotate them, but did manage a couple hours for yet another iteration of my appropriately, I would say, simple-minded solution to the Israel's war on Gaza. It's just that simple: stop it. If you don't, you'll ultimately wind up inflicting so much self-damage you won't care how much hurt you inflicted on others.

Little chance of this being recognized by the people in power, who are so smitten by the notion that all their problems can be solved by force. They're wrong. But they are capable of doing immense harm in their flailing and thrashing.

On Wednesday, I sent out an initial round of 205 invitations to cast ballots in the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I've sent 15-20 more invitations out since then, and will send out a few more over the next week or two. Deadline is December 15. I'm pleased with the results so far, including 14 ballots submitted, and another 60 commitments to vote.

One of the perks of running the Poll is that I get tips on lots of new albums I hadn't heard (or in many cases even heard of). I add these to my tracking file (currently 1046 jazz albums, 1255 non-jazz). You can see a number of them already below, and I suspect that new ones will be most of what I listen to in the coming month. So far 182 records have received votes. I've added the ones I haven't heard (59 music albums + 10 old, so 38% of total) to my EOY Jazz List (scroll down to the 2% note).

Of course, there's also an EOY Non-Jazz List. I've done virtually no recent prospecting for non-jazz records, as I'm trying hard to finish off my 2023 promo queue, as well as keep up with jazz ballot picks. Consequently, it's lagged more than usual (especially more than last year). That will probably change if/when I start collecting EOY lists. At the moment, that seems like a really insane thing to contemplate, but I've described it as "my favorite waste of time," so if some time opens up, I'm more likely to waste it than I am to write some magnum opus on why US foreign policy is totally bankrupt. Let alone one on 2024 elections, as I've fallen into the 20% of Democrats who no longer smile on Biden. (If you doubt why, you obviously haven't been reading lately. Go back to yesterday's link to Biden's op-ed, which most likely his aides told him is today's match for JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.)

Two new books under the "Recent Reading" widget. I enjoyed Christopher Clark's Revolutionary Spring so much I decided to read a bit more about 1848, something a bit more about the revolutions that didn't happen, hence China Miéville's book on The Communist Manifesto. It turned out to be more on the text, and less on the history, than I wanted, but still left me with warm and fuzzy feelings for my own flirtation with the red side. It also reminded me that not so long ago, no one could conceive of radical change -- something a great many saw urgent need for -- coming about without violence.

After Viet Thanh Nguyen got banned from the 92nd St. Y for signing a petition calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, I saw an interview with him, and got interested in his new memoir. Then I noticed Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, and figured I should read that one first. Just started it, and I'm already finding things I'd like to share. I've written quite a bit about his subject -- not specifically on Vietnam, but you need only check my birth certificate to see that as the pivotal event in my life.

I ordered two more books. One, mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, is Norman Finkelstein's Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom, which seems almost quaint now, given how much more devastating Israel's war against Gaza is now than the periodic assaults since 2006. However, as Nguyen should be among the first to point out, the extreme severity of the current genocide depends for its justification on forgetting everything that Israel did previously, lest the Oct. 7 revolt be viewed as anything other than unprovoked murderous frenzy.

The other book is the paperback reprint of Carlos Lozada's What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era: a book of book reports, that looks like it might be a useful reference.

New records reviewed this week:

Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village: The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (2023, Corbett vs. Dempsey): Vibraphonist, Chicago's go-to guy for the instrument since the early 2000s. He notes that "tuned metal percussion figures prominently in the sound universe of Roscoe Mitchell," so decided to give it a try with a solo album. Nice, but I don't quite get it. Nice piece of art on the album cover, too. B+(**) [bc]

Susan Alcorn/Septeto Del Sur: Canto (2023, Relative Pitch): Pedal steel guitarist, from Baltimore, debut 2000, Discogs credits her with 30 albums. She's joined here by a Chilean folk group, playing and improvising on her compositions, and singing a Victor Jara song to close. B+(**) [cd]

Maria Baptist Quintet: Essays on Jazz (2023, self-released, 2CD): German pianist, several albums since 2002, quintet with two saxophonists (Jan Von Klewitz and Richard Maegraith), bass, and drums, a rather rousing postbop group. Long: 108 minutes. B+(***) [sp]

John Bishop: Antwerp (2023, Origin): Drummer, from Seattle, runs this mainstream label, which did much to put Seattle in the jazz map, and has since branched out, especially to Chicago, Denver, and wherever UNT alumni gather, and here to Belgium, for a trio with Bram Weiters (piano) and Piet Verbist (bass) -- familiar names, especially if you've been on the label's mailing list. B+(**) [cd]

Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band: Kings Highway (2023, Stoner Hill): Drummer, called his 1998 Blue Note debut album Fellowship, which could be taken as the band name, one he's stuck with ever since. With original members Jon Cowherd (keyboards), Myron Walden (alto sax), Melvin Butler (tenor/soprano sax), and Christopher Thomas (bass), the only change Kurt Rosenwinkel taking over guitar (from Jeff Parker). B+(*) [sp]

BlankFor.Ms/Jason Moran/Marcus Gilmore: Refract (2022 [2023], Red Hook): Electronica producer Tyler Gilmore, has a couple previous albums, joined here by two well known jazz musicians, on piano and drums. The electronics help out, and the pianist is formidable, though it all slows down on the backstretch. B+(***) [sp]

Jane Bunnett and Maqueque: Playing With Fire (2023, True North/Linus Entertainment): Canadian soprano saxophonist, formed a bond with Cuban music early in her career (1992, Spirits of Havana), fourth album with this Cuban-Canadian group. I don't doubt the authenticity of the percussion, but I have trouble hearing the vocals as even jazz-adjacent. B+(*) [sp]

Emmet Cohen: Master Legacy Series Volume 5: Featuring Houston Person (2023, Bandstand): Pianist, has a few volumes from 2011 on featuring his own estimable work, along side this series, which started with Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, and Tootie Heath before moving on to the saxophonists, adding Benny Golson to the Heath volume, followed by George Coleman, and now Person -- who, by the way, sounds fabulous right out of the gate. With Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Kyle Poole (drums). A- [sp]

Sylvie Courvoisier: Chimaera (2022 [2023], Intakt, 2CD): Swiss pianist, many albums since 1997, leads a sextet through a series of extended compositions, inspired by painter Odilon Redon ("a universe of symbolism, dreams and fantasy"). Group includes two trumpets (Wadada Leo Smith and Nate Wooley), Christian Fennesz (guitar/electronics), Drew Gress (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums/vibes). This would sit nicely in one of Smith's recent boxes. A- [sp]

Dry Thrust: The Less You Sleep (2020 [2023], Trost): Trio of Georg Graewe (organ), Martin Siewert (guitar, electronics), and Didi Kern (drums). Graewe is well known as an avant-pianist. The other have been kicking around the fringe since the late 1990s, with Kern's background mostly in noise-rock (but lately he's popped up with Gustafsson and Vandermark). Interesting but scattered: your basic organ trio improvising not on soul-groove but on no-wave noise. B+(*) [sp]

Antoine Drye With Strings: Retreat to Beauty (Oblation Vol. 3: Providence!) (2021 [2023], Cellar Music): Trumpet player, 2003 debut titled Oblation, so this has been slow coming. Strings just add some sweetener, setting up the voice at the end. B+(*) [sp]

George Freeman: The Good Life (2022 [2023], HighNote): Guitarist from Chicago, at 96 still the younger brother of saxophonist Von Freeman. Two sessions here, one with organ (Joey DeFrancesco, a couple months before he died) and drums (Lewis Nash), the other with bass (Christian McBride) and drums (Carl Allen). B+(**) [sp]

Eric Friedlander: She Sees (2023, Skipstone): Cellist, reconvenes his 2020 Sentinel band -- hard-edged guitarist Ava Mendoza and percussionist Diego Espinosa -- and adds electric bassist Stomu Takeishi. B+(*) [sp]

George Gee Swing Orchestra: Winter Wonderland (2023, self-released): Bandleader, formed his swing band in 1980, and a later 10-piece group called Jump, Jive & Wailers (after the Louis Prima song), but I'm not finding albums for either. (I have a 2007 release in my database.) Xmas music always brings out the bah humbug in me, and this did at first, but the brass section softened me up, then I loved their take on the merely Xmas-adjacent "Baby It's Cold Outside" (criss-crossing vocals by Hilary Gardner and John Dokes, not quite Armstrong and Fitzgerald but really great). I even found myself enjoying "The Christmas Song" after that (if not "O Tannenbaum" and "Jingle Bells"). B+(**) [cd]

Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (2023, VHR Music): Mexican-American group from Edinburg, in the southern tip of Texas. First album. B+(**) [sp]

Gabriel Guerrero & Quantum: Equilibrio (2019 [2023], Origin): Pianist, born in Colombia, based in New York, website shows this as third album as leader vs. one side credit, Discogs has the split 0-5. Group here is mostly quartet, with sax (Seth Trachy), bass, and drums, with strings on one track and percussion on another, playing complex originals. B+(**) [cd]

David Ian: Vintage Christmas Trio Melody (2023, Prescott): Pianist, can't find him on Discogs but AAJ shows four previous albums: three Vintage Christmas titles, plus one for Valentine's Day. Trio with bass and drums. Best I can say for it is that mid-way I forgot that I was listening to Xmas music, but looking at the song list doesn't suggest why. B [cd]

I.P.A.: Grimsta (2022 [2023], Cuneiform): Norwegian group, fifth album since 2009: Atle Nymo (tenor sax/contrabass clarinet), Magnus Broo (trumpet), Mattias Ståhl (vibes/soprano sax), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), and Håkon Mjäset Johansen (drums). B+(**) [dl]

Val Jeanty/Candice Hoyes/Mimi Jones: Nite Bjuti (2021 [2023], Whirlwind): Most often title is given as group name, but the individuals (drums/electronics, vocals, bass) also appear on the cover. Jeanty is Haitian, mostly shows up adding electronic mojo to jazz artists (Kris Davis, Wallace Roney, Terri Lyne Carrington). Nice balance against the bass. Vocals could show up on trip-hop. B+(**) [sp]

Hannah Marks: Outsider, Outlier (2022 [2023], Out of Your Head): Bassist (electric & double), from Brooklyn, out on a jazz label but initially sounds more punk (Sarah Rossy singing), then arty, then Nathan Reising inserts a nice alto sax solo, then, well, I don't know. B+(*) [cd]

Sarah McKenzie: Without You (2023, Normandy Lane Music): Australian jazz singer, pianist, sixth album since 2011, wrote four songs here, the rest Brazilian standards, mostly Jobim. Done expertly, notably because the guitarist is Romero Lubambo. B+(*) [cd]

Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns: Weejuns (2022 [2023], Rune Grammofon): Norwegian guitarist, double live-album debut with new trio: Ståle Storløken (organ) and Ole Mofjell (drums). B+(***) [r]

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: Tryptych I (2022, SMP): Tenor sax and piano duo, relationship goes back at least to 1996, amounts to well over a dozen duo albums, and another dozen-plus trios. First of three more, all released on the same day. B+(***) [bc]

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: Tryptych II (2022, SMP): Original idea here was to put these duets together in a single "CD-LP-Cassette-Box-Set [which] was specifically recorded for three types of formats." My guess is that the 12-track, 55:42 Tryptych I was the CD, and that this 2-track 36:27 is the LP. Impossible for me to tell whether the music is the same or different, but it's easily equivalent. B+(**) [bc]

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: Tryptych III (2022, SMP): Reading the fine print more closely, I find that this ("Side A" and "Side B," 30:58) is the cassette version, "a contemplative set with a dramatic ambience." B+(***) [bc]

Jason Roebke: Four Spheres (2022 [2023], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Bassist, has played in many Chicago avant groups since 2000. Quartet here with Edward Wilkerson Jr. (tenor sax, alto clarinet), Mabel Kwan (piano), and Marcus Evans (drums), all (curiously enough) also credited with metronomes. B+(**) [bc]

Dave Sewelson/Stephen Moses/Jochem van Dijk/Steve Holtje: Orca Uprising (2023, MechaBenzaiten): Baritone saxophonist, long-time member of Microscopic Septet, with drums, electric bass, and keyboard. B [bc]

Russ Spiegel: Caribbean Blue (2023, Ruzztone Music): Guitarist, albums go back to 1985, has an organ-drums trio here, plus picks up some guests, including Brian Lynch (trumpet 4 of 10 tracks), Tim Armacost (tenor sax on 6, flute on 1), and Hendrik Meurkens (chromatic harmonica on 3). B+(**) [cd]

Trio Grande: Urban Myth (2023, Whirlwind): Will Vinson (alto sax, wurlitzer, synths), Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Nate Wood (drums, bass) -- the first two writing three and four pieces, with two covers (Roy Hargrove, Nik Kershaw). First cut points to some funk-fusion, but they're way too multi-faceted to stay there, especially when Vinson returns to his first calling. B+(**) [cd]

Trio San: Hibiki (2022 [2023], Jazzdor): Trio of Satoko Fujii (piano), Taiko Saito (vibes), and Yuko Oshima (drums), first for the trio, a live set from a festival in Berlin. Takes a bit to get going, and moves uneasily when it does, but impressive slow and somber, more so vibrant. B+(***) [cd]

Anna Webber/Matt Mitchell: Capacious Aeration (2023, Tzadik): Duo, tenor sax/flute and piano. High level, but sketchy. B+(**) [sp]

Mars Williams/Vasco Trilla: Critical Mass (2021 [2023], Not Two): Duo, reeds and toy instruments for Williams -- a Hal Russell disciple, Vandermark Five founder, acid jazz renegade, and author of several An Ayler Xmas volumes -- drums and percussion for Trilla. Some noise, some drone, some inspired jazz. B+(***) [sp]

Joe Wittman: Trio Works (2023, self-released): Guitarist, from New York, has a previous album, this one a trio with Daniel Duke (bass) and Keith Balla (drums), playing six originals and two covers ("Sweet Lorraine" and "Born to Be Blue"). Mainstream guitar groove, nicely done. B+(**) [cd]

Joe Wittman/Vito Dieterle/Jesse Breheney/Josh Davis: Night Out (2022 [2023], self-released): Guitarist's first album, out a few months before Trio Works, with tenor sax, bass, and drums. B+(*) [bc]

Miguel Zenón/Dan Tepfer: Internal Melodies (2023, Main Door Music): Alto sax and piano duo, the pianist from France, with an astrophysics degree, has a Goldberg Variations and a Twelve Free Improvisations in Twelve Keys, but is best known for his duos with Lee Konitz. No Latin Jazz for Zenón here. He's just very adroitly tuned into what the pianist is doing. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Fred Anderson: The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 2 (1980 [2023], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Tenor saxophonist, born in Louisiana, moved to Chicago, helped found AACM, recorded a bit in the 1970s but mostly got by as the owner of a club, restarting his career when he turned 65 in 1994, most often working with his nephew, drummer Hamid Drake. John Corbett released the first volume of these tapes in 2000 as part of Atavistic's Unheard Music Series (virtually everything there is worth checking out), only now coming out with a second set. Quartet with Billie Brimfield (trumpet), Larry Hayrod (bass), and Drake (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Graham Collier: Down Another Road @ Stockholm Jazz Days '69 (1969 [2023], My Only Desire): Bassist (1937-2011), one of the major figures in British jazz to emerge in the late 1960s, leading a sextet here: Hary Beckett (trumpet/flugelhorn), Nick Evans (trombone), Stan Sulzmann (tenor/alto sax), Karl Jenkins (oboe/piano), and John Marshall (drums). This live set expands on five (of six) songs from his third album, Down Another Road. Remarkable compositions and performances. Clearly someone I need to research further. A- [sp]

Eric Ghost: Secret Sauce (1975 [2022], Jazz Room): Jazz flutist Eric Barth Sanders, released two albums 1974-75, had his career interupted by a jail sentence for manufacturing LSD, so his claim to "psychedelic" has some credence. With piano, bass, and free-ranging percussion. B+(***) [sp]

Milford Graves With Arthur Doyle & Hugh Glover: Children of the Forest (1976 [2023], Black Editions Archive): Previously unissued tapes from the percussionist's archive: a trio date with Doyle (tenor sax, flute) and Glover ("klaxon, percussion, vaccine"), a duo with Glover (tenor sax), and a bit of solo (3:13) to close. Graves is fascinating to focus on throughout. Whether you can largely depends on your tolerance for noise: Doyle has always been a screecher, and often little more, although he brings exceptional energy to his part here. Glover has similar intent, but is much less imposing. B+(***) [sp]

Roy Hargrove: The Love Suite: In Mahogany (1993 [2023], Blue Engine): Trumpet player (1969-2018), 1990 debut album was called Diamond in the Rough, led to him winning DownBeat's "rising star" 1991-93, and eventually (2021) entering their hall of fame. Jazz at Lincoln Center commissioned him to do this major piece in 1993, then sat on the tape 30 years? With Jesse Davis (alto sax), Ron Blake (tenor sax), Andre Hayward (trombone), Marc Cary (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), and Gregory Hutchinson (drums). Live, sounds great, even with the unconventional climax of scat vocal, long drum solo, and outro credits. Only explanation I can imagine why this was held back so long is that the boss man was jealous. A [sp]

Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse 1966-1968 (1966-68 [2023], Jazz Detective/Elemental, 2CD): A third 2-CD set for the late pianist and his trio, with Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Grant on drums. Dependably superb, as you'd expect. B+(***) [cd] [11-24]

Paul Lytton/Erhard Hirt: Borne on a Whim: Duets, 1981 (1981 [2023], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Duets, drums and live electronics for the famed British drummer, electric guitars and dobro for the German guitarist -- not someone I recalled, but Discogs credits him with 20 albums, and I recognize a couple. B+(**) [bc]

Les McCann: Never a Dull Moment! Live From Coast to Coast 1966-1967 (1963-67 [2023], Resonance, 3CD): Pianist, from Kentucky, never seemed to get much respect for his distinctive mix of soul jazz and boogie-woogie, but did get an actual hit record in 1969, with Eddie Harris on Swiss Movement (2.5 stars in Penguin Guide, but in my 1K list). This collects five live dates from Seattle (Penthouse) and one from New York (Village Vanguard), where he does his thing, and keeps doing it until he gets really good at it. (Looks like one cut from 1963 belies the subtitle.) A- [cd] [12-01]

Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio: Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings (1965 [2023], Resonance, 2CD): For many years, it seemed like every American jazz guitarist took Wes Montgomery as their model -- a spell even more total than Charlie Parker and (later) John Coltrane held for saxophonists. I've long been skeptical (really for all three), but when Pat Metheny called Smokin' at the Half Note "the greatest jazz guitar album ever made," I had to check it out. I found it, "complete," in a 2-CD compilation, Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sides (probably where I got the Metheny quote), and have since collected CD reissues, the older one giving Wynton Kelly Trio top billing, a later one headlining Montgomery. Metheny's not right, but he's not far off base either: there is some truly remarkable guitar there -- Kelly and the rhythm section (Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb) are pretty great, too. What's offered here aren't outtakes from the same session, but snippets from other live shots from the same year and venue, with spoken intros and a revolving cast of bassists (Chambers, Ron Carter, Larry Ridley, Herman Wright, and Ridley again). There are, for sure, short stretches where Montgomery is on top of his game, and those are sublime. And there's a nice booklet, with a Bill Milkowski essays, and some appreciations from other musicians. This fits into Montgomery's discography rather like the Royal Roost broadcasts do for Parker. How indispensable they are is up to you. B+(***) [cd] [12-01]

Michel Petrucciani: The Montreux Years (1990-98 [2023], BMG/Montreux): The big jazz festival in Switzerland has been an annual affair since 1967. Dozens of artists have released tapes of their performances there, so it's unsurprising that the Foundation itself would want to get into the act. This draws on four performances by the diminuitive French pianist -- who died in 1999, at 37, of a congenital ailment that is impossible to detect in his masterful playing. Selections include duos with bassist Miroslav Vitous, a quartet with synthesizer, a quintet with Steve Grossman on sax, and a sextet with Stefano Di Battista. This winds up being an excellent sampler. A- [sp]

Cal Tjader: Catch the Groove: Live at the Penthouse 1963-1967 (1963-67 [2023], Jazz Detective/Elemental, 2CD): Vibraphonist (1925-82), parents were "Swedish American vaudevillians," moved to Bay Area when he was two, learned to play piano and drums, and tap dance, started out in Dixieland bands, was playing drums in Dave Brubeck's group when he got interested in vibes. There are many testimonials in the booklet here, including one by Terry Gibbs on this story, and how Gibbs "showed him some things," although his knack for "Latin kick" came elsewhere. Tjader's groups from 1953 on were widely recorded. At one point, I tried figuring out who had the most jazz albums among artists I had none from, and Tjader was the easy winner. I picked up a record with Stan Getz after that, but Tjader remains a gaping hole in my expertise. So unlike most recent live archival trawls, I have little to compare this with, giving it an air of fresh discovery. This collects six sets, all quintets with piano, bass, drums, and Latin percussion (especially congas), and it's quite delightful. A- [cd]

Old music:

Dexter Gordon Quartet: Bouncin' With Dex (1975 [1976], SteepleChase): One of many albums the tenor saxophonist recorded during his years in Copenhagen. First side starts with "Billie's Bounce" and ends with a Gordon original called "Benji's Bounce," with "Easy Living" in between, another Gordon piece and "Four" on the other side. Quartet is the cream of Copenhagen: Tele Montoliu (piano), NHØP (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums). A- [r]

Dexter Gordon Quartet: Stable Mabel (1975, SteepleChase): With Horace Parlan (piano), NHØP (bass), and Tony Inzalaco (drums), six standards, ranging from "In a Sentimental Mood" to "Red Cross," most stretched out to 8-9 minutes. B+(***) [r]

Dexter Gordon Quartet: Cheese Cake (1964 [1979], SteepleChase): A live radio shot from his early days in Copenhagen, with Tele Montoliu (piano), NHØP (bass), and Alex Riel (drums). Short and sweet. B+(**) [r]

Dexter Gordon Quartet: I Want More (1964 [1980], SteepleChase): Another live radio shot from Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, again with Montoliu and NHØP, this time with Rune Carlsson on drums. This was a prime period for him, and nearly everything sounds great. B+(***) [r]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Andy Pratt: Trio (Thrift Girl) [01-12]
• Sam Ross: Live at the Mira Room, Vol. II (self-released) [11-03]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

I'm mostly working on the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll this week, and probably every week until the first of January, so this weekly exercise is being demoted to a part-time, background project, making it even more cryptic and scattered than usual.

Still, let me say a few words up top -- or reiterate, as I've said pretty much the same thing in recent weeks. The main story is, again, Israel's war, which is no longer just against Gaza, but has extended to the West Bank and the border with Lebanon. Israel's leaders have always understood themselves to be at war with the Palestinian people and the broader Arab neighborhood, the purpose of which is to utterly dominate the region, reducing Palestinians to an "utterly defeated people," out of sight and out of mind, effectively dead. You can date their war back to 1948, or earlier. You can find seeds in Herzl's 1896 The Jewish State, which started growing in 1920 when Britain set up its "Jewish homeland," playing its typical divide-and-conquer game. But the idea is older still: at least since 1492, Europeans have moved to new lands and immediately started plotting to subjugate, or better still eliminate, the people they found there. So this first point, that the war did not start on October 7, should be too obvious to have to dwell on. Still, we may treat it as a new phase or level, as the shock of the Oct. 7 revolt gave Israel an excuse to implement the genocide that Zionism always implied.

The second point is that the Oct. 7 revolt, and the subsequent retaliation and escalation by Israel, was not necessary, and could easily have been prevented, at least by Israel's current and recent leaders. (Most obviously Netanyahu, but it's hard to discern any fundamental differences going back to, well, Ben-Gurion, with only Sharett and Rabin offering vague and conflicted gestures that might have pointed toward some form of peaceful co-existence.)

Israel -- by which I mean its political leaders, a group that could have fit within a meeting room and/or a conference call, and not the whole nation -- could simply have decided to contain the damage of Oct. 7, and not to compound the damage by retaliating. They didn't do so because they've locked themselves into a logic that tries to solve all problems by asserting their power. They may argue that their policies have worked well enough so far, so will work well enough in the future, but they are wrong: they've only appeared to have worked because they've never seriously assayed the costs.

The revolt itself could have been prevented in either of two ways. The specific people who organized and led the revolt -- for lack of more precise names, we might as well follow everyone else and call them Hamas, but we're talking about a small and isolated subset of people affiliated with Hamas, and quite probably others not in any way part of Hamas -- presumably had enough free will (but do we really know this?) to have decided not to act. That they did revolt suggests not malice so much as desperation, and mere luck in the outcome.

The other way to prevent revolt is to create conditions where Palestinians would have no compelling reason to revolt. There are lots of things that can be done in this regard (and Israel has even, on rare occasions, tried some, which worked as well as they could, as long as they were in place). Almost all internal conflicts end, or simply fade into oblivion, with some kind of accommodation. Israel is peculiarly, but not inevitably, resistant to the idea, but it's the only real path out of their quandry.

Given these percepts, I've laid out a fairly simple way to end the war in Gaza, which gives Israel a free hand to implement when they are ready, which is favorable enough to Israeli interests they should be happy to accept, and which accords Palestinians in Gaza a fair hope for respect and recovery. It does not attempt to solve any issues beyond the Gaza front, so does not require Israel to address its abuses of Palestinians within Israel and its other occupied territories, or its border issues with other countries. Very briefly, the steps are:

1. Israel withdraws its forces from Gaza, and ceases fire on Gaza, except for reserving the right to retaliate within a limited period of time (say, 12 hours) for any subsequent attack launched from Gaza. The sooner the better, but no one can/will force Israel to withdraw, so they can destroy as much as they can stomach, until they tire and/or become too embarrassed to continue.

2. Israel cedes its claim to Gaza, its air space, and adjacent sea, to the United Nations. The UN accepts, and sets up a temporary governing authority. (Israel may continue to conduct air and sea recognizance and interception until other arrangements are in place.) The UN authority will control the dispensation of aid, which will be allowed in only if all hostages are released and no resistance is offered.

3. There will be blanket amnesty for all Gazans, for all Israelis engaged with Gaza, and for the government of Israel, for all acts up to the cease fire date. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and any other armed groups within Gaza, will cease to exist as organizations, and be banned from reforming. Individual members of those groups will be covered by the blanket amnesty. It is not necessary to disarm people, but a buy back program for arms and munitions would be a good idea.

4. The UN will issue passports for Gaza, which will allow residents to leave and return at any later date.

5. The UN will organize several levels of advisory councils, and operate subject to their agreement. The easiest way to organize these councils would be to select members at random, allowing anyone thus selected to select another person in their place. This will lead to elections in a year or two. In the meantime the UN will organize competent administration, police, and courts, primarily employing locals.

6. After a couple years, Gaza will be recognized as an independent country, with normal full sovereignty, and will be able to renegotiate its relations with the UN, and with any other countries. It should be understood that its borders are permanently defined, and that it cannot call itself Palestine (as that might imply extraterritorial ambitions).

Note that nothing here requires Israel to dismantle its apartheid regime elsewhere, nor does it protect Israel from war crime and human rights charges (except for Gaza up to the hand off). Nothing here keeps world from showing its reservations over Israel, especially through BDS programs. Israel will remain, for the time anyway, racist and militarist. It just won't have Gaza to kick around any more. Given how much kicking they've done, especially since 2006, that in itself should reduce the conflict, and make other aspects of it easier to deal with, but that ultimately depends on Israelis growing up and becoming responsible citizens of the world, as opposed to their current preference as tyrants over one small patch of it.

I'm pretty certain that, given the chance, a democratic Gaza will not tolerate any attacks on Israel. Some Gazans may still decide to join ISIS or other extremist groups, but they will have to go into exile to do so, and will no longer be Gaza's responsibility. Plus, there will be far fewer of them once Israel stops "mowing the grass."

Other topics could be added to this, but why complicate things? I believe that there should be a right to exile, which would allow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to leave the country. That would be a better solution than simply trading hostages/prisoners.

My guiding rule for negotiations is to try to get to the right answer, one that works for all sides, with a minimum of impacts, and measure to increase trust and transparency. That may not always be possible, in which case you should look for other ways to compensate for perceived losses. (Gaza, in particular, is going to need a lot of aid.)

Let's put this part in bold:

Once you get to peace and justice, lots of things become possible. But it all starts with an Israeli cease-fire. That's all it takes to stop the killing, to halt the destruction. And that will at least slow down Israel's presently inexorable moral decay of into genocide -- and that of America, seeing as our leaders are currently in lockstep with Israel. So demand it! For once, it's obvious what's best for everyone!

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss: I'm not up to dredging through the daily New York Times reports on the war, but this heroic website gives you a better accounting of the tragic consequences of senseless war, and a lot less propaganda spin.

  • [11-15] Day 40: Israeli forces storm Al-Shifa Hospital, strip-naked and arrest people inside.

  • [11-16] Day 41: Israel ignores legally binding UNSC resolution, saying 'it will not happen.

  • [11-17] Day 42: Communications blackout obscures full picture of Israel's devastation in Gaza.

  • [11-18] Day 43: Israeli forces order evacuation of Al-Shifa' hospital, bomb schools in Gaza.

  • [11-19] Day 44: WHO says Israel turned Al-Shifa Hospital into 'death zone,' thousands of Palestinians 'humiliated as they flee to southern Gaza.

• Spencer Ackerman: [11-17] Gaza shows the difference between international law and the "rules-based international order": "Adherence to US hegemony determines who does -- and does not -- get to violate the architecture restraining state violence."

• Hugo Albuquerque: [11-17] Israeli Communist leader: The Netanyahu government has no answers: Interview with Eli Gozansky.

• Michael Arria: [11-16] March for Israel: "Thousands gathered in Washington this week to support Israel. The Israeli Consulate announced 290,000 people attended, while estimates show they were off by about 265,000. Still, support for Israel from elected officials was clear." Is there anything less meaningful than organizing a public showing of support for the powers that be?

• M Reza Benham: [11-15] The catastrophic roots of Zionism in Palestine: History back to Herzl, plus a suggestion that "it is time for the Arab world to use its formidable oil weapon to end the carnage." I don't see that happening: the "weapon" is less formidable now than in the 1970s, the political will is lacking (maybe the "Arab street" identifies with Palestinians, but the sheiks don't), and it's only been used of late to prop up sagging prices.

• Nader Durgham: [11-16] Do you want to understand the Gaza war? Look at the Beirut siege of 1982?

• Malay Firoz: [11-17] The unforgivable hypocrisy of the American liberal.

• Lev Grinberg: [11-15] For all its military might, Israel succumbed to its most fatal weakness: "The illusion that Israel could control Gaza endlessly is rooted in a dysfunctional political system that is incapable of imagining an alternative future."

• Jonathan Guyer: [11-18] Most of Israel's weapons imports come from the US. Now Biden is rushing even more arms.

• Yoav Haifawi: [11-18] First Tel Aviv anti-war demonstration reveals the limits on protest in today's Israel.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [11-16] Rainfall on a destroyed Gaza could spell disaster.

• Jeet Heer: [11-17] Israel's ludicrous propaganda wins over the only audience that counts: "Why make an effort to be credible if you're going to be uncritically echoed by the White House and the Western press?"

• Marc Owen Jones: [11-15] Israel's comically bad disinfo proves they're losing the PR war.

• Rashid Khalidi: [11-18] A paradigm shift in the hundred years' war on Palestine?

• Talia Lavin: [11-17] These evangelicals are cheering the Gaza war as the end of the world: "Some far-right Christian leaders believe the bloodshed portends the second coming of Christ."

• Eric Levitz: [11-16] Sam Harris's fairy-tale account of the Israel-Hamas conflict: Harris first gained attention as a rare guy who was evangelical about atheism, which seemed like a refreshing twist, but turned out to be just another bigoted bore. So no surprise that "on questions of foreign policy, Harris's thinking can become nearly as dogmatic and blinkered as that of the religious zealots he's dedicated himself to discrediting."

• Branko Marcetic:

  • [11-15] US will take massive hit in global standing over Israel: "Washington's seeming refusal to use its leverage to stop civilian carnage may do more damage than even the Iraq War, experts say."

  • [11-16] US critics of Israel's war are being slandered for making the same criticisms as Israelis.

• Ruth Michaelson/Kaamil Ahmed: [11-19] 'It's basically hell on earth': Gaza City left totally bereft of healthcare.

• Mahmoud Mushtaha: [11-14] Palestinians fear 'slow death' as hunger and thirst spread in Gaza.

• Nicole Narea/Sigal Samuel: [11-13] How to think through allegations of genocide in Gaza: This is a long trawl through arguments I've dealt with extensively in recent weeks. I don't have time to rehash them here, but my considered take is pretty straightforward: the intent of Israel's leaders is clearly genocidal; Israel's actions (bombing, armed incursions, blockades) are indiscriminate, effectively aimed at the whole population; until Israel halts those operations, they merit the charge of genocide; if/when Israel ceases fire, withdraws, and allows third parties to provide aid, we might consider reducing the charge, as only such a end to hostilities can counter the charge. And, needless to say, the longer they take, the less credible their excuses.

• James North:

  • [11-11] The 'NYTimes' continues to slander and silence Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

  • [11-18] Years of mainstream media neglect of Palestinian reality means that truths come as shocks to most Americans.

• Jonathan Ofir/Yonathan Shapira/Ofer Neiman: [11-09] Do not dismiss the Gaza genocide allegations: Starts by noting an article by Eitay Mack in Harretz which tries to do just that.

• Gareth Porter: [11-17] Israeli deceit and the battle of Shifa Hospital: Also links to updates, including: [11-16] Israel searches for traces of Hamas in read of key Gaza hospital, finding "no command centre, hostages, Hamas fighters."

• Ali Rizk: [11-17] How US, Hezbollah interests align amid Gaza war: "Both worry about being dragged into a wider regional conflict." But both have funny ways of showing that, because Israel is locked into warring on Hezbollah, and the US is locked into blind support of Israel.

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [11-16] Israel's state of perpetual war and death: "Plans to wipe out 'hundreds' of Gaza families in revenge for Hamas attack."

  • [11-18] There's nothing Jewish about genocide: "We must not permit Israel to implicate us as Jews in its crimes."

• Aidan Simardone: [11-17] Israeli weapons are common to the displacement in Nagorno-Karabakh and Gaza.

• Reis Thebault: [11-18] Palestinian Americans face fear, violence amid Israel's war in Gaza.

• Philip Weiss: [11-19] Washington's approval of unending massacre is a 'stain upon our souls'. I haven't been citing Weiss's "Weekly Briefing" posts, but also see:

  • [11-05] It takes a genocide to open Americans' eyes.

  • [11-12] Real genocide vs fantasies of genocide.

  • [11-10] Israel's savage actions in the name of Jews make Jews unsafe.

• Robert Wright: [11-17] The truth about Hamas: This pretty much matches my understanding, at least from 2006. Israelis often complain about "not having a partner for peace," but there's little evidence that they ever wanted peace, and there's frequent evidence that they've pushed Palestinians into more radical stands so they'd have an excuse not to negotiate with them.

• Li Zhou: [11-15] The dire medical crisis in Gaza, explained.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Mark Alfred: [11-17] Trump engaged in insurrection but can stay on Colorado's ballot anyway, court rules.

• Zack Beauchamp: [11-14] When Trump tells you he's an authoritarian, believe him: "He's talking like a fascist. He's planning fascist policies. He's staffing up with fascists."

• Ben Beckett: [11-16] Donald Trump has serious plans for the mass violations of civil rights.

• Bob Bishop: [11-17] Nikki Strangelove: 'How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.'

• Ryan Cooper:

  • [11-13] 'Moms for Liberty' fanatics lose out big-time: "It turns out that most parents are repelled by howling red-faced bigots threatening teachers and trying to ban books."

  • [11-15] House Republicans circle their own budget ouroboros once more

• Jarod Facundo: [11-15] Oklahoma Senator driven to violent frenzy by Teamsters president.

• Margaret Hartmann: [11-17] Trump's most unhinged plans for his second term.

• Zachary Petrizzo: [11-16] Trumpworld is already at war over staffing a new Trump White House.

• Luke Savage: [11-16] Rick Santorum just came out and said what conservatives really think of democracy.

