Recent Reading

Music Database

Artist Search:

Browse

Website Search

Google:

Blog Entries [30 - 39]

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Opened this file Tuesday afternoon, August 6, after posting Music Week. When I woke up early Tuesday, my wife informed me that Harris had picked Tim Walz as her running mate. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up again, the song in my head was "Happy Days Are Here Again." It's rare not to be disappointed by a Democrat politician. I still expect Harris to come up short, possibly often, but every time she doesn't is gratifying.

Opening the file so early added a "hot take" element, especially to the Walz coverage. It also meant that I had some opportunity to collect Chatter in real time, before it became impossibly lost in the daily avalanche. As of Friday, which is when I usually start, I had 107 links, 4538 words (not counting this paragraph).

Late Sunday it was up to 265, 12229. That's probably enough for now, as my eyes are glazing over, and my indifference is rising. I can always add the odd bit on Monday, while excusing another paltry Music Week -- but actually, I have some other work to get to on Monday, so I might not even do that.

I can point to a new batch of Questions and Answers -- the first I've done this year. All four are music-related, so I'll mention them again when Music Week comes out.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [08-08] Day 307: At least 56 Palestinians killed across Gaza as Israel bombs two more schools in latest massacres: "A reported 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Abdel Fatah Hamoud and the al-Zahraa schools in Gaza City. With these latest massacres, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks on Thursday alone rose to at least 56."

• Khalid Albaih: [08-06] Palestine is a glimpse of the dystopic future that awaits us.

• B'Tselem: Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps: This is a major report on "the abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023."

  B'Tselem collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians held during that time and released, almost all with no charges. Their testimonies reveal the outcomes of the rushed transformation of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as a matter of policy. Facilities in which every inmate is deliberately subjected to harsh, relentless pain and suffering operate as de-facto torture camps.

  More stories follow up on this report, but the subject pervades everything Israel does, and so is reflected in many stories.

  • Juan Cole: [08-09] B'Tselem accuses Israeli authorities of systematically torturing thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

  • Alex N Press: [08-10] Israeli prisons are a giant torture machine.

  • Mohamed Solaimane: [08-06] How Israeli prisons became torture camps for Palestinians: "Since the war on Gaza began, Israel has conducted a systematic policy of torture and abuse against Palestinians illegally detained in its prisons."

• Juan Cole: [08-08] Israeli minister asserts that starving 2 million Palestinians is morally and legally permitted: That would be Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

• Simon Speakman Cordall: [08-09] 'Everything is legitimate': Israeli leaders defend soldiers accused of rape.

• Chris Habiby: [08-10] End Israel's system of economic apartheid in Palestine: "Often overlooked, Israel's intentional system of economically fragmenting and dispossessing Palestinians is an essential part of its plan to ethnically cleanse the land and deny Palestinian liberation."

• Amjad Iraqi: [08-06] We're already in a regional war. Only a Gaza ceasefire can end it.

• Tareq S Hajjaj:

  • [08-06] Survivors of the latest tent massacre in Gaza recount the horror: "On August 4, the Israeli army bombed a group of tents inside the compound of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing three people. The bombing caused a number of tents to catch on fire, resulting in the injury of dozens of displaced civilians."

  • [08-09] 'Shrapnel, stones and scattered human flesh': Testimonies from survivors of Gaza school bombings: "On Thursday, August 8, Israeli airstrikes targeted two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 17 people and the injury of dozens others. These are the testimonies of some of the survivors."

• Mohammed R Mhawish: [08-07] In memory of journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul, Gaza City's voice to the world.

• Qassam Muaddi: [08-05] Surviving until the next raid: Life in Nur Shams refugee camp under Israeli assault: "Since October 7 Israel's crackdown on the West Bank town of Tulkarem has intensified. Raids are almost daily, have been more destructive and lethal, and have transformed the lives of more than 8,000 Palestinians living in the city's refugee camps."

• Orly Noy: [08-02] Israeli leaders celebrate assassinations -- and make the living pay the price: "Has the genocide increased the security of a single person in Israel? Are we safer while we wait for Iran's response to Haniyeh's killing?"

• Jonathan Ofir: [08-06] Israeli rape of detainees is the result of a society that sees Palestinians as 'human animals': "Israel has claimed that it is fighting "human animals" in Gaza. But now, Israeli society's own monstrous sadism, deriving from a deep hate of Palestinians, is on display for the rest of the world to see."

• Jeffrey St Clair: [05-10] Medicide in Gaza: the killing of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh.

• Oren Ziv: [08-07] Three Israeli army refusers: 'We will not participate in genocide': "Conscientious objectors Yuval Moav, Itamar Greenberg, and Oryan Mueller explain why they are willing to go to jail in order to stand against the war."

• Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh: I published quite a bit on the assassination of Hamas's top diplomat last week. More fallout this week, plus speculations on Hamas after Haniyeh.

  • Sami Al-Arian: [08-10] Can new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar achieve Palestinian unity? Supposedly, after Haniyeh's assassination, he's the new leader of Hamas, assuming he's still alive, but he's trapped underground in Gaza, so it's hard to see how he can be effective in any other aspect of the job. He was prominent enough in the Oct. 7 attack that he got named (along with Haniyeh, Netanyahu, and Gallant) in the war crimes indictments, so he seems like the obvious choice, assuming there was one. As Netanyahu has vowed to keep the war going until Hamas is destroyed, he needed a new leader much more than Hamas did -- and one who can't travel, like Haniyeh could, is even better.

  • Marco Carnelos: [08-04] Haniyeh killing: Why Netanyahu launched his three-pronged offensive now.

  • Khaled Hroub: [08-02] Haniyeh killing: What will Hamas look like after the political leader's death?

  • Richard Silverstein: [08-06] Ismail Haniyeh killing: Netanyahu wants a war without end. This could give it to him. "From undermining Iran's new reformist leader to killing off Gaza ceasefire talks, the Hamas leader's assassination strengthens Israel's hand."

  • Al Jazeera: [08-11] Hamas urges return to existing Gaza ceasefire proposal. "Israeli media outlets are interpreting the Hamas statement as a rejection of the ceasefire talks altogether."

America's Israel (and Israel's America):

• Michael Arria:

  • [08-05] International campaign targets tanker supplying Israeli war planes with Texas oil.

  • [08-06] The Shift: Harris picks Tim Walz.

  • [08-08] The Shift: Walz, Harris and Gaza: "Kamala Harris's choice of Tim Walz isn't a repudiation of Democratic Party support for Israel, but activists see it as an opportunity to push the new ticket on Gaza."

• Giorgio Cafiero: [05-02] The US and Israeli role in Sudan's path to war: "Israel and the US's desire to consolidate Khartoum's position in the Abraham Accords has emboldened militaristic authoritarianism in Sudan."

• Hamid Dabashi: [08-08] Just like her predecessors, Kamala Harris is fully on board with Israel's genocide: I don't have any inside info to dispute this, but I doubt that any US Democrat -- Republicans like Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham are another story, as is the somewhat less explicit Donald Trump -- articulates any desire for genocide no matter how reflexively their solidarity with Israel supports it. Their "two state" talk may just be blather, but the subtext is that they want some kind of accommodation for coexistence -- with few details and no pressure, of course. There is also good reason to expect that Democrats, given their domestic programs, will be more oriented toward negotiated peace -- although there are contraindications, like their fondness for military spending, and their relative hawkishness on Ukraine. But given the politics (by which I mean money) around Israel, someone in Harris's shoes would be best served by operating behind the scenes, preserving the public appearance of alignment until she can actually change things. I have no idea whether she's thinking she should change US direction on Israel, but until she can, I don't see much value in blaming her. But it's a fair question for the public, who have few other options, to pursue.

• Ahmed Moor: [08-05] In Washington's streets, a new popular consensus on Palestine: "While Congress cheered Netanyahu, grassroots mobilizations of the Democratic base marked a sharp break from the party's support for Israel."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [08-08] Promising signs that Palestine advocacy is building political power in Washington: "The Israel lobby built its strength on the fact that its opposition was politically weak. Kamala Harris's choice of Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro and the massive cost it took to defeat Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush show this is no longer the case."

• Aaron Sobczak: [08-06] Poll: Most Americans don't want to send troops to defend Israel: "The lowest level of support in recent years -- from both political parties."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Yasmeen Abutaleb: [08-11] Pro-Palestinian protesters vow massive showing at Democratic convention.

• M Reza Benham: [08-09] Born and dwells in violence: Israel's mission in the Middle East. This piece deserves some kind of price for greatest understatement: "Palestinian leaders, too, have not escaped Israeli violence." Near 20 years ago, I ran across a website with names and short biographies of notable Palestinians, and was truly shocked by the large percentage of them who had been killed by Israelis. While some may have been promoted by martyrdom, a good many had notable lives before they were killed. I'm not able to find that particular website at the moment, but Wikipedia has a long List of Israeli assassinations, starting with two Egyptians who were killed with parcel bombs in 1956.