• Matt Stieb: [11-17] The end looks near for George Santos.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Joe Biden: [11-18] The U.S. won't back down from the challenge of Putin and Hamas: But will the U.S. even recognize the challenge of Netanyahu and Zelensky? Like the proverbial hammer seeing everything else as a nail, the most heavily armed nation in the world hardly requires conscious thought to "stand up and fight."

• Kyle Anzalone: [11-16] Biden has 'productive discussion' with Xi, then slams Chinese leader as 'dictator'. Speaking "truth to power" may be overrated, given that power is rarely open to truth, but going behind power's back just makes you look petty.

• Mark Murray: [11-19] Poll: Biden's standing hits new lows amid Israel-Hamas war: Washington loves a good war. The American people, not so much so.

• Andrew O'Hehir: [11-18] Joe Biden at history's crossroads: Is backing Bibi's Gaza war a fatal mistake?

• Nathan J Robinson: [11-15] Does democracy mainly mean voting for Democrats?: "Heather Cox Richardson's narrative of Good Democrats and Bad Republicans lets liberals off the hook for their political failures." I've read two of her books on the Republican Party, and a few of her Substack columns, all of which are well researched and sensibly written, and I've put a lot of thought into writing a book exactly along those lines, so I was a pretty good prospect to pick up her new book, Democracy Awakening. But one thing that stopped me cold was a column (or maybe just a tweet) praising Biden's great accomplishments in foreign policy. I was surprised to find myself being pleasantly surprised by many aspects of the Biden presidency, but foreign policy has not been one of them.

• Alexander Sammon: [11-15] The Squad is about to fight for its political life: "AIPAC wants to show progressives that 'no one is safe from their wrath.'"

• Jeremy Scahill: [11-14] Biden's legacy should be forever haunted by the names of Gaza's dead children: "Biden's support for the terror bombing of Gaza continues his long history as a steadfast supporter of Israel's greatest crimes."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Bindu Bansinath: [11-17] Ex-cop Brett Hankison again avoids conviction in Breonna Taylor killing.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [11-13] l Democrats get surprisingly good news from America's Trumpest court: "The Fifth Circuit decided to obey the law, for a change."

  • [11-14] The Supreme Court's new ethics code is a joke: "The code is so weak that it serves to legitimize Clarence Thomas's corruption. It is literally worse than nothing."

Climate and environment:

• Scott Dance: [11-19] Earth passed a feared global warming milestone Friday, at least briefly: "Average global temperatures were more than 2 degrees Celsius above a pre-industrial benchmark on Friday, preliminary data show."

• Chico Harlan: [11-14] The world is 'woefully off track' on dozens of climate goals, scientists find.

• Umair Irgan/Rebecca Leber: [11-14] Biden gives center state to the climate report Trump tried to bury.

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker:

  • [11-13] Should we be worried about the deficit now?

  • [11-16] New York Times publishes hit piece on Bidenomics. The piece is by Karen Petrou [11-16] Bidenomics has a mortal enemy, and it isn't Trump. The Petrou piece has some of the most astonishing "how to lie with statistics" charts I've seen in years.

  • [11-19] Washington Post does its trash the Biden economy piece of the day. This one is by Abha Bhattarai: [11-19] New college grads are more likely to be unemployed in today's job market. That's 4.4%, vs. 3.6% for all workers.

Ukraine War and American Geopolitics: While the Ukraine quagmire only deepens, other stories pop up that fit into the broader domain of America's arms racket and imperial ambitions.

• Blaise Malley: [11-17] Diplomacy Watch: White House acknowledges difficult path ahead on Ukraine aid.

• Connor Echols: [11-16] Pentagon fails sixth audit in a row.

• Alex Horton/Dan Lamothe/Abigail Hauslohner: [11-19] A split emerges as Biden struggles to deter attacks on U.S. troops: Complaining about "Iranian proxies" in Syria and Iraq. I have three suggestions: leave; normalize relations with Iran; stop irritating everyone with blind support for Israeli genocide. Deterrence is much less likely to work than any of these. Partly because the targets are ill-defined, but mostly because it doesn't work. The first lesson we should learn from Ukraine is that strategies based on deterrence and sanctions are more likely to provoke than to stabilize conflict.

• John-Baptiste Oduor: [11-17] How Britain became America's stooge: Cue picture of GW Bush and his "poodle." A review of Tom Stevenson: Someone Else's Empire: British Illusions and American Hegemony.

• Nicolai N Petro/Ted Snider: [11-17] What's next for Ukraine: The outlines of a peaceful settlement: First I've heard of this "special status agreement." I've argued that the disputed territories should be given the choice in new elections (preferably with a second referendum in 5-7 years). The authors are certainly right that the only way to end the war is to negotiate something tolerable to both sides.

• James A Russell: [11-16] Ukraine challenges conventional wisdom of war on the high seas.

• Michael D Swaine: [11-16] The lost opportunity of the Biden-Xi meeting.

Around the world:

• Michael Horton: [11-17] Yemen's drone doom loop: A model of instability for fragile states.

• Steven Kosiak: [11-15] Is China's military the Goliath it's portrayed to be?

• Tom Phillips: [11-19] Argentina presidential election: far-right libertarian Javier Milei wins after rival concedes: I have no time or interest to dig into this, but my previous research suggested that Milei will instantly move to the top of the list of Worst Presidents in the World. Of course, how bad he really turns out to be will depend on how much real control he has over a very confusing political system.

Other stories:

Liza Featherstone: [11-17] Rich people in the US have been allowed to get way too rich.

Paul Rosenberg: [11-19] When a liberal president goes to war: Lessons of the LBJ era are relevant today.

Jeffrey St Clair: [11-17] Roaming Charges: Politics of the lesser exterminators.

Legacy: [11-19] Gerald "Jerry" Paske: Obituary. I'm saddened to note the death of my first philosophy professor, at 90. He taught the 101 intro course at Wichita State University, a big lecture class, and immediately turned us to reading Charles Sanders Peirce, the most interesting of the American pragmatists, and a perhaps unknowing gateway into the Marburg Neokantians. He always seemed like a decent, sensible guy, but the event that most impressed me was when, immediately after the Attica massacre, he put aside his prepared text and talked extemporaneously about the contempt for humanity that stoked the slaughter. After we returned to Wichita, he had retired, but every now and then he would write letters to the Eagle, always insightful, reliably decent. I found out then that he had written a short book, Why the Fundamentalist Right Is So Fundamentally Wrong. I tried to get in touch with him after my nephew Mike Hull finished his movie, Betrayal at Attica, but I never heard back.

[PS: In looking Paske up, I also found out that another of my WSU philosophy professors, Anthony Genova, died in 2010. I took his course on logic, which was mostly symbolic, but the opening section on informal fallacies was eye-opening. There are dozens of examples in the pieces I cite every week.]

I also see that Jonathan David Mott, the author of the blog Zandar Versus the Stupid, has passed away, at 48. I can't say as I've ever read him, but got the tip from No More Mister Nice Blog, who wrote: "He was always one of the most perceptive bloggers out there, and I will miss hearing from him as the world goes to hell."

I'm reminded that Norman G. Finkelstein published a book in 2018 called Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom, which seems a bit premature at the moment, but no more so than it would have been to write a book on how alarming you found Nazi anti-semitism after Kristallnacht in 1938 (or after the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, when the die was cast, but still cloaked under the guise of law). Still, the book goes into great detail on Operation Cast Lead, the Goldstone Report, the Mavi Marmara, and Operation Protective Edge. The preface opens:

This book is not about Gaza. It is about what has been done to Gaza. It is fashionable nowadays to speak of a victim's agency. But one must be realistic about the constraints imposed on such agency by objective circumstance. Frederick Douglass could reclaim his manhood by striking back at a slave master who viciously abused him. Nelson Mandela could retain his dignity in jail despite conditions calibrated to humiliate and degrade him. Still, these were exceptional individuals and exceptional circumstances, and anyhow, even if he acquits himself with honor, the elemental decisions affecting the daily life of a man held in bondage and the power to effect these decisions remain outside his control. Gaza, as former British prime minister David Cameron observed, is an "open-air prison." The Israeli warden is in charge.

It's unfortunate that we keep resorting to Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, the Slave Power in the United States, to provide some historical context for what Israel has done to Gaza, but those are by far the most relevant examples we are mostly aware of. But that's pretty much Israel's peer group. And I suppose those examples do offer one small bit of hope: they offer a range of possible endings to the still unfinished story of Israel and Gaza. In South Africa, reason and decency dismantled Apartheid. The other two regimes were destroyed in war, but not before the Nazis killed 6 million Jews, and lost 12 million of their own. The slave states lost their war as badly, but recovered to create a new system of oppression, which took another 100 years to dismantle (and could still use some work).

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, November 13, 2023

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41160 [41108] rated (+52), 22 [28] unrated (-6).

Spent way too much time the last few days knocking together another Speaking of Which. To little or no avail, I suspect, but that's what we do around here.

What I should have been doing was getting the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll rolling. I've been saying all along that I'd get the ballots sent out by November 15, which this week is known as Wednesday. I do have the website set up, but have a lot more writing I want to get done -- both to explain the nitty gritty details to users, voters, and myself. The voting itself will be exactly as it was last year, and many years before that. The big problem is deciding who gets to vote, contacting them, and making sure they're on board. We dropped from 156 to 151 voters last year, and I fear that was mostly due to email failures. My fears in that regard got much worse early this year when I discovered that lots of mail from my server wasn't getting delivered. Fixing that was never clear nor simple, so I'm starting from an expectation that this is going to be a tough slog.

It would be nice if all my voters read this blog, or some blog I could communicate via, or at least followed me on X, but that's certainly not the case. What I do have to communicate with are two mailing lists. One is kept in my mailer, which I can then run through a "mail merge" extension to generate individualized messages. I have a shortened invite file, which I intend to run through that grinder later this week. Those I consider the official invites. (For late invites, I'll just use that as boilerplate for private messages.) The other is a GNU Mailman list on my server, which more or less has the same addresses (but maintained separately, ugh!). I'm going to send them a "heads up" message before I send out the invites. Then I'll use that list for subsequent updates: probably 2-3 reminders to vote, a deadline notice, an updates or two on publication dates, including a done. Neither of these work as well as I'd like, but they make it possible to keep most people fairly well informed along the way.

I thought I'd get started on expanding the voter list more than a month ago, and indeed I did (barely) get started, but once again I'm up against a crunch deadline. I have a few new names ready to add now, and a system set up to find more, but I'm still looking for helpful suggestions. One thing I have discovered so far is that the talent pool isn't lacking. I sent out 200 invites last year, to get 151 ballots back. I'm hoping for maybe 250 invites this year. I doubt it will make much difference to the standings, but 50 more voters will probably add 150 more albums to the overall list, and that, I think, would be a big plus. One thing I do with my tracking file is include any year-old album (2022) that I've only noticed in 2023 (i.e., that wasn't in the 2022 tracking file -- one that included everything that got a vote last year) and I have about 75 such records so far this year. By the way, in this year's file the current jazz count is 952 (603 heard by me).

I managed to make a first pass on my EOY files for Jazz and Non-Jazz, currently with 60 and 42 A-list new releases, respectively. We still have a fair ways to go, but that's well below 2022's 75 jazz and way below 2022's 83 non-jazz. For B+(***) albums, new jazz has 145 (vs. 195 in 2022), new non-jazz has 77 (vs. 122 in 2022)

The overall rated number is 1085 in 2023 (604 jazz), vs. 1669 in 2022 (898 jazz), so I'm down 34.9% in rated records this year, down 32.7% in jazz, more in non-jazz. HM/A-list jazz is down 26.2%, while non-jazz is down much more, 44.3%. In some sense, I'm not surprised: The 2022 totals were ridiculously high, so I knew I was going to slip, and through the health scares and what not I figured that to be a good thing. I can't keep racking up those numbers, and having passed 41,000, I don't really want to anymore.

Those numbers will even out a bit over the next couple months, but the drop from 83 to 42 is pretty extreme. One odd thing is that the last two Christgau Consumer Guides have failed to land a single A- on my list (after 4 in September). I didn't think much of that in October, which still has several albums I haven't found, but only Hemlocke Springs in November inspired so much as a second play. But thus far only 14 of my 42 A-list non-jazz albums got an A/A- from Christgau (2 of which I bumped on re-listens after his reviews). Probably says more about me than him, but I know not what.

Lots of records, hastily considered, below. Dave Bayles was actually a post-break listen today (so not in the 52 count), but I figured I might as well report it now. Ortiz, by the way, was a previous Monday listen, so a long stretch where very little blew me away.

Naked Lunch, by the way, was in response to a question, but I haven't gotten around to writing it up in answer form yet.

One more note: I added some code to the RSS generator to split the feed to just provide Music Week or Speaking of Which files: see the left nav menu, under Networking. I never got much feedback on how the RSS stuff is working (and rarely look at it myself, although my mailer dutifully collects the entries). But I regularly look at No More Mister Nice Blog, and I'd like to get back on his blog roll, so it seemed like a good idea. I also found that the Christgau RSS feed has been broken for months, which nobody pointed out. All that took was a "&" instead of "&" in the content, and kerblooey!

New records reviewed this week:

Lina Allemano/Axel Dörner: Aphelia (2019 [2023], Relative Pitch): Two trumpet duets, oscillating between ambient and drone with occasional farts. B+(*) [sp]

JD Allen: This (2023, Savant): Tenor saxophonist, introduced himself in 1998, mostly works in trios, but this is the first to employ electronics (Alex Bonney) in place of bass, with Gwilym Jones on drums. The electronics works well enough, but it still comes down to the man with the horn. B+(***) [sp]

Atlantic Road Trip: One (2023, Calligram): Quintet, recorded in Chicago, so it was probably Scottish alto saxophonist Paul Towndrow tripping, meeting up with trumpet player Chad McCullough, backed with vibes, bass, and drums. B+(**) [cd]

Dave Bayles Trio: Live at the Uptowner (2023, Calligram): Drummer, based in Milwaukee, first album, joined by bassist Clay Schaub (who wrote 5 of 9 songs), and trumpet player Russ Johnson (who wrote 3, and arranged the Monk cover). Very nice showcase for Johnson, who has long impressed. A- [cd]

Bombino: Sahel (2023, Partisan): Tuareg guitarist and songwriter from Agadez, Niger, Omara Moctar, fifth studio album since 2011, all pretty much equal. B+(***) [sp]

Boygenius: The Rest (2023, Interscope, EP): Four songs, 12:06, could easily have fit on The Record, but sucker-priced at $12 for CD, $20 for vinyl. No reason to trust me on them, but I do keep trying, and it's not much of a burden. B [sp]

Zach Bryan: Summertime Blues (2022, Warner, EP): Country singer-songwriter, has produced a lot since his 2019 debut, releasing this 9-song, 28:07 "EP" less than two months after his double album American Heartbreak (34 songs, 121:21). B+(**) [sp]

Zach Bryan: Boys of Faith (2023, Warner, EP): Five songs, 15:59, title track shared with Bon Iver, another with Noah Kahan. B+(**) [sp]

Calcanhar: Jump (2023, Clean Feed): Portuguese duo, João Mortágua (alto/soprano sax) and Carlos Azevedo (piano), both have previous albums, but not many. B+(*) [bc]

Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (2023, Ropeadope): Or Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, anything but Christian Scott, who's not only lost his name but his trumpet too, here playing n'goni, other African-inspired instruments, and singing, although the latter often draws on the chiefs of New Orleans Indians. B+(***) [sp]

CMAT: Crazymad, for Me (2023, AWAL): Irish singer-songwriter, initials for Ciara Mary Alice Thompson, second album, impressive range with some pop hooks, has some serious props, but doesn't quite sit right with me. B+(***) [sp]

Mike DiRubbo: Inner Light (2023, Truth Revolution): Alto saxophonist, tenth release as leader, backed by a organ (Brian Charette), guitar (Andrew Renfroe), drums (Jongkuk Kim) trio, soul jazz but in the church of Coltrane. B+(***) [cd] [11-17]

Mia Dyberg Trio: Timestretch (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Danish alto saxophonist, several albums since 2016, free jazz trio with bass (Asger Thomsen) and drums (Simon Forchhammer). B+(*) [sp]

Nataniel Edelman Trio: Un Ruido De Agua (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Pianist, from Argentina, second album, a trio with featured names on the cover: Michael Formanek (bass), and Michaël Attias (alto sax). Quite nice. B+(***) [bc]

Phillip Greenlief/Scott Amendola: Stay With It (2017 [2023], Clean Feed): Saxophonist (alto/tenor, also clarinet), new to me but he released a duo with Amendola (drums) way back in 1995, and has racked up another 54 credits (per Discogs) since then, some of which I've certainly heard. Starts impressively free, loses a bit on the change of pace. B+(***) [sp]

Fritz Hauser & Pedro Carneiro: Pas De Deux (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Swiss drummer, his Solodrumming from 1985 is highly regarded. Joined here by Carneiro, on marimba. Pretty minimal. B [bc]

Scott Hesse Trio: Intention (2023, Calligram): Guitarist, has a self-released album from 1998, a previous trio on Origin from 2015. Based in Chicago, backed by bass (Clark Sommers) and drums (Dana Hall), plays three originals, covers of Coltrane, Shorter, Coleman, and Kern. B+(**) [cd]

The Hives: The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (2023, Disques Hives): Swedish rock band, released four albums 1997-2007, one in 2012, now this sixth one. I'm unclear on the back story, but some of the sharpest garage rock I've heard in a long time. B+(***) [sp]

Horse Lords: Live in Leipzig (2022 [2023], RVNG Intl., EP): Post-rock group from Baltimore, debut 2012, instrumental (sax, bass, guitar, drums, incorporating electronics. Four songs, 21:46. B+(*) [sp]

Mikko Innanen/Stefan Pasborg/Cedric Piromalli: Can You Hear It? (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Sax (sopranino/alto/baritone, oboe), drums, organ, with Lori Freedman voice (two tracks). B+(**) [bc]

Guillermo Klein Quinteto: Telmo's Tune (2023, Sunnyside): Pianist, from Argentina, studied at Berklee, based in New York, albums since 1998, most with larger groups. Quintet here with Chris Cheek (tenor/soprano sax), Leo Genovese (piano), Matt Pavolka (bass), and Allan Mednard (drums). B+(**) [sp]

L'Rain: I Killed Your Dog (2023, Mexican Summer): Singer-songwriter Taja Cheek, although her songs are more likely to be instrumental vamps with vocals for shading. B+(**) [sp]

Liquid Mike: S/T [Self-Titled] (2023, Kitschy Spirit, EP): Indie group from Marquette, Michigan, with guitar (Mike Maple), synth (Monica Nelson), bass, and drums, the first two singing (but mainly him). Fourth album, everyone uses S/T as the title but cover reads self-titled (twice; format suggests they just unwrapped the cassette artwork). Eleven songs clocking in at 18:06 without feeling rushed. Sound immediately reminded me of Dead Milkmen, but not that funny, and much more into layering. B+(***) [sp]

Liquid Mike: Stuntman (2021, Lost Dog): First album, 14 songs, 30:39. They sort of got their sound together. Now, content maybe? B [sp]

Liquid Mike: You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth (2021, Sweet Chin Music, EP): Seven songs, 17:22. B [sp]

Liquid Mike: A Beer Can and a Bouquet (2022, self-released, EP): Having found three different labels for their three other releases, I had to punt here. They're all on the same Bandcamp, along with a couple of singles, and no branding to be found there. Nine songs, 22:36, enough to pass for an album these days. B+(**) [sp]

Nellie McKay: Hey Guys, Watch This (2023, Hungry Mouse): Started out as a singer-songwriter in 2004, with show biz roots and ambitions, developed as an interpretive singer with her 2009 Doris Day tribute. This is billed as her first album of original material in 13 years. It was recorded in West Virginia with a group called the Carpenter Ants. I'm finding this very confusing, perhaps because it starts off bland and demure, then gets wilder and wierder (including, if I'm following this correctly, plaudits for Hiroshima and Jeremy Dahmer). Highly subject to revision, if I ever have a reason to play this again. B+(**) [sp]

Mercury [Nicolas Caloia & Lori Freedman]: Skin (2023, Clean Feed): Montreal duo, double bass and clarinets. A little sketchy, especially with so much focus on the bass. B+(**) [bc]

Allison Miller: Rivers in Our Veins (2023, Royal Potato Family): Drummer, debut 2004, original pieces, makes impressive use of a very talented group: Jenny Scheinman (violin), Jason Palmer (trumpet), Ben Goldberg (clarinet/contra-alto clarinet), Carmen Staaf (piano/rhodes/accordion), and Todd Sickafoose (bass), plus some tap dancers. I'm finding it a bit slick and scattered, but perhaps just can't get to the big picture. B+(***) [sp]

Steve Million: Perfectly Spaced (2023, Calligram): Pianist, based in Chicago, albums since 1995, quartet here with Mark Feldman (violin), Eric Hochberg (bass), and Bob Rummage (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Simon Nabatov 3+2: Verbs (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Russian pianist, long-based in Germany, the "3" his trio with Stefan Schönegg (bass) and Dominik Mahnig (drums), the "2" adding Leonhard Huhn (alto sax/clarinet) and Philip Zoubek (synthesizers). B+(**) [bc]

Simon Nabatov: Extensions (2022 [2023], Unbroken Sounds): Pianist-led sextet, with Sebastian Gille (saxophones) and Shannon Barnett (trombone), plus two bassists and a drummer. B+(***) [sp]

Aruán Ortiz: Pastor's Paradox (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Cuban pianist, based in Brooklyn, has a large and varied body of work. Three more names on the cover: Don Byron (clarinet), Lester St. Louis (cello), and Pheeroan Aklaff (drums), but Yves Dhar takes over cello on two tracks, and Mtume Gant offers spoken word on three, drawing on phrases from Martin Luther King. A- [cd]

Ethan Philion Quartet: Gnosis (2023, Sunnyside): Bassist, based in Chicago, debut album in 2022 Meditations on Mingus, offers more meditations with a smaller group: Russ Johnson (trumpet), Greg Ward (alto sax), and Dana Hall (drums). B+(***) [sp]

R. Ring: War Poems, We Rested (2023, Don Giovanni): Kelley Deal (Breeders) and Mike Montgomery. B+(*) [sp]

Ned Rothenberg: Crossings Four (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Reeds player (bass clarinet, alto sax, clarinet), debut 1981, finds himself in stealthy company here with Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Mary Halvorson (guitar), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Jerome Sabbagh: Vintage (2020 [2023], Sunnyside): Tenor saxophonist, from France, based in Brooklyn, has a steady stream of mainstream releases since 2004. This one employs Kenny Barron (piano), perhaps looking to renew his lease on Stan Getz. B+(**) [sp]

A. Savage: Several Songs About Fire (2023, Rough Trade): Parquet Quarts co-frontman, second solo album, with band work between the first (2017) and now. Music and words evince skill and thought, but only so much one can do with his voice, especially at this tempo. B+(**) [sp]

Troye Sivan: Something to Give Each Other (2023, Capitol): Australian pop singer-songwriter, third album. B+(**) [sp]

Hemlocke Springs: Going . . . Going . . . Gone! (2023, Good Luck Have Fun, EP): Isimeme "Naomi" Udu, b. 1998 in North Carolina, of Nigerian immigrant parents, expands two freak electropop singles into a 7-track, 21:24 EP. Two great songs, two close enough, three more than ok. B+(***) [sp]

Yuhan Su: Liberated Gesture (2023, Sunnyside): Vibraphonist, from Taiwan, studied at Berklee, based in New York, fourth album. With Caroline Davis (alto sax), Matt Mitchell (piano), Marty Kenney (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (2021-22 [2023], Endectomorph Music, 2CD): Tenor saxophonist, I've been very impressed by everything he's done since his 2018 debut, but his effort here to create extended works is less striking. Three pieces here, totalling 82:28, intricately arranged with basic piano-bass-drums, adding trumpet (Adam O'Farrill) on the last two. B+(***) [cd]

Grzegorz Tarwid Trio: Flowers (2022 [2023], Clean Feed): Polish pianist, has one previous album and several side-credits. Trio here with bass (Max Mucha) and drums (Albert Karch). The rhythm-heavy opening got my attention. B+(***) [bc]

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers: I Love You (2023, Domestic La La): Australian girl band, lead singer Anna Ryan, slotted punk but I'm thinking more like Go-Go's, first album after an EP. B+(**) [sp]

Trespass Trio Feat. Susana Santos Silva: Live in Oslo (2018 [2023], Clean Feed): One of Swedish saxophonist Martin Küchen's groups -- he plays baritone and sopranino here, with Per Zanussi on bass and Raymond Strid on drums -- with four 2009-17 albums, joined here by the Portuguese trumpet player. B+(**) [bc]

Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (2020 [2023], International Anthem): Drummer, from Panama, based in Chicago, second album, a trio with Jeff Parker (guitar) and Anna Butterss (double & electric bass). Seductive groove music. A- [sp]

Jennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Grit & Grace (2023, Sunnyside): Bass trombonist, leads a section here with John Fedchock, Nate Mayland, and Alan Ferber, backed by piano, bass, drums, and percussion. Third group album. Fedchock produced. Ends on an up note, with a vocal about Louisiana hot sauce. B+(***) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Jouk Minor/Josef Traindl/Jean Querlier/Christian Lété/Dominique Regef: Enfin La Mer (1978 [2023], NoBusiness): Free jazz group, with two pieces dubbed suites (33:50 + 16:43), playing baritone sax/contrabass clarinet, trombone, alto sax, drums, and hurdy gurdy -- most with spotty discographies (Regef has the most side-credits, but nothing as leader). Still, often impressive. B+(***) [cd]

Old music:

The Hives: Barely Legal (1997, Burning Heart): First album for the Swedish punk band, five years before their Veni Vidi Vicious breakthrough. As coarse as it ought to be. Fourteen songs in 27:21. B+(*) [sp]

The Hives: The Black and White Album (2007, A&M/Octone): Fourth album, fourteen songs again, but 47:57. B+(*) [sp]

Howard Shore/Ornette Coleman/London Philharmonic Orchestra: Naked Lunch [The Complete Original Soundtrack Remastered] (1991 [2014], Howe): Soundtrack to the David Cronenberg film of the William S. Burroughs novel, mostly (and most forgettably) composed by Shore, who has some eighty soundtracks 1979-2022, including lots of big budget deals (Lord of the Rings seems to be the one he's most famous for). Coleman composed five tracks (plus two in the six-track bonus section), although he plays (and it really couldn't be anyone else) on the Shore-credited "Interzone Suite," and possibly elsewhere, interesting but not enough to sustain the album. I saw the film, but don't remember much of it, nor do I recall much of the book, which I poked around with in my late teens, treating it more as concrete poetry than as any sort of story. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Rich Halley Quartet: Fire Within (Pine Eagle) [12-01]
• Hannah Marks: Outsider, Outlier (Out of Your Head) [10-23]
• Trio San: Hibiki (Jazzdor) [11-10]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, November 12, 2023

I started this mid-week, way too early for what I rarely intend as anything more than casual note-taking, but with elections on Tuesday and the "kiddie-table debate" on Wednesday (credit the quote to SNL's Trump personifier), the stories piled up fast. Most of the early ones just got links, but some inevitably provoked one-liners, and soon enough longer disquisitions ensued. But some of the most important pieces are barely noted, like the Savage and Shafer pieces on Trump's second-term ambitions. (Sure, they're not exactly new news, but the new articles are more detailed and comprehensive.)

Still, mostly Israel this week, mostly rehashing points that were obvious from the start of October 7. The story there is, as it's always been, about power and resistance. As noted last week, Gabriel Winant described Israel as "a machine for the conversion of grief into power." That grief brings with it a great deal of anger and righteousness, which goes a long ways to explaining why Israeli power has been remarkably successful for so long. But the problem is that power never quite works the way you want it to. Every effort to exercise power, to impose your will on other people, meets the resistance of what we might as well call the human spirit. And that resistance takes a toll, both physical and psychic, as despite the hubris of the powerful, they too have human spirits.

So while the "Israel-Hamas War" since October 7, starting with one spectacular day of rebellion followed by a month-and-counting of relentless, methodical slaughter, has been an object lesson in the massive superiority of Israeli military power, it doesn't feel like a victory, least of all to the Israelis. For one thing, the revolt punctured Israel's long-held belief that power makes them invulnerable. For another, they're slowly coming to realize that they can't kill and destroy enough to stamp out resistance, which will return and flourish in their ruins. And finally, they're beginning to suspect that any victory they can claim will prove hollow. In this understanding, the world is moving way ahead of its leaders, perhaps because the human spirit is concentrated among the powerless, among those whose minds aren't corrupted by their pursuit and cultivation of power.

Given this, calling for an immediate cease-fire should be the easiest political decision ever. Even if your sympathies and/or identity is fully with Israel, an immediate halt is the only way to stop adding to the cumulative damage, not just to Palestinian lives but to Israel's tarnished humanity. Because, and we should be absolutely clear on this, what Israel has been doing for more than a month now isn't self-defense, isn't deterrence, isn't even retaliation: it is genocide. That is the intent, and that is the effect of their tools and tactics. Genocide is a practice that the whole world should, and eventually will, condemn. And while the roots of the impulse run deep in Israel's political history, down to the very core tenets of Zionism, we should understand that the actions were conscious decisions of specific political leaders, aided by key people who followed their orders, abetted by political parties that bought into their mindset. While it is very unlikely that even those leaders will ever be adequately punished -- as if such a thing is even possible -- unwinding their support will start to make amends.

It feels like I should keep going with this argument, but I'm dead tired, and rather sick of the whole thing, so will leave it at that.

I tossed this tweet out on Thursday:

Re Biden's polls, this "wag the dog" effect doesn't seem to be working. Rather than rallying behind the leader, it seems like he's getting blamed for all wars, even when few object to his policy. Have folks begun to realize all wars are preventable? So each reveals failure!

Top story threads:

Israel: The ground war, ostensibly against Hamas, as well as the air war, really against all of Gaza, continues as it has since the Oct. 7 prison break. This section quickly gets filled up with opinion pieces, largely due to our vantage point far from the action, partly due to our intimate involvement with the long-running conflict, and the dire need to insist on a cease fire to put a stop to the mounting destruction, and allow for some measure of recovery to begin. So the actual day-to-day details tend to escape my interest. To obtain some sense of that, I thought I'd just list the headlines in the New York Times "updates" file(s):

November 12:

• More patients die at major Gaza hospital amid fuel delivery dispute
• Crisis heightens at Gaza's main hospital amid dispute over desperately needed fuel.
• The U.S. carried out another round of airstrikes in Syria on Iran-linked targets.
• Netanyahu says he sees no role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, for now.
• Al-Quds Hospital halts operation as it runs out of fuel and power, the Red Crescent says.
• The U.S. warns Israel to avoid fighting in hospitals.
• Over 100,000 march in France against antisemitism.
• A U.N. residential compound in southern Gaza came under fire, officials say.
• Demands grow for a pause in fighting as the humanitarian situation worsens.
• Chris Christie is the first Republican presidential candidate to visit Israel since Oct. 7.
• Calls grow for Israel to pause fighting
• Demands grow for a pause in fighting as the humanitarian situation worsens.

November 11:

• Gaza's main hospital struggles to keep patients alive
• Gaza's main hospital is without power and at a breaking point as fighting closes in.
• Thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv called on Israel to prioritize rescuing the hostages.
• Hezbollah's leader says his fighters will keep up pressure on Israel.
• Across Europe, thousands call for cease-fire in Gaza. [Photos of demonstrations in Edinburgh, Barcelona, London, and Brussels.]
• Surrounded by Israeli troops, Palestinians evacuate a cluster of hospitals in northern Gaza.
• Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals, call for Gaza cease-fire at summit.
• Here's a map of the Gaza City hospitals Israel has been closing in on.
• Life in Gaza City: Privation, rationing and desperate fear.
• The W.H.O. chief says more than 250 attacks on Gaza and West Bank health care facilities have been verified.

November 10:

• Israel lowers Oct. 7 death toll estimate to 1,200
• Israel has struggled to distinguish the remains of Oct. 7 victims from those of attackers.
• 'These babies, these ladies, these old people': Macron mourns civilian deaths and urges an Israeli cease-fire.
• Concerns grow for hospital patients and sheltering civilians.
• The W.H.O. chief says more than 250 attacks on Gaza and West Bank health care facilities have been verified.
• Al-Shifa Hospital is increasingly a flashpoint in the war.
• Israel steps up airstrikes inside Lebanon following Hezbollah drone and missile attacks.
• Israel is on high alert as regional threats from Iran-backed militants grow.
• Israel's public defenders refuse to represent Oct. 7 attackers.
• America's top diplomat says 'far too many Palestinians have been killed.'
• Israel is considering a deal for Hamas to release all civilian hostages in Gaza, officials say.
• Antisemitic hate crimes soared in New York City last month. [E.g., "police are searching . . . vandals who scrawled 'Hamas' and antisemitic graffiti on several Upper East Side apartment buildings last month."]
• The war has led to the deadliest month for journalists in at least three decades.
• U.N. human rights chief says Israel should end bombardment with heavy munitions.
• Intense protests again shut down Midtown Manhattan streets.
• The Israeli police detained Arab Israeli politicians preparing a vigil against Gaza srikes, civic groups say.

November 9:

• Israel expands daily combat pauses to let civilians flee, White House says
• Israel has agreed to put in place regular daily four-hour pauses for civilians to flee, the White House said.
• A day of fierce combat and diplomatic talks ends with a deal to try to help Gazans reach safety.
• Islamic Jihad releases a video of two Israeli hostages in Gaza.
• The war has taken a staggering toll on the Palestinian economy.
• Israeli police detained five Arab Israeli politicians who planned a vigil against Gaza strikes, civic groups say.
• The C.I.A. director and the Israeli intelligence chief met with Qatari officials to discuss a possible Hamas hostage deal.
• Intense protests again shut down Midtown Manhattan streets.
• Video offer glimpses of battle in Gaza.
• Casualties in Gaza may be 'even higher' than previously thought, a U.S. official told Congress.
• Palestinian officials say 18 are killed in the West Bank as violence spikes.
• Chickenpox, scabies and other diseases surge in Gaza, the W.H.O. says.
• Macron convenes an aid conference on worsening conditions in Gaza.
• Archaeologists look for traces of the missing in the ashes of Hamas's attack.

Also see Maps: Tracking the Attacks in Israel and Gaza: Sections there:

• [11-09] Strikes hit hospitals, schools and other shelters for displaced people in the Gaza Strip
• [11-07] A third of buildings in northern Gaza are damaged or destroyed, analysis estimates
• [11-05] Frequent fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border continues as tensions mount
• [11-03] Where Israel's invasion has cut Gaza in two
• [11-02] Where Israeli forces are advancing toward Gaza City
• [10-31] At least a quarter of buildings in northern Gaza are damaged, analysis estimates
• [10-30] Where Israeli troops are encircling Gaza City
• [10-29] A more detailed look at Israel's advance into northern Gaza
• [10-28] Where Israeli military videos show ground forces entering Gaza
• [10-26] A new look at where Israel has hit Gaza
• [10-23] Deadliest period for Palestinians in the West Bank in 15 years

The file goes on, including several entries on the Oct. 18 blast at Ahli Arab Hospital, declaring the cause and death toll to be unclear. In addition to maps, there is a lot of aerial photography of destruction.

Some more news articles, mostly from the New York Times:

• [11-11] Major pro-Palestinian march staged in London as police ramp up security: "The gathering drew an estimated 300,000 people."

• [11-10 20:00]: Harvard, Columbia and Penn pledge to fight antisemitism on campus: "The universities are trying to address criticism by banning pro-Palestinian student groups, condemning slogans and starting task forces to address antisemitism." One of the "antisemitic" groups is Jewish Voice for Peace.

• [11-10 18:52]: Gaza City hospitals are caught in deadly crossfire: "Battling Hamas fighters, Israeli forces are 'closing in' on hospitals where thousands of people are stranded, while the U.S. diplomat says 'far too many Palestinians have been killed.'"

• [11-09 17:05]: Israeli forces have limited time in Gaza, U.S. officials say : "Israel's response to the Hamas attacks has fueled sympathy around the world for the Palestinian cause even as Israel continues to bury its dead."

• [11-06]: The State Department approves $320 million sale of guided bomb equipment to Israel.

If you want something that reads less like Israeli Pravda, Mondoweiss has a daily summary:

• [11-12] Day 37: Al-Shifa Hospital no longer functioning as Israeli ground troops surround the hospital

• [11-11] Day 36: Al-Shifa Hospital at epicenter of Gaza fighting as fleeing civilians are killed by Israeli strikes.

• [11-10] Day 35: Tanks besiege Gaza City hospitals as Israel ramps up attacks on medical centers.

• [11-09] Day 34: Children who survive the bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration
• [11-08] Day 33: U.S. fears reoccupation of Gaza 'not the right thing to do' as Hamas targets Israeli tanks
• [11-07] Day 32: UN warns Israel has turned Gaza into "graveyard for children" as attack enters second month
• [11-06] Day 31: Israel continues ground advance into Gaza as civilians face starvation

Here are this week's batch of articles:

• Paula Aceves: [11-07] The corporate and cultural fallout from the Israel-Hamas war: Updated, though with new outrages every day, they're falling behind.

• Geoffrey Aronson: [11-09] The ghost of Ariel Sharon hovers over the Gaza Strip.

• Michael Arria: [11-10] Columbia University suspends Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

• Bill Astore: [11-11] When collateral damage is the strategy: "Buildings destroyed, civilians killed, millions made refugees: mission accomplished."

• Omer Bartov: [11-10] What I believe as a historian of genocide: Author is "a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University," a job description which suggests viewpoint as much as expertise, or if it doesn't to you, just read his quibbles and hair-splitting.

  The Holocaust was the ne plus ultra of genocides. Nothing else comes remotely close in either the scale, the speed, or the single-mindedness of the killing, but the impulse, the intent, was hardly unique to Nazi Germany. That's why the generic term was coined: not to describe specifically what Nazi Germany did -- Shoah and Holocaust suffice for that -- but to identify comparable forces of which Nazi Germany is one obvious example.

  Bartov makes this clear when he cites the UN definition of genocide: "the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such." Immediately after Oct. 7, many prominent Israelis, including the Prime Minister, were very explicit about their intent to commit genocide. The subsequent bombing killed indiscriminately, and created conditions to kill further. The scale of the destruction easily satisfies "in part." And the destruction is continuing, with no end in sight. That sure sounds like genocide to me.

  Do we really have to wait until the last Palestinian is killed? No one has tried to argue that since some Jews survived in Auschwitz, the Nazis fell short of "the crime of crimes." By the way, the line Bartov draws between "ethnic cleansing" (which he defines as "aims to remove a population from a territory") and real genocide is spurious -- the intent and practical effect is the same, and the term itself is fraught (it was originally a Serbian euphemism for mass killing, bound to notions of racial and/or ethnic purity). I think it's caught on because older terms like "removal," "transfer," and "exile" seemed too sanitary, but they are all instances of the same hideous mindset.

  Of course, if Israel ceases its assault on Gaza, and behaves decently in the aftermath (which minimally includes arresting the pogroms in the West Bank), we might reduce the charge, granting that they weren't fully intent on genocide. But right now is not the time to make excuses for what they are doing. Also see:

  • Kenn Orphan: [11-10] It is time to stop mincing words. This is genocide.

  • Sasha Friedman/Sig Giordano/Ari Bee: [11-11] As Jews we know, this is not war. It's genocide.

  • Saleh Abdel Jawad: [11-10] The genocide in Gaza is one of the worst in modern history.

• Zack Beauchamp: [11-09] In the West Bank, Israeli settlers are on an anti-Palestinian rampage: "Since October 7, settler radicals have been attacking Palestinians at an unprecedented rate -- uprooting entire communities and threatening a wider war."

• Jason Burke: [11-06] 'I could never dream such a nightmare': Gaza in grip of humanitarian disaster.

• Isaac Chotiner: [11-11] The extreme ambitions of West Bank settlers: Interview with Daniella Weiss, a longtime leader of the settler movement and an ally of Bezalel Smotrich ("the extremist minister of finance, who has said that the Palestinian people do not exist and that Palestinian communities need to be erased").

• Sandhya Dirks: [10-23] Palestinian Americans on the Israel-Hamas war: 'We're not even allowed to grieve'.

• Thomas L Friedman: [11-09] I have never been to this Israel before: For many decades, Israel's number one fanboy, but lately he's been disturbed by the Netanyahu government's far-right turn, especially the decision to restack the courts against democracy, and he's even shown signs of sobriety in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks. However, with his return to Tel Aviv, he's back in the fold, reprogrammed to parrot Israel's existential fears, even if the "I love Bibi" module hasn't kicked in yet. He outlines "three key reasons" why Israel is in "more danger than at any other time since its War of Independence in 1948".

  The first is an array of daunting enemies ("modern armies with brigades, battalions, cybercapabilities, long-range rockets, drones and technical support" -- mostly Iran-backed, "and now even the openly Hamas-embracing Vladimir Putin"; "all of them seemed to surface together like dragons during this conflict").

  The second danger is that Israel's ability "to fight such a difficult war with so many enemies" is critically dependant on "unwavering partners abroad, led by the United States," including "a coalition of U.S., European and moderate Arab partners," which is tricky as long as Netanyahu's basic pitch is "help us defeat Hamas in Gaza while we work to expand settlements, annex the West Bank and build a Jewish supremacist state there" -- i.e., exactly what Israel has been doing since the June 1967 war. So the third danger is really just Netanyahu himself: "the worst leader in [Israel's] history -- maybe in all of Jewish history -- who has no will or ability to produce such an initiative."

  Let's get real here. This is probably the worst case of threat inflation since the run up to the 1967 war, where a government that had absolute confidence in its ability to defeat its combined enemies (which it did decisively in six days, and those enemies really did have planes, tanks, and battalions) yet spent several months scaring the daylights out of its own citizens to justify its aggression. None of today's "enemies" have the wherewithal to do any serious damage to Israel, let alone the desire to expose themselves to retaliation that could include nuclear weapons. (Ok, Hamas had the desire, but that was only because they were desperate enough to mount what was effectively a suicide raid, but even that threat is now spent.)

  As for the alliance, while Israel always welcomes American arms and money (and, as Moshe Dayan explained, ignores the advice that comes with it), Israel needs no help containing Hamas, intimidating Hezbollah, or beating up on Palestinians. And they could flip "the Iran threat" in an instant if they just told Biden to make up with Iran and let them buy some Boeing airliners. Israel's problem is not that they need help fighting. It's that they need help calling off the fight, which is the only thing they know how to do, the only thing they've prepared for, but against such a weakened enemy looks more and more like genocide, making them out to be monsters. Sure, Biden hasn't turned on them yet, but all around the world it's getting harder and harder to ignore that this war is Israel's true self, fashioned over a century of continuous conflict.

  Here's a quick rundown of Friedman's columns, showing how quickly his initial caution gave way to the company line. One common thread throughout is that there's never the slightest inkling of sympathy for any Palestinians:

  • [10-16] Why a Gaza invasion and 'once and for all' thinking are wrong for Israel.

  • [10-19] Israel is about to make a terrible mistake.

  • [10-25] Israel: From the six-day war to the six-front war.

  • [10-29] The Israeli officials I speak with tell me they know two things for sure.

  • [11-02] The two things worrying U.S. military officials about Israel and Hamas: Russia, which is trying to keep Ukraine from joining Europe, and Israel from joining "the new Middle East." And Iran. It's always Iran, isn't it?

• Masha Gessen:

  • [11-08] Inside the Israeli crackdown on speech.

  • [11-12] How to maintain hope in an age of catastrophe: Interview with Robert Jay Lifton. Gessen quotes from Lifton's book about Hiroshima, Death in Life, which I read shortly after it came out in 1968: "We are all survivors of Hiroshima, and, in our imaginations, of future nuclear holocaust." Ever since then, I've been touched by that same imagination, the ability to see oneself both as victim and survivor, of the worst human tragedies, also the most mundane.

• Farrah Hassen: [11-10] Americans want a ceasefire; it's our politicians who are out of touch. It's our politicians who are owned, with many of them trapped in a belief system that sees war as a noble activity.

• Yoav Haifawi: [11-11] From the river to the sea: There is one Israeli dictatorship: "How repression is deepening inside the Israeli dictatorship."

• Ellen Ioanes: [11-11] Israel's humanitarian pauses in Gaza, explained: Well, it's pretty simple: Israel wants to drive Palestinains out of northern Gaza, so they can complete its demolition while lessening the staggering number of casualties they're inflicting. They also hope the southward tide of refugees will empty out into Egypt, never to return. A cease fire wouldn't help, as it would just encourage people to stay in or close to their homes. But as long as more bombing is coming, people are motivated to flee for their lives. That's basically how the Nakba worked in 1948-49. The legal term for it today is genocide. Israeli apologists may tell you it's just "ethnic cleansing," but that phrase has never been anything but a euphemism. "Humanitarian" isn't even that.

• Sarah Jones: [11-10] Listen to dissenters on Israel.

• Nicki Kattoura/Geo Maher: [11-09] Why must Palestinians condemn themselves for daring to fight back?

• Karim Khan: [11-10] We are witnessing a pandemic of inhumanity: to halt the spread, we must cling to the law: Author is chief prosecutor at ICC.

• Jen Kirby: [11-11] The Israel-Gaza war is exposing Europe's divisions.

• Nicholas Kristof: [11-11] 'We cannot kill our way out of this endeavor'. He's never been someone I look to for insight, but sometimes the simpleton is right. Since I've listed Thomas Friedman's op-eds above, here are his (do you suppose his job at the Times is to make up for Friedman's empathy deficit?):

  • [10-11] Seeking a moral compass in Gaza's war.

  • [10-14] What does destroying Gaza solve?

  • [10-21] We must not kill Gazan children to try to protect Israel's children.

  • [10-25] 'I'm crying for all the victims that are going to suffer'.

  • [10-28] A man orphaned by Hamas calls on Israel: Stop the 'cycle of blood'.

  • [10-28] 'We are overpaying the price for a sin we didn't commit'.

  • [11-01] The words in the Middle East that are breaking my heart.

  • [11-04] Losing hope in the west bank: Photographs by William Keo.

  • [11-08] Meet the champions of nuance and empathy we need.

• Eric Levitz: [11-09] The two-state solution is still our only (distant) hope. Curiously, there's no section here explaining what the much vaunted "two-state solution" might look like these days. That hardly matters, because the real stickler for Israelis is "solution": they've never wanted one, and now that they have a clear war path, they sure don't want one now. If they did, I have no doubt they could make something work. All it really takes is some system that allows Palestinians to live where they are now in some measure of peace and dignity. They could be citizens of Israel ("one-state") or of some other entity ("two states" or some kind of confederation or bination) or some combination of the two. The problem is that no one can force them to allow peace/dignity, and they've become too twisted to see that would be better for them as well. Indeed, that's been a given for so long that the main selling point behind "two states" was that it would allow Israel to exclude most Palestinians from their apartheid state. Still, even that promise wasn't good enough for Israel's leaders. They insisted not only on separation but on distinct systems of law and order to maintain their superiority and to punish and control the unchosen.

• Louisa Loveluck: [11-09] Settler violence is erasing Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Which leads to Yasmeen Abutaleb: [11-10] White House urges Israel to curtail settler violence in West Bank. Which leads to, well, nothing.

• Ruth Margalit: [11-11] The long wait of the hostages' families. This shouldn't be a hard problem. The way to save the hostages is to stop destroying Gaza. Given that Israel has nothing to gain, and good will to lose, from further destruction of Gaza, a long-term cease-fire the obvious first step. After that, release of the hostages will depend more on whether the people holding them can trust Israel not to break its cease-fire than on any negotiated swaps.

  Israel's own bad faith in this was shown by their immediate efforts to scoop up hundreds or thousands of Palestinians, making them hostages as well -- though our press simply calls them "prisoners." Hostage negotiations are always nasty business, fraught with overtones of extortion, feeding into the fear that each successful negotiation will incentivize more hostage-taking. The real challenge is to find the right thing to do regardless. That's often difficult, but here it's remarkably easy: stop the genocide.

• Aaron Maté:

  • [10-15] The roots of Israel's ethnic cleansing in Gaza: "Israel has always chosen occupation and supremacy over peace and security."

  • [10-24] Joe Biden's Armageddon, from Gaza to Ukraine.

  • [11-10] Biden's 'personal attachment to Israel' fuels its massacres in Gaza.

• James North: [11-09] "Hostages?" How the U.S. media is distorting the news from Palestine.

• Orly Noy: [11-10] The Israeli public has embraced the Smotrich doctrine: "The internalization of the far-right minister's 'Decisive Plan' is evident in the popular support for a new ultimatum for Gaza: emigration or annihilation."

• Yumna Patel: [11-09] 'Thought police': Israel passes law criminalizing 'consumption of terrorist materials': By "materials" they mostly mean publications.

• Samah Salaime: [11-06] For Israeli leaders, every Palestinian citizen has a seat on the bus to Gaza.

• Sarah Salem: [11-09] Palestinians in the U.S. are under attack.

• Alex Shams: [11-10] 'They don't want people to know we exist': "Palestinians across the West Bank describe what life has been like since October 7."

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [11-08] Biden administgration to fund Gaza ethnic cleansing.

  • [11-09] Gaza and modes of media hate.

• Jeffrey St Clair: [11-04] An infinite distance [The scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war]: Behind the paywall, a long list of bullet points like his "Roaming Charges" posts.

• Nahal Toosi: [11-06] U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo.

• Li Zhou: [11-09] The House censure of Rashida Tlaib, explained. One of the charges was her use of a slogan, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." For more on this terminology, see Jewish Currents editor Arielle Angel: What does "From the river to the sea" really mean?, which includes a reprint of a 2021 article by Yousef Munayyer. Also:

  • Robert Wright: [11-10] The 'river to the sea' Rorschach test.

Tuesday's elections: Democrats came away with some bragging rights, but none of these results were resounding wins:

• Kentucky governor: Andy Beshear (D) 52.5%, Daniel Cameron 47.5%
• Mississippi governor: Tate Reeves (R) 51.5%, Brandon Presley (D) 47.1%
• Virginia State Senate: 21 Democrats, 19 Republicans; State House: 51 Democrats, 48 Republicans, 1 undecided (R leading +228 votes)
• Ohio: reproductive rights amendment: 56.6% yes, 43.4% no; legalize recreational marijuana: 57.0% yes, 43.0% no.

We had two signs up in front of our house. Our mayoral favorite lost to the Koch money machine, but our school board pick won.

• Andrew Prokop: [11-08] 3 winners and 1 loser from Election Day 2023: "Democrats had a good night. So did abortion rights. Glenn Youngkin, not so much."

• Jamelle Bouie: [11-10] The GOP's culture war shtick is wearing thin with voters.

• Sarah Jones: [11-08] The anti-trans backlash failed last night.

• Ed Kilgore: [11-09] Are Democrats the party of low-turnout elections now? Too many wrong takes here to work through, but the idea that low voter turnout favored Republicans was largely established in 2010, when marginal Democrats who had landslided for Obama in 2008 stayed home, giving Republicans what seemed like an amazing rebound. Few people noticed that the 2010 turnout was almost exactly the same as 2006, which had been a huge Democratic wave, as Bush tanked post-Katrina, even pre-recession. Since 2010, Democrats have tried hard to increase voter turnout, and Republicans have worked even harder to suppress it. The West Coast, with high voter turnout mostly due to mail order, seemed to support the Democrats.

  In general, people who don't feel they have much stake in the system are the ones who don't vote, or don't vote regularly. Most of these people should align better economically with Democrats, but they often can't see that, and Democrats haven't worked very hard at winning them back -- at least since the 1980s, the focus has mainly been on raising money. Trump threw a monkey wrench into this: a lot of low-info, low-concern people like him for what we'll call aesthetic reasons, and that's boosted his vote totals, to where in 2016 and 2020 he ran about three points better than the "likely voter" polls, which got him way closer than he should have been, and helped Republicans overperform elsewhere. But I believe the underlying dynamic is a gradual shift from R-to-D, at least among regular voters (and young voters who are increasingly seeing voting as worth their time). This is being masked because Democrats still aren't very good at getting people to vote economic interests (although under Biden they've started to pay off), and Republicans are still very effective at lying to people and scheming behind their backs, and the media is way too generous to Republicans. On the other hand, Republican voter suppression often backfires. Philosophically, Democrats believe in high turnout, because they believe in democracy, where Republicans only believe in winning. So in most ways, the issue is probably a wash.

• Dion Lefler: [11-08] The $630,000 mayor: Can Lily Wu keep her boldest promises? While Democrats were enjoying wins elsewhere, here in Kansas we lost our mayor to a Koch-financed Republican dressed up as a Libertarian, checking off a lot of diversity boxes no one has come forward to brag about (female, non-white, immigrant from Guatemala, but also non-hispanic). Although the elections were technically non-partisan, Republicans claimed three seats -- with Wu, a majority -- on the Wichita City Council. Curiously enough, the School Board seats shifted to Democrats, including one at-large seat won by Melody McCrae-Miller.

• Charles P Pierce: [11-08] Ohio Republicans are already beefing with the will of the voters on abortion and weed: One thing you'll never hear a Republican say after a loss: "the people have spoken, and we have to heed their decision."

• Bill Scher: [11-08] Glenn Youngkin's big fat 15-week abortion ban belly flop.

• Li Zhou: [11-07] Andy Beshear offers Democrats some lessons for how to win in Trump country: "Here's how a Democrat won reelection in Kentucky."

The "third Republican presidential debate": We might as well split this out from the general morass of Republicanism, even though it did little more than exemplify it. I didn't watch, but my wife did, so I overheard a segment on foreign policy that was several orders of magnitude beyond bonkers.

• Andrew Prokop: [11-08] 0 winners and 5 losers from the third Republican presidential debate: "All the candidates failed, but they failed in different ways."

• Zack Beauchamp: [11-08] The Republican debate is fake.

• Jim Geraghty: [11-09] A sober GOP debate for serious times. Just as well Trump wasn't there. By far the silliest take on the debate.

• Ed Kilgore: [11-09] Republican debaters want to go to war with everyone (except Trump):

  Egged on by moderator Hugh Hewitt, a Navy-obsessed conservative pundit, all five candidates called for a lot more defense spending even as they railed against debts and deficits. To the extent they disagreed on foreign policy, it was mostly about whether defending or defunding Ukraine was the best tack for combating China. (Haley and Christie took the former position, while DeSantis and Ramaswamy took the latter.)

  Getting closer to home, there was total unanimity among the debaters on the need to ignore climate change and frantically resume uninhibited exploitation of fossil fuels. Haley called DeSantis a "liberal on the environment," forcing him to defend his determination to frack and drill until the icecaps fully melt.

  Ramaswamy played his anti-neocon card by dubbing Haley as "Dick Cheney in three-inch heels," then adding "we have two of them on stage," lest DeSantis feel left out, but Ramaswamy was an eager for war against China as any of them.

• Natalie Allison: [11-12] Tim Scott suspends his presidential campaign.

I generally hate it when people try to make a case by pointing out how a person looks, but I've been having a lot of trouble in following clips of Ramaswamy, not just because he's so nonsensical but because he doesn't seem to have a face behind the mouth that spouts such nonsense. Perhaps this is just something that happens with age, but it's not a problem I see with the other candidates (DeSantis has a face, although it's turned into a self-caricature, a different problem), or most other people. I'm looking at Salon as I write this, and even Ivanka (7 pictures) has some kind of face-in-progress. Her father (8 pictures) has a face, even if it's mostly buried in bronzer. Even Brian Kilmeade, staring as blankly as his brain, has a face. But Ramaswamy doesn't.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Michelle Cottle: [11-08] What voters want that Trump seems to have: She beats around the bush a bit, but the ultimate point is that Republicans hate the other half of America, and they realize that the most effective way to express their hate is to restore Trump, given their understanding of how much their targets fear and loathe Trump. Trump's entire campaign so far is nothing but persecution complaints and revenge fantasies. No other Republican candidate, no matter how evil, comes close to challenging Trump in that regard.

  PS: Ok, I just jumped on the idea of Cottle's piece. Dean Baker read it and takes exception to the details: [11-08] Michelle Cottle makes up facts to push the Trump case: "I guess that New York Times columnists get to be condescending, out-of-touch jerks when they want to make their case. If they insist that people think the economy is awful, we can't let what people say get in the way."

• SV Date: [11-11] If progressives don't like Biden's Gaza position, wait till they learn about Trump's.

• David Freedlander: [11-10] Live with Rudy: "Indicted, isolated, and broke, Giuliani has one comfort left: the sound of his own voice."

• Marisa Iati/Isaac Arnsdorf: [11-11] Trump's rivals seize on opportunities to challenge his acuity.

• Laura Jedeed: [11-10] Inside Mike Johnson's ties to a far-right movement to gut the constitution.

• Ed Kilgore: [11-10] Speaker Johnson has one weird plan for avoiding a shutdown.

• Paul Krugman: [11-06] Why does the right hate America? Fair question, one that occurred to Krugman after reading Damon Linker's recent [11-04] Get to know the influential conservative intellectuals who help explain GOP extremism (which I cited last week, but mostly just took names). A glib but not inaccurate answer is: "because they hate our freedom" -- which seemed silly as an explanation for Islamic terrorism, but with these guys, their fear and loathing bleeds from every line. Sure, we on the left are more conscious of the freedom we're still denied, but any fair review of American history will remind us that everything in our history that we take pride in, at least as far back as "all men are created equal," came from the left, and was resisted by the right, same as today.

• Kelly McClure: [11-11] Ted Cruz blames extreme left for rise in antisemitism: Cruz was plugging his new book: Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America. Quite an accomplishment. It's really hard to put that much stupid into such a short title.

• Charlie Savage/Maggie Haberman/Jonathan Swan: [11-11] Sweeping raids, giant camps and mass deportations: Inside Trump's 2025 immigration plans.

• Jack Shafer: [11-07] l Trump's recipe for a shockingly raw power grab. Starts with "plans on the first day of his new administration to invoke the Insurrection Act so he can dispatch the military to counter any demonstrations that might resist his policies." (See: Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term.)

• Steven Shepard: [11-11] The power grabs that will determine control of Congress: "Partisan gerrymandering isn't new, but what's happening right now is far from normal."

• Michael Tomasky: [11-12] It's official: With "vermin," Trump is now using straight-up Nazi talk.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Jonathan Guyer: [11-09] More than 500 Biden campaign alumni want a Gaza ceasefire.

• Eric Levitz: [11-08] Do Democrats need to get less 'globalist'? Fairly long piece occasioned by the new John Judis/Ruy Teixeira book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone? Probably worth some thought, but the focus here is on trade (good for capitalists, not so much for workers) and migration (one way workers try to catch up), while skipping other aspects of international policy, such as war and climate. For more on this book:

  • Kenneth S Baer: [11-06] Where did the Democrats go wrong?

• Carlos Lozada: [11-11] A Trump-Biden rematch is the election we need.

• Andrew Marantz: [11-02] How Israel is splitting the Democrats. Isn't it basically between the politicians, who are virtually all on the take, and the base, who once again have every reason to suspect their leaders?

• Andrew Prokop: [11-09] Joe Manchin retires, making Democrats' brutal 2024 Senate map even more brutal. On the other hand, Manchin is still a possible presidential election spoiler, for which see Ed Kilgore: [11-09] Joe Manchin announces end of Senate career, new 2024 threat.

• Molly Redden: [11-09] 'The phone doesn't stop': Overwhelming demands for a cease-fire catch Democrats off guard.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [11-06] A foolish state official may have just handed the NRA a big Supreme Court victory.

  • [11-07] The Supreme Court appears poised to rein in its worst decision on guns: Do domestic abusers really have a right to guns?

• Tensim Zekeria/Rebecca Crosby: [11-07] Criminalizing dissent: The RICO indictment of protesters against Cop City in Atlanta.

Climate and environment:

• Alex Harris/Ashley Miznazi: [11-05] King tide floods offer glimpse of Miami's soggy, salty future. I saw this in the Wichita Eagle today, which led me to more pieces:

  • Nathan Crabbe: [11-02] Climate change making king tide flooding more common; federal plan could require millions to buy flood insurance

  • Lizette Alvarez/Frances Robles: [2016-11-17] Intensified by climate change, 'king tides' change ways of life in Florida.

• Nathan J Robinson: [11-10] The climate crisis is slipping from the news right when it needs our attention most. This is the kind of idea that gets in the way of thinking, and for that matter communicating. It's not like climate crisis hasn't gotten any ink this year. Various storm and fire disasters have been front page a couple times each month, and statistical effects have been written up -- I don't think we've had a single month this year that wasn't among the hottest in history (usually number one), plus there's all the melting ice caps, the record high tides, etc. Sure, not enough is being done about it, and nowhere near fast enough, but that's a bigger political and economic quagmire, one that needs not just attention but a serious rethink. But how the hell's that going to happen when we can't even think our way out of a stupid, pointless, and extremely cruel war like Israel's?

Economic matters:

• Paul Krugman:

  • [11-07] Why did so many economists get disinflation wrong?

  • [11-09] What history tells us about the feel-bad economy.

• Eric Levitz: [11-12] 3 reasons Biden's strong economy is unpopular.

Ukraine War:

• Connor Echols: [11-10] Diplomacy Watch: Western pressure on Ukraine grows.

• Shane Harris/Isabelle Khurshudyan: [11-11] Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack: "Roman Chervinsky, a colonel in Ukraine's special operations forces, was integral to the brazen sabotage operation, say people familiar with planning." Still, questions remain:

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: [11-12] Latest Nord Stream break: propaganda, patsy, or truth?

• William Hartung: [11-12] American arms makers, cashing in on conflict.

• David C Hendrickson: [11-08] Why do we let Israel and Ukraine wag the US dog? "In America's weird empire, dependents call the shots. Soon we will be suffering the consequences." I filed this under Ukraine rather than Israel to keep it from being buried in rubble, although the point is much clearer with Israel. The latter has a lot of political clout in the US, and has used that to mold American policy and to humble American political figures. Ukraine has no such clout, and has developed considerable antipathy from many Republicans. It seems most likely that Zelensky is simply doing what the US wants

• Ted Snider: [11-08] Is this the beginning of the end of the war in Ukraine? "The Western media is suddenly teeming with signs of fatigue and even . . . diplomacy?"

Around the world:

• Margaret Hartmann: [11-07] King Charles forced to deliver speech he hates. At this stage, ending the British monarchy would be an act of mercy.

Other stories:

Charles Hirschkind: [11-08] Exterminate the brutes: "Beneath the veneer of a celebrated concern for human rights, the racism that defined 19th century colonialism continues to provide the dominant lens through which the West exercises the subordination of non-Western populations." Another piece about Israel, but I thought I should give it a little distance.

Matthew Hoh: [11-10] Armistice Day and the empire: A name change and the catastrophe that followed. It's now Veterans Day, November 11, signifying not the arrival of peace (after WWI) but the endless waste of war.

Yarden Katz: [11-09] Are Israelis Jews? Returning to Jewish minority life: Argues that "Israel has erased the Jewish people and destroyed the possibilities for Jews to live in Palestine as non-colonizers. 'Israeli' is a colonial identity we should renounce, because it harms both Palestinians and Jews." Interesting attempt to drive a wedge between identities Jewish and Israeli, then flip them over. Nothing is quite that simple.

Jeremy Kuzmarov: [11-10] How Bill Clinton set the groundwork for today's foreign policy disasters. Co-author, with John Marciano, of a book I should have noted when it appeared in 2018: The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce; also Obama's Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State (2019); and forthcoming: Warmonger: How Clinton's Malign Foreign Policy Launched the US Trajectory From Bush II to Biden.

Keren Landman: [11-09] It's getting increasingly dangerous to be a newborn in the US. A big part of this seems to be: Alice Miranda Ollstein: [11-07] Congenital syphilis jumped tenfold over the last decade.[

Michaelangelo Matos: [11-05] Documentary review: 'The War on Disco': I accidentally saw a bit of this show, but didn't stick around long enough to evaluate Matos on the subject (although I know him to be one of the best dance-oriented critics around). I always thought the anti-disco rants in the 1970s were more stupid than racist (although what finally shut them up were disco hits by Blondie and New Order, so go figure).

Nathan J Robinson: [09-19] Is Thomas Sowell a legendary "maverick" intellectual or a pseudo-scholarly propagandist? Asking the question practically answers itself. One more in a long series of profiles in right-wing mind-rot.

Aja Romano: [11-10] What the Hasan Minhaj controversy says about the trouble with storytelling.

Robert Sherrill: [1988-06-11] William F. Buckley lived off evil as mold lives off garbage: An archive piece, by one of my favorite journalists fifty years ago, a review of John B Judis: William F Buckley, Jr: Patron Saint of the Conservatives. Sherrill's title bears structural resemblance to his book, Military Justice Is to Justice as Military Music Is to Music.

Alissa Wilkinson: [11-09] The long, long Hollywood strikes have ended.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41108 [41078] rated (+30), 28 [32] unrated (-4).

I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done before this update, and I have damn little to show for it. A bunch of things happened, or didn't happen, last week, but if I try to go into that, it'll be days more before I post anything. Maybe next week I can explain.

Meanwhile. I did write another long Speaking of Which, which didn't come out until Monday, pushing Music Week back a day. Rather than wrote more on that here, let me recommend a book about a different time and world that strikes me as especially relevant here: Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke, a chronicle of the prehistory of WWII told through contemporary newspaper clippings: written by the last people who had to figure out the Nazis without having the benefit of knowing how the story ends.

One of my distractions last week was figuring out a sequel for my Oct. 27 birthday dinner. I had shopped for a lot of tapas dishes that I didn't have time to make, so we had a second setting a week later (so Nov. 3). I promised last week to write up my notes on the birthday dinner. I finally did this in the notebook. I also looked up some previous Spanish-themed dinners, and came up with a couple of old pics.

I also finished the indexing on October Streamnotes.

One thing I made very little progress on was setting up the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll. I hoped to be able to say more about that here, but that will have to wait until next week. It is still a go, and I hope to send ballot invites out by Nov. 15 (hopefully not much later). Big issue right now is trying to figure out who to invite. I'm surprised as how frazzled I already feel.

Another thing I didn't get done was setting up my EOY files, broken out between jazz and non-jazz (as in previous years -- oops, already have links there to my useless stubs).

The distractions took time away from listening, but the extra day got the rating count up to 30, including five A-list items from my demo queue (a lot more than usual). Would have had six had I gotten to Aruán Ortiz in time.

New records reviewed this week:

Rodrigo Amado/The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (2022 [2023], Trost): Portuguese tenor saxophonist, easily one of the top half-dozen in the world since 2000, which should suffice here, but pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach is a special treat here, and the interaction is so masterful Gerry Hemingway and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten got in on the action. Beware: it does get a little rowdy. A [cd]

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension (2023, Nonesuch): Canadian big band composer/arranger, studied under Bob Brookmeyer, fourth album since 2009, an extra large one (111 minutes). Not something I'm inclined to get excited about, but fine soloists, some very nice segments, works as background but gets better when you tune in. B+(***) [sp]

Bruce Barth Trio: Dedication (2021 [2022], Origin): Pianist, from Pasadena, first records (c. 1985) were with George Russell, then Orange Then Blue. Trio with bass (Vicente Archer) and drums (Montez Coleman). B+(**) [sp]

Rob Brown: Oceanic (2021 [2023], RogueArt): Alto saxophonist, records since 1989, I associate him mostly with William Parker's groups. Solo here. B+(***) [cdr]

Rob Brown Quartet: Oblongata (2022 [2023], RogueArt): Alto saxophonist (also plays some flute), joined by Steve Swell (trombone), Chris Lightcap (bass, and Chad Taylor (drums), in a superb free set. A- [cdr]

Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (2023, self-released): Venerable rapper from Nova Scotia, dropped this 19-track limited edition cassette (all ten unique copies sold out) by surprise, with a line about the Texas Rangers suggesting he cut that track the day before this dropped. After a layoff, he popped back last year with the superb King of Drums -- so superb I was happy enough when this year's Super Dope sounded just like it. But this one is better still, with the words popping at a pace that justifies his "autodidactic polymath" boast. The beats too, until a change of pace called "Terminal Illiness" seals the deal. A [bc]

DJ Shadow: Action Adventure (2023, Mass Appeal): Electronics producer Josh Davis, early records Endtroducing (1996) and, especially, The Private Press (2002), are favorites, with nothing else -- only four studio albums before this one -- close. Synth beats recognizable, but he's lost the ability to hook a vocal sample, like "what you gonna do now?" B+(*) [sp]

Kurt Elling: SuperBlue: The London Sessions (2022, Edition, EP): Live rehash of his "Grammy-nominated" 2021 SuperBlue, five tracks (28:12), with Charlie Hunter (hybrid guitar) bringing the funk. He cuts the shit, revealing what could pass for soul (e.g., "Lonely Avenue"). B+(*) [bc]

Kurt Elling/Charlie Hunter/Neal Smith: SuperBlue: Guilty Pleasures (2022 [2023], Edition, EP): Vocals, hybrid guitar, drums: Bandcamp page parses this differently (Smith is a "feat."; "Superblue" vanishes), but title and all three names on the cover, as well as a "3" I don't know what to do with. Pretty flash rhythm work recasts the singer as funk, despite the scat. Six songs, 22:08. B+(*) [bc]

Kurt Elling/Charlie Hunter: SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree (2023, Edition): A skilled jazz singer, started out around 1998, highly regarded by most critics but one I can only rarely stand. The partnership with Hunter gives him an agreeable groove to work from, and reins in his worst effects. So more tolerable. Big deal. B [sp]

Robert Finley: Black Bayou (2023, Easy Eye Sound): Bluesman from Louisiana, got a late start with a debut at 1962, called it Age Don't Mean a Thing, but in his genre age brings gravitas, which is what it's all about. Seven years later, turns out that even he sees age means something after all. B+(**) [sp]

Sue Foley: Live in Austin Vol. 1 (2023, Stony Plain): Blues singer-songwriter from Ottawa, moved to Vancouver and then to Austin, releasing Young Girl Blues in 1992. I always liked her, and much of this is familiar, most likely drawing on her better albums. B+(**) [sp]

Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (2022 [2023], Morphius): Pianist, started out in David Murray's quartet, a dozen-plus albums since 1999. Sextet here, with Brian Settles (tenor sax), Christian Hizon (trombone), bass, drums, and percussion. B+(**) [sp]

Hermanos Gutiérrez: El Bueno Y El Malo (2022, Easy Eye Sound): Duo based in Switzerland, brothers Estevan and Alejandro, father Swiss, mother from Ecuador, fifth album, produced in Nashville by Dan Auerbach. Very tasteful instrumental music, mostly guitar, not in any niche. A- [sp]

William Hooker: Flesh and Bones (2023, Org Music): Avant-drummer, has a long career of going his own way. Drives a sextet here with Ras Moshe (tenor sax/flute), Charles Burnham (violin), On Davis (guitar), and two bassists (Hilliard Greene and Luke Stewart). B+(**) [sp]

Russell Kranes/Alex Levine/Sam Weber/Jay Sawyer: Anchor Points (2022 [2023], OA2): Piano, guitar, bass, and drums; half trio (reference to the Nat King Cole Trio), and half with drums. The trio emphasizes the guitar, while the drums gets the pianist going. First album for Kranes, possibly the rest. B+(**) [cd]

Lil Wayne: Tha Fix Before Tha VI (2023, Young Money): Mixtape, a distinction I've never understood, but number 29 for those who keep track of such things. Sounded sharp at first, but kept hitting the same point again and again, until it no longer even resembled a point. B [sp]

Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet: Hear the Light Singing (2022 [2023], RogueArt): Pianist, a major figure since 1990, with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano sax), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Lesley Mok (drums). Second group album, a rhythmic tour de force. A- [cd]

Joshua Moshe: Inner Search (2023, La Sape): Saxophonist (soprano/alto/tenor, bass clarinet, synth, piano) from Australia, formerly Joshua Kelly, led the "nu jazz" JK Group), so not a debut. Chasing spirits, often over jazztronica beats. Interesting enough until the ululating. B+(**) [sp]

David Murray/Questlove/Ray Angry: Plumb (2022 [2023], JMI/Outside In Music): Tenor sax/bass clarinet giant, jamming with the drummer and keyboard player from the Roots. Product status is iffy: runs 14 songs, 136 minutes, which can be streamed now, with a 4-LP box is promised for sometime 2024 ($150, "ships in about six months," which sounds more like a reverse twist on loansharking). The Roots guys aren't much more than fit for purpose here, but Murray is once again a tower of strength. A- [sp]

Remembrance Quintet: Do You Remember? (2023, Sonboy): DC-based quintet I filed under bassist Luke Stewart's name, with two reedists (Daniel Carter and Jamal Moore), trumpet (Chris Williams), and drums (Tcheser Holmes), opens their "dig deep into humanity's ancestral stream" with spoken word, asking the title question, answering with unsettled horns and rhythm. B+(***) [sp]

Sampha: Lahai (2023, Young): British singer-songwriter, parents from Sierra Leone, last name Sisay, plays keyboards, second album, falsetto adds to the r&b effect. B+(*) [sp]

Jeff Sanford's Cartoon Jazz Orchestra: Playland at the Beach (2023, Little Village): Bay Area saxophone/clarinet player, originally from New York, leads a nonet with a couple previous albums, traces his interest in cartoon jazz to Raymond Scott and Carl Stalling (who else?). B+(**) [sp]

Jeremy Udden: Wishing Flower (2023, Sunnyside): Alto saxophonist, debut 2006, played with Either/Orchestra before that, also plays Lyricron wind synthesizer here, with Ben Monder (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass), and Ziv Ravitz (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Miki Yamanaka: Shades of Rainbow (2023, Cellar Music): Japanese pianist, based in New York since 2012, fifth album, with Mark Turner (tenor sax), Tyrone Allen (bass), and Jimmy McBride (drums). Turner feels exceptionally relaxed here. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Barry Altschul/David Izenson/Perry Robinson: Stop Time: Live at Prince Street, 1978 (1978 [2023] NoBusiness): Drums, bass, clarinet, joint improv, listed alphabetically, although the drummer is probably the best known these days. Not the greatest sound, but remarkable music. A- [cd]

Peter Brötzmann/Sabu Toyozumi: Triangle: Live at Ohm, 1987 (1987 [2023], NoBusiness): Live set from Tokyo, with the German avant-saxophonist in fine form, and a local drummer who's up to the task. B+(***) [cd]

Roy Campbell/William Parker/Zen Matsuura: Visitation of Spirits: The Pyramid Trio Live, 1985 (1985 [2023], NoBusiness): Trumpet player (1952-2014), played in various William Parker projects, including Other Dimensions in Music, and later had the Nu Band, with Mark Whitecage. This was an early version of his trio, which did three 1994-2001 studio albums. A bit spotty at first, but terrific when they get going. A- [cd]

Kim Dae Hwan/Choi Sun Bae: Korean Fantasy (1999 [2023], NoBusiness): Korean duo, drummer (1933-2003), very much in the center here, with trumpet floating around. B+(***) [cd]

Old music:

None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Rodrigo Amado/The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost) [10-20]
• Les McCann: Never a Dull Moment! Live From Coast to Coast 1966-1967 (Resonance, 2CD) [12-01]
• John Paul McGee: A Gospejazzical Christmas (Jazz Urbano) [11-16]
• Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio: Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings (Resonance, 2CD)
• Dave Stryker: Groove Street (Strikezone) [01-24]
• Trio Grande: Urban Myth (Whirlwind) [11-03]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, November 6, 2023

Again, I swore off working on this during the week, which turned out to pose more than a few problems. Finally opened the file up on Saturday evening. I figured I'd just collect links, and not bother with any serious writing. The supply of inputs seemed endless, and it got late Sunday before I considered tidying up and posting. But I couldn't, due to a computer problem which took several hours to diagnose and about a minute to fix once I recognized it (DHCP tripped me up). By then it was too late, so my posts are shifted back a day once more.

Starting up today, I didn't go back to website I had previously visited, but I did have a few more to look up. I also remembered the Gabriel Winant piece at the bottom, so I dug it up, and wasted a couple hours thinking about those quotes, before I scrapped what little I had written.

Top story threads:

Israel: With more patience, these could have been grouped into a half-dozen (maybe 8-10) subcategories, of which genocide (both actual and imagined) looms large, with significant growth in cease-fire advocacy and repression of anyone favoring cease-fire. The short category is actual military news: Israel has conducted ground operations in northern Gaza for a week, but what they've achieved (or for that matter attempted) isn't at all clear, while Palestinian casualties are continuing to increase, but I haven't made much sense out of the numbers.

It does appear that I underestimated the ability of Hamas to continue fighting after their initial suicidal attack was beaten back. Not by a lot, mind you, but they've continued to shoot occasional rockets (nothing you could describe as a "flood," and Israel regularly boasts of shooting 80-90% of them down, so the effect is likely near-zero), and they're offering some degree of ground resistance. Still, a unilateral Israeli cease-fire would almost certainly halt the war, the killing, the destruction. Given that continued punishment just generates future violence, Israel's unwillingness to call a halt to this genocide -- and that's still the operative term, even if Netanyahu hasn't convened his Wannsee Conference yet -- signals only the intent to fight to some kind of Endlösung ("final solution"). I might be tempted to ditch the Nazi references, but they are ones that Israelis understand clearly -- and, one hopes, uncomfortably.

Some of the more purely partisan digs wound up in the sections on Republicans and Democrats. Given that the entire American political establishment is totally in thrall to Israel and their right-wing donor cabal, there's little (if any) substance in these pieces, just a lot of chattering nonsense.

• Yuval Abraham: [10-30] Expel all Palestinians from Gaza, recommends Israeli gov't ministry.

• Ray Acheson: [10-17] We must end violence to end violence.

• Paula Andres: [11-04] Israel bombs ambulance convoy near Gaza's largest hospital.

• Jeremy Appel: [11-03] Israel rabbi describes settler rampages across West Bank.

• Michael Arria: [11-05] The largest Palestine protest in US history shut down the streets of DC: "An estimated 300,000 demonstrators in the largest Palestine protest in United States history, calling for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza." Also note:

  • James North: [10-28] Mainstream media ignores massive civil disobedience for Palestine that shut down New York's Grand Central Station.

• James Bamford: [11-02] Why Israel slept: I don't care much for the metaphor here. There will be recriminations for Israel's security lapses on Oct. 7, because it's easy to pick on exposed flaws, but Israel's containment of Gaza has been vigilant and remarkably effective for many years, and their response to the breach was swift and decisive, and the damage, while far above what they were accustomed to, was really fairly minor. They could just as well be congratulating themselves, but would rather channel the outrage into a far greater assault. But this article is actually about something else: "Netanyahu's war inside the United States." More specifically, "Netanyahu's move to counter the protesters with lots of money to buy political power in Washington to create laws making it a crime to boycott Israel." It may seem paradoxical that as Israel has been steadily losing public support in America and Europe, they've been able to lock political elites into even more subservient roles. Bamford takes the obvious tack here: follow the money.

• Ramzy Baroud: [11-03] 'Turning Gaza into ashes': Israeli hasbara vs the world.

• Nicolas Camut: [11-05] Israel minister suspended after calling nuking Gaza an option: "Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu's statements 'are not based in reality,' Prime Minister Netanyahu says."

• Christian Caryl/Damir Marusic: [11-02] Should Israel agree to a ceasefire? Commentators weigh in. Starts with Yossi Beilin, who was the only successful negotiator in the Oslo Peace Process, disappoints with "a humanitarian pause, but no more." He never negotiated with Hamas, and never will, which may be why the deals he came "so close to" never materialized. If you refuse to negotiate with your fiercest enemies, you'll never settle anything.

  James Jeffrey says no, insisting that Israel is fighting an "existential war" with Hamas, placing it "within a larger struggle involving its enemy Iran instigating conflicts in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen as well as Gaza -- a world war scenario he sees as like Pearl Harbor.

  Yaakov Katz insists "a cease-fire would be a victory for Hamas." That's hard to see, even if the ceasefire took place immediately after Israel repelled the attacks and resealed the breach: Hamas depleted most of their missile supply, and lost 1,000 or more of their best fighters (about 2.5% of the highest estimate I've seen of their force), in a surprise attack that will be many times harder to repeat in the future. And that was before Israel killed another 10,000 Palestinians in fit of collective punishment, suggesting their real intent is genocide.

  Lawrence Freedman and Matt Duss have more doubts about what Israel can do, and more worries for Israel's reputation, and a better grasp of the larger picture. Palestinians Ahmed Alnaouq and Laila El-Haddad are the only ones who actually sense the human dimensions of the slaughter.

• Isaac Chotiner: [11-01] The Gaza-ification of the West Bank: Interview with Hagai El-Ad, of B'Tselem.

• Fabiola Cineas: [10-31] "History repeating itself": How the Israel-Hamas war is fueling hate against Muslims and Jews: "There's a surge in reports of assaults, vandalism, harassment, and intimidation." Two points that should be stressed more: one is that Zionism has always been predicated on, and fed by, antisemitism, and as such, Israel has often worked to incite antisemitism to motivate Jews to immigrate (the pre-Israel Zionist International negotiated with antisemites, especially in England, to sponsor "a Jewish homeland," and with Nazi Germany to relieve them of their Jews; after independence, Mossad ran various operations in Arab countries to panic Jews into emigrating); in constantly blaming any and all criticism of Israel on antisemitism, Israel is taunting its critics into false generalizations. Author has a section called "Antisemitism was already on the rise." This combines two different things: the classic European prejudice (whether Christian or racist), which became more public with Trump's election; and naive reaction against Israel's inhumanity to Arabs (Jewish and/or leftist critics of Israel are usually careful not to generalize Israelis or Zionists with non-Israeli Jews). Neither is excusable. But it's much easier to educate the naifs than to deprogram the Nazis. Also note that most classic antisemites are enthusiastic supporters of Israel.

• Steve Coll: [10-30] The plight of the hostages and the rapidly escalating crisis in Gaza: "Never before has Israel sought to rescue so many hostages from a territory where it is also waging an unbridled aerial war." Hostage negotiations are always fraught with overtones, but a big factor here is that Israel's leaders are much more into the air (and now ground) war, which they control, than the hostages, which require some measure of empathy, tact and compromise (characteristics they pride themselves in not showing, especially when geared up for war). A hostage family member asks: "Why this offensive? There is no rush. Hamas wasn't going anywhere." But any pause to the war risks derailing it, letting the fever cool, and the madness be reflected upon. They can't quite admit it, but Israel's leaders would be happier if Hamas just killed all the hostages. That they could spin into more war.

• Jonathan Cook: [11-03] Mounting evidence suggests Israel may be ready to 'cleanse' Gaza. The "Greater Gaza" plan has been kicking around for a while, at least since 2014, and the "Jordan is Palestine" idea goes way back.

• Ryan Cooper: [11-03] A one-state solution could work in Israel: "But the end of South African apartheid demonstrates it would take an Israeli commitment to peace that is nowhere in evidence." Could work, sure, but any chance is long off, and receding as the right-wing has become more obviously genocidal. One problem is numbers: shedding Gaza would help there, a single-state for the rest is probably where you'd wind up, but it is a long ways toward equal rights. The bigger problem is that Israel is not just a garden-variety white (racist) settler state. It has a lot of trauma-and-hubris-induced psychological baggage that will take ages to overcome.

• Alex De Waal: [11-03] How the Israel-Hamas war is destabilizing the Horn of Africa.

• Rajaa Elidrissi: [11-01] The Gaza Strip blockade, explained.

• Richard Falk: [11-03] Israel-Palestine war: Israel's endgame is much more sinister than restoring 'security'.

• Lynn Feinerman: [11-03] The left as Israel's sacrificial lamb: "One of the tragic ironies of this is the vast majority of the casualties were kibbutzim and the people at this outdoor concert. And people who live in kibbutzim and people who go to raves tend to be the more left-wing, secular Israelis who oppose Netanyahu." But the dead are now martyrs for the far right, which isn't just ironic. Socialism built Israel into a strong, cohesive community, but the doctrine of "Hebrew Labor" was the rotten kernel at their heart, which grew the apartheid war-state of today.

• Gabriella Ferrigine: [11-01] Graham declares "no limit" of Palestinian deaths would make him question Israel.

• Laura Flanders: [10-30] "Why I resigned from the State Department": Interview with Josh Paul, who had worked in the section that oversees transfers of military equipment and support. [I cited another interview with Paul last week, from Politico. The title bears repeating: 'There are options for Israel that do not involve killing thousands of civilians'.

• Robert Givens: [11-02] Block to block in Gaza: What will an Israeli invasion look like?

• Michelle Goldberg: [11-04] When it comes to Israel, who decides what you can and can't say?

• Jonathan Guyer: [11-04] Will an Israel-Hamas ceasefire happen? The reasons and roadblocks, explained.

• Benjamin Hart: [11-04] Egypt's puzzling role in the Israel-Hamas war: "The country that used to control the Gaza Strip is helping Palestinians -- but only up to a point." Interview with Steven Cook, a Foreign Policy columnist.

• Amira Hass: [11-01] Amid the mourning, Israel's settlement enterprise celebrates a great victory: "The soldiers are accompanying the settlers on their raids -- or even finishing the job for them."

• Michael Horton: [10-30] Houthi missile launches at Israel risk reigniting war in Yemen.

• Scott Horton/Connor Freeman: [10-31] Netanyahu's support for Hamas has backfired: Nah! He's got Hamas right where he wants them. If your goal is to destroy every last vestige of Palestine, the first thing you have to do is to make Palestinians unsympathetic. Israel never feared Palestinian violence, because that they could meet in kind, plus an order of magnitude. Israel's great fear was (and is) Palestinian civility.

• Ellen Ioanes: [11-04] Iran could determine how far the Israel-Hamas war spreads. I rather doubt this. Since the revolution in 1979, Iran has attempted to increase its political influence among Shiite factions in Arab countries, with some success in Lebanon and Yemen, but not in Saudi Arabia or the Persian Gulf states, nor in Iraq until the US busted the country in 2003. But at least up to 1990, Iran maintained a cozy relationship with Israel, having never shown any particular interest in Palestinian groups (which were either too secular, or in Hamas, too Sunni). It was Israel that pivoted to being anti-Iran, most likely playing on American prejudices going back to the hostage crisis. Since then, Iran has been a convenient whipping boy for Israel, but despite all the nuclear talk, they never have been a serious threat to each other. As for Hezbollah, Iran does support them, but there's no reason to think Iran calls the shots. Even if they did, attacking Israel makes little sense. The upshot of the 2006 war was that Israel can do serious air damage to Lebanon, well beyond Hezbollah's stronghold in the south, but Hezbollah can still fend off a ground invasion. And Israel has better things to do than that. Of course, if such a war was a serious consideration, the simplest solution would be for the US to normalize relations with Iran. But who in Washington can get Israel's permission to do that? Also on Hezbollah:

  • Nicole Narea: [11-03] Hezbollah's role in the Israel-Hamas war, explained. Key point is that while Hezbollah was formed to fight Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon (1982-2000), it has since become a mainstream political party, with a stake in the government of Lebanon. While part of their credibility is their ability to defend against Israel, it would be silly to risk that by having to fight again. The option of moving into mainstream politics has made Hezbollah less of a terror threat. Hamas was denied that option: when they ran for office, and won, they were denied recognition, so in Gaza they fought back and took control, only to be blockaded. The result is that the only way Hamas could act was by force, hence the military wing took charge. And Israel did that deliberately, because they don't fear Hamas militarily, but they do fear Hamas politically. They want Palestinian "leaders" who will do their bidding, who will keep their charges in line, and line their own pockets, and let Israel do whatever Israelis want to do.

  • Ali Rizk: [10-31] Why Hezbollah doesn't want a full-scale war. Yet.

  • Ellen Ioanes: [11-05] Israel hits civilian infrastructure as ceasefire calls grow.

• Arnold Isaacs: [11-02] War in a post-fact world. Or: "War, crimes, truth, and denial: unthinkable thoughts and false memories."

• David D Kirkpatrick/Adam Rasgon: [10-30] The Hamas propaganda war: "Across the Arab world, the group is successfully selling its narrative of resistance." Hard for me to gauge, as Hamas has no respect or legitimacy here -- even though a narrative of devout patriots fighting back against overwhelmingly powerful alien oppressors would strike chords many Americans would sympathize with. (One might think of Red Dawn, or maybe just Star Wars.) But elsewhere, the story is bound to resonate, especially among people (and not just Arabs or Muslims) who have directly felt the heavy hand of imperialism. Even if Israel is amazingly successful in their campaign to obliterate Gaza, the most likely future scenario is a return to 1970s-style terrorist disruption (the desperation of a not-quite "utterly defeated people" and a few others who romanticize their struggle).

• Keren Landman: [11-01] The death toll from Gaza, explained: Not very well, I'm afraid. The link to Btselem's database says "Data updated until October 5." The number of Palestinians killed is similar to the number killed since Oct. 7. The number of Israelis killed is rather less than the 1,400 on or shortly after Oct. 7. I still haven't been able to find a day-by-day accounting -- Wikipedia offers some totals to whenever the file was updated, and some detail, especially on foreign nationals on the Israeli side. Given that fighting outside Gaza ended by the second day -- Israel claimed to have killed all of the Palestinian attackers (counting over 1,000), and the breach was resealed -- virtually all subsequent deaths have been due to Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

• Chris Lehman: [11-02] American evangelicals await the final battle in Gaza.

• Louisa Loveluck/Susannah George/Michael Birnbaum: [11-05] As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel's targeting process.

• Branko Marcetic: [11-03] A tidal wave of state and private repression is targeting pro-Palestinian voices. Probably enough on this for a whole section, but a cluster of pieces landed here together:

  • Ben Burgis: [11-03] A pro-Israel Super PAC is smearing Rashida Tlaib for standing up for Palestinian lives.

  • Daniel Finn: [10-31] Rashid Khalidi: "We are seeing a horrifying attempt to shut down speech around Palestine": Interview with Khalidi.

  • Deborah Leter: [10-31] France steps up crackdown on Palestine solidarity amid Gaza war.

  • Calder McHugh: [11-04] 'It feels like the new McCarthyism': How the Israel-Hamas war is redefining the limits of free speech.

  • Jonathan Shamir: [10-26] An anti-Palestinian crackdown across Europe.

• Aaron Maté: [11-02] In Gaza, Biden is an equal partner in Israel's mass murder.

• Harold Meyerson: [11-02] The co-dependency of Bibi and Hamas: Some false equivalency here, followed by a plea for ye olde two-state solution that is certain to fall on deaf ears. Sure, Netanyahu and Hamas are ideal enemies for each other, especially relative to other factions in their constituencies. But there is a big difference: Israel is winning, at least within the narrow confines of war, while Hamas is losing -- and Israel hopes, bad enough to sink all Palestinians.

• Fintan O'Toole: [10-31] No endgame in Gaza: "After weeks of bombardment and thousands of deaths, what are Netanyahu's political and ethical limits?" I'll be surprised if Netanyahu has any.

• Paul R Pillar: [11-01] With world's focus on Gaza, West Bank conflict brews: "Settlers there appear freer than ever to commit violence against Palestinians, risking a new intifada -- which was already a possibility before Hamas's Oct. 7 attack."

• Nathan J Robinson: [11-03] What every American should know about Gaza: "We are complicit in the bombing of Palestinian civilians and have an obligation to pressure our government to push for a cease-fire."

• Natasha Roth-Rowland: [10-28] When 'never again' becomes a war cry: "In an Israeli war that has been retrofitted onto a Holocaust template, it is obscene that a plea to stop further killing is now read as moral failure."

• Sigal Samuel: [11-01] Israel's crackdown on dissent will only hurt it: "Silencing criticism makes it harder for Israel's leaders to think clearly." Note that most of the examples of repression are in America. "America would have benefited from listening to dissenters after 9/11; instead, it silenced them."

• Dahlia Scheindlin: [11-03] Here's the least bad option for Gaza after the war ends: "Reoccupation by Israel? Putting the Palestinian Authority in charge? A Kosovo-style international intervention would be less bad than both of those." This is similar to the scheme I wrote up last week, except mine offered a cleaner break from Israel -- which would, I think, be better both for Gaza and for Israel, whereas Kosovo is still saddled with Serbia's claim on the territory. (The same problem of competing claims affects other de facto breakaway territories, especially in the former Soviet Union.) The UN has (well, most plausibly) the legitimacy and the skills to organize an interim government in Gaza, assuming no significant party opposes them. Israel would initially have to agree to this, and honor that (although I allowed them to retaliate for any post-truce strikes, since they think they're entitled to do that anyway; my guess is that if Israel is out of the picture, that scenario ends). Then the "militants" in Gaza would have to agree to let the UN come in and take over. I expect they would do that because: (a) doing so would allow aid to flow in; (b) they couldn't be prosecuted for anything they did before the truce; and (c) the intent would be for the UN-established government to hold and honor democratic elections in short order. There are more possible angles to this, but one advantage Gaza has over Kosovo is that there is no internal ethnic or religious conflict to settle. So, once Israel is willing to relinquish its claims and interests -- and let's face it, Israel has no good ideas of its own here -- this sort of thing might not be so hard to do.

• Tali Shapiro/Jonathan Ofir: [11-05] Israeli doctors urge the bombing of Gaza hostpirals.

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [10-30] Gaza: Language of genocide: Illustration is a poster for "Ceasefire Now: End the Siege on Gaza." It includes a number of quotes, highlighting this one: "If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, we had names, dreams, and achievements and our only fault was that we were classified as inferior."

  • [11-04] Israel's 'total war' strategy in Gaza: "First time in recent history a nation waged a war of extermination in an urban environment."

  • [11-05] Germany criminalizes calling Gaza a genocide.

  • [11-05] Israel proposes expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Gazans as 'humanitarian initiative'.

• Oliver Stuenkel: [] The West can't defend international law while also supporting genocide: I wasn't aware that the US took any interest in international law any more.

• Liz Theoharis: [11-05] A cycle of escalating violence.

• Nahal Toosi: [11-04] The U N is in disarray over the Israel-Hamas war.

• Zeynep Tufecki: [10-31] Past lies about war in the Middle East are getting in the way of the truth today. Colin Powell is the poster boy here. Old news but worth repeating:

  But if the U.S. response after Sept. 11 is a model, it is as a model of what not to do.

  After the attacks, the United States received deep global sympathy. Many Muslims around the world were furious about this blemish upon Islam, even if they opposed U.S. policies: Citizens held vigils, politicians condemned the attacks and clerics repudiated them in mosque sermons. (The idea that Muslims widely celebrated the attacks has been repeatedly shown to be false or traces back to a few instances of dubious clarity.)

  But, instead of mobilizing that widespread global sympathy to try to isolate the extremists, the United States chose to wage a reckless and destructive war in Iraq, driven by an impulsive desire for vengeance and justified by falsehoods about weapons of mass destruction.

• Edward Wong/Patrick Kingsley: [11-05] U.S. officials fear American guns ordered by Israel could fuel West Bank violence.

• Oren Ziv: [10-31] Risking arrest and assault, Israelis begin protesting Gaza war.

• Mairav Zonszwin: [11-01] Israel and Palestine's existential war: Given that "genocide" is so actively bandied about, the existential risks for Palestinians are obvious. For Israel, the threat is harder to gauge. Israel could have done essentially nothing after the first day's repairs, and would still be as secure as ever behind their "iron walls." What Hamas hurt was their ego, their sense of power. But since they can kill and destroy with impunity, that's reason enough for them. Nothing existential to it, unless you think maybe they have a soul to lose?

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Lauren Aratani: [11-04] Trump family on trial: five takeaways from a week in the New York fraud case.

• Isaac Arnsdorf/Josh Dawsey/Devlin Barrett: [11-05] Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term: "Advisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day."

• Dan Froomkin: [10-26] As Republicans embrace theocratic authoritarianism, the political media is tongue-tied.

• Greg Grandin: [11-01] The Republicans who want to invade Mexico.

• Sarah Jones: [11-02] Republicans for war crimes.

• Cameron Joseph: [11-03] Is Tommy Tuberville the most ignorant man in DC? Also:

  • Nia Prater: [11-02] Senate Republicans are finally sick of Tommy Tuberville.

• Daniel Larison: [10-31] Ron DeSantis's foreign policy speech was a real dud: "He wants to invoke a weariness of war and anti-neocon sentiment, but ends up promoting the policies of both." This sounds like garden-variety Republican gibberish: Democrats weak and feckless, me tough, China bad, but will cower when faced with real American resolve, and even more ridiculous "defense" spending.

• Michael E Mann: [11-05] Trump 2.0: The climate cannot survive another Trump term.

• Heather Digby Parton:

  • [11-01] Trump's kids take the stand in NY fraud trial -- but only Ivanka matters.

  • [11-03] Trump's purge begins -- with the Federalist Society.

• Robert Reich: [10-27] No Labels is a front group for Donald Trump: I rarely bother with Reich, but this title hit my extremely literal brain head on. Suppose that's exactly what it is: a backup plan to put Trump on the ballot if he doesn't get the Republican nomination. How else can Trump manage to get on enough state ballots late in the cycle? The result would be a bloodbath split with the official Republican nominee, much like 1912 between Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, but Trump would see that as a totally justifiable price if the Republicans betrayed him, and could use it as a threat to keep it from happening.

• Joseph Solis-Mullen: [10-23] Republican solutions would destabilize Central America, not fix it.

• Adriene Mahsa Varkiani: [11-03] House Republicans introduce bill to expel Palestinians from the country.

• Li Zhou: [11-02] The House Israel aid bill is a reminder that Trump-aligned Republicans are now in charge: "Now they've passed an aid package tailored to their goals." For more on those goals, and more on their author:

  • Paul Krugman: [11-02] Israel, the IRS and the big grift: "Holding national security hostage to help tax cheats."

  • David Firestone: [11-01] Mike Johnson just confirmed how unserious he is.

  • Charles M Blow: [11-01] I grew up in Mike Johnson's district, where kindness can mask cruelty.

  • David French: [11-05] 'MAGA Mike Johnson' and our broken Christian politics.

  • Ed Kilgore: [11-03] Does Mike Johnson even want to avoid a government shutdown?

  • Charles P Pierce: [11-06] The thing with the son and the porn 'accountability' software isn't even today's weirdest Mike Johnson story: "He was also apparently the dean of a law school that never had any students."

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Nick French: [09-01] If Democrats want to win elections, they should bring back the Covid welfare state: "By many measures, Bidenomics is working great -- but most Americans are still down on the economy. That's in large part because the U.S. government let its temporarily generous social safety net unravel."

• Melvin Goodman: [11-03] Biden endorses the "indispensable nation" notion: Sorry, couldn't help but edit that title a bit (for clarity, you understand). Biden's words were: "American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe." Then he worked in "beacon to the world" and explicitly cited "my friend Madeleine Albright."

• David Klion:

  • [11-01] Memo to Biden: Israel and Ukraine are not the same.

  • [11-03] People are urging Bernie Sanders to back a Gaza cease-fire. Here's why he hasn't.

• Robert Kuttner: [11-01] Biden's Nakba: "The catastrophic effects of the president's indulgence of Netanyahu." This seems like a fair description of Netanyahu's proposition (and its odds):

  Netanyahu's notion that first Hamas can be destroyed at acceptable cost, and then someone else can be found to govern Gaza, and then some kind of regional settlement can be achieved is lunacy. This has become Biden's war. Now it has to be Biden's peace, starting with much tougher constraints on Israel.

• Ahmed Moor: [11-01] I can no longer justify voting for Joe Biden in 2024.

• Holly Otterbein: [11-05] Dem fears mount amid Biden's polling slump and Israel backlash: I tried to ignore the chatter about Sunday's New York Times/Sienna College Poll (which they've since played up with updates and analysis, with more by Nate Cohn), but I figured I could (and should) kick him again over Israel. Also, while it's easy enough to explain this poll away, some skeptics are using it to question the wisdom of "staying the course" (e.g., Now do you believe me?).

• Pamela Paul: [11-02] The Democrats are their own worst enemies: Lots of ways one can play that title -- I'm tempted to quote a country song, "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything at all" -- but I don't have time to sink here. Suffice it to note that this is a review of the new John B Judis/Ruy Teixeira book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone? You probably don't remember their 2002 book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, which Paul initially remembers as "hugely influential" then dismisses as "failed prophecy."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ryan Cooper: [11-01] The culture of corporate criminal impunity continues: "Attorney General Merrick Garland continues to let big companies skate."

• Steven Lubet: [11-02] Why this gift to Clarence Thomas is the worst: "Behold the sweetheart loan for a gilded motorcoach which the Supreme Court justice failed to disclose."

• Ian Millhiser: [11-03] The Supreme Court will hear a case that could effectively legalize automatic weapons: Bump stocks.

• Andrew Prokop: [10-30] The fraught debate over whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump, explained. IANAL, but personally I don't think it does, and I don't think it should. But Trump's recent rhetoric declaring convicted rioters, including some convicted of seditious conspiracy, to be not just political prisoners but hostages, and his promises to pardon all of them, make the case more credible.

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [11-03] Diplomacy Watch: Ukrainian commander admits war is 'stalemate': "But despite battlefield realities and political dynamics, talks of negotiations still 'taboo' in Kyiv."

• Lauren Irwin: [11-05] Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine so he can educate the former president about the reality of the war. Ok, this one is funny. Not just the notion that it might be possible to educate Trump about anything, let alone a war Trump insists he "can manage it and finish the war" in 24 hours. But funnier still is that if he went, he'd certainly violate one or more of his bail conditions.

• David Sacks: [11-01] Zelensky: TIME may be on his side, but real time, isn't: "Official Ukraine narrative collapses as Zelensky's inner circle admits to magazine that the war cannot be won militarily." Bullet points:

  • Ukraine's war aims are unrealistic.
  • Staggering casualties have decimated the Ukrainian army.
  • Conscription policies are draconian.
  • Morale is collapsing.
  • Corruption is uncontrollable.

• Ted Snider: [11-02] Volodymr Zelensky is in a sea of troubles.

Other stories:

Dean Baker:

• [10-25] Fighting billionaires' control of the media, individual news vouchers.

• [11-01] The death of Ady Barkan, a great organizer and great human being.

David Dayen: [10-18] The NIH's 'how to become a billionaire' program: "An obscure company affiliated with a former NIH employee is offered an exclusive license for a government-funded cancer drug."

Ethan Iverson: [10-30] Louis Armstrong's last word.

Paul Krugman: [10-31] The military-industrial-complex: He has a chart arguing that as a share of GDP, military spending is down since Eisenhower's speech, a long-term trend with bumps for Vietnam, Reagan, and Iraq, as well as blips when spending held steady while the economy crashed (2008, 2020). For a counterpoint, see William Hartung: [11-03] What Paul Krugman gets wrong about the military industrial complex. It seems to me that Eisenhower's concern wasn't the money per se, but the evolution of arms industries from mere suppliers to a political force that would make wars more (not less) likely.

Damon Linker: [11-04] Get to know the influential conservative intellectuals who help explain GOP extremism: Well, you don't really want to know them, but let's drop a few names you can try to avoid: Costin Alamariu ("Bronze Age Pervert"), Michael Anton (The Flight 93 Election; The Stakes), Patrick Deneen (Why Liberalism Failed; Regime Change), Rod Dreher (Crunchy Cons; Live Not by Lies), John Eastman (indicted Trump lawyer), Stephen Wolfe (The Case for Christian Nationalism), Curtis Yarvin ("Dark Enlightenment"). Also mentioned in passing: Tyler Cowen, Richard Hanania, Sean Hannity, Thomas Klingenstein (Claremont funder), Matthew Peterson, Christopher Rufo, Tucker Carlson.

Patrick Ruffini: [11-04] The emerging working-class Republican majority: "The coalition that elected Donald Trump in 2016 was no one-off." No point filing this in the top section on Republicans because no real Republicans were involved in the spinning of this fantasy -- adapted from the author's new book, Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP. Interesting that he takes Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas? as a pivot, arguing that twenty years later "the villain of the story has switched sides." But his evidence is thin, and doesn't remotely approach policy: what's changed since Kansas is that the gullible GOP base are demanding more blood in their red meat -- the diet of bigotry and fear-mongering the Party tempts them with -- but on a practical level, Republicans are still every bit as dedicated to serving oligarchy by rendering government incompetent and corrupt. It's worth noting that in his later books, Frank turned on Democratic supplicants to the rich -- especially in 2016's Listen, Liberal!, which was harsh on the Clintons (but also Obama, Cuomo, Deval Patrick, etc.) -- but many (most?) Democrats shifted their policy priorities to actually help and expand the middle class. Sure, Trump railed against the corrosive jobs effect of trade deals, but Biden came up with policies to build jobs, and to give workers the leverage to get better pay. Trump talked infrastructure, but Biden is building it. There is still much more to be done, not least because Republicans -- no matter how populist they claim to be -- are obstacles wherever they have any leverage. The Republicans' only response is to ramp up the demagoguery and bullshit.

Jeffrey St Clair: [11-03] Roaming Charges: Shrinkwrapped, how sham psychology fueled the Texas death machine.

Hadas Thier: [11-04] Sam Bankman-Fried was guilty, and not even Michael Lewis could save him. As someone who regards all of crypto as criminal conspiracy, I was a bit surprised at how quickly and definitively this trial turned, but here it is. Also:

• Kevin T Dugan: [11-03] The real SBF stood up: "An open-and-shut case finally revealed the criminal behind the legend."

• Whizy Kim: [11-03] Sam Bankman-Fried's trial pulled back the curtain on crypto.

• Declan Harty: [11-02] Crypto faces world of legal clashes even after SBF trial.

Sean Wilentz: [10-23] The revolution within the American Revolution: "Supported and largely led by slaveholders, the American Revolution was also, paradoxically, a profound antislavery event."

Gabriel Winant: [10-13] On mourning and statehood: A response to Joshua Leifer: "How to grieve, what meaning to give those tears, is cruelly a political question whether we like it or not." Leifer's original piece was Toward a humane left, and he later wrote A reply to Gabriel Winant. I'm not here to argue with Leifer (nor with Eric Levitz, whose similar position elicited much more of my thinking in recent weeks), other than to note again that morality is a luxury most enjoyed from a distance, and can easily be used as a cudgel against people who circumstance has deprived of such options. But sure, no complaints here about making the left even more humane (and not just the left, needless to say). But I do want to quote some things Winant said, because I've had similar thoughts but haven't quite found the words:

One way of understanding Israel that I think should not be controversial is to say that it is a machine for the conversion of grief into power. The Zionist dream, born initially from the flames of pogroms and the romantic nationalist aspirations so common to the nineteenth century, became real in the ashes of the Shoah, under the sign "never again." Commemoration of horrific violence done to Jews, as we all know, is central to what Israel means and the legitimacy that the state holds -- the sword and shield in the hands of the Jewish people against reoccurrence. Anyone who has spent time in synagogues anywhere in the world, much less been in Israel for Yom HaShoah or visited Yad Vashem, can recognize this tight linkage between mourning and statehood.

This, on reflection, is a hideous fact. For what it means is that it is not possible to publicly grieve an Israeli Jewish life lost to violence without tithing ideologically to the IDF -- whether you like it or not. . . . The state will do -- already is doing -- what it does with Jewish grief: transmute it into violence. For the perpetrator, the immediate psychic satisfactions of this maneuver are easy enough to understand, although the long-term costs prove somewhat more complex.

It is this context -- the already-political grief at the core of the Zionist adventure -- that makes so many on the left so reticent to perform a public shedding of tears over Hamas's victims. They are, we might darkly say, "pre-grieved": that is, an apparatus is already in place to take their deaths and give them not just any meaning, but specifically the meaning that they find in the bombs falling on Gaza. . . . Its power, in turn, is such that the most ringing dissents calling instead for peace and humane mourning for all -- like Eric Levitz's and Joshua Leifer's -- nevertheless resonate only as whimpers of sentiment. Whatever the noble and admirable content of such humane efforts, their form is already molded. They are participating, presumably without intent, in a new Red Scare being prepared not against stray callous advocates of Hamas, but against all who defend the right of Palestinians to live, and to live as equals.

Also:

The Israeli government doesn't care if you, a principled person, perform your equal grief for all victims: it will gobble up your grief for Jews and use it to make more victims of Palestinians, while your balancing grief for Palestinians will be washed away in the resulting din of violence and repression. The impulse, repeatedly called "humane" over the past week, to find peace by acknowledging equally the losses on all sides rests on a fantasy that mourning can be depoliticized. If only it were so -- but this would be the end of Zionism, after all. More tragically, the sentiment of those who want peace and justice for all and express this by chastising those in the West whom they see to be reacting with insufficient grief and excessive politics have only given amplification to the propaganda machine that is now openly calling for the blood of the innocent and the silence of doubters.

No time for me to start unpacking this, let alone building on it, but much more could be said.

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