• Jonathan Cook: [08-07] Israel is in a death spiral. Who will it take down with it? "Israel's zealots are ignoring the pleas of the top brass. They want to widen the circle of war, whatever the consequences." The title seems premature, at least in political terms, but it's fair enough in terms of the moral dimension of Israeli forces, and provides a good summary of where the hawks stand and are going. Subheds: Sexual violence; Can of worms; Rape permitted; On a precipice; Stalling the ICC; International isolation; War machine cornered. Pull quote: "As the Israeli media has been warning for some time, sections of the army are effectively now turning into militias that follow their own rules." This piece linked to some older Cook articles, which are still relevant and worth noting:

  • [05-24] The message of Israel's torture chambers is directed at all of us, not just Palestinians.

  • [03-15] Torture, executions, babies left to die, sexual abuse . . . These are Israel's crimes.

  • [07-23] The World Court has just cleared the fog hiding western support for Israel's crimes.

• Eugene Doyle: [08-09] Team genocide walks out on Nagasaki commemorations. As noted, the mayor of Nagasaki had previously called for a ceasefire in Gaza, long before he disinvited Israel's representative from attending this year's reminder of what nuclear warfare means. I previously noted that Rahm Emmanuel, US ambassador to Japan, had responded by boycott, evidently figuring that solidarity with Israel (and its ongoing genocide in Gaza) was more important than showing Japan that the nation responsible for killing 74,000 Japanese people on August 9, 1945 at least acknowledged the event. (Apologies are evidently still out of the question.) What I hadn't realized was that Emmanuel was joined by "several Western countries" including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, and the UK. I'm all for diplomatic niceties, but Israel should be shunned for its current conduct. And the US should be remembered as the only nation that has used nuclear weapons in war, thus demonstrating so graphically their enormous peril.

  • Chaitanya Davé: [08-08] America's most criminal act: the atomic bombings of Japan. If you need a reminder of what Emmanuel is all too happy to forget, this is thorough and should be sobering. He does lean heavily on Gar Alperovitz's 1996 book, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (massively researched, with 864 pp -- long ago, I read his slim first book, Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, from 1965). This is the first I've heard of Davé, an engineer from India who moved to the US in 1966 and has written several books, including Crimes Against Humanity: A Shocking History of US Crimes Since 1776 (2000) -- or for that matter, of the Global Research website. While I can imagine them going over the deep end -- one article refers not just to the criminality but the "satanic nature" of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- but I was intrigued enough to check out some more Davé articles, like:

    • [06-18] The American amnesia -- US war policy.

    • [05-03] Winston Churchill: hero for the western world, racist criminal for the rest of the world.

    • [2023-10-22] Israel: an apartheid nation.

    • [2022-06-29] NATO expansion is a blunder of epic proportions.

    • [2022-08-29] Genocide of millions of Indians during the British-Raj. 31 famines under British colonial rule.

  • Taylor C Noakes: [2023-08-09] The atomic bombings of Japan were based on lies.

  • Kathleen Kingsbury/WJ Hennigan/Spencer Cohen: [08-06] The last survivors speak. It's time to listen. This piece is part of a series on nuclear war, including the following articles by Hennigan:

    • At the brink: a series about the threat of nuclear weapons in an unstable world

    • Nuclear war is called unimaginable. In fact, it's not imagined enough.

    • How America made nuclear war the president's decision.

    • How China's nuclear ambitions have changed the world.

    • The victims of US nuclear testing deserve more than this.

• Daniel Finn: [08-09] Free Palestine from German racism dressed up as guilt.

• Joshua Frank: [05-31] You can't turn back the clock on genocide: "easily 200,000 deaths in Gaza." I may have cited this piece before, when it was published at TomDispatch, but it's popped up again, and reminds us that in such matters, numbers never go back down.

• Ana Malinow: [08-08] Finding the moral courage to recognize a genocide.

• Craig Mokhiber: [08-07] The World Court has ended the Oslo ruse: "The ICJ's ruling that international law protects the rights of Palestinians, and they need not negotiate with their oppressors for those rights, dealt a definitive blow to decades of Western efforts to situate Israel outside the reach of the law."

• Mary Ellen O'Connell: [08-07] Assassination is always unlawful -- regardless of who is killed and on whose orders.

• Mazin Qumsiyeh: [08-11] The path forward: I've been receiving the author's newsletter since I saw him give a very good talk here in Wichita -- see my 2004 notebook entry -- and I read his book from back then, Sharing the Land of Canaan. How useful the newsletter is varies, but I admire his dedication, persistence, and humanity in this very frustrating ordeal. Here he attempts to take stock:

  Over the past 45 years, I have been active on the streets and on the internet for our people struggle for return and self-determination in the face of a most brutal and merciless colonial regime. I read thousands of books and wrote a few myself. I read tens of thousands of research and analytical papers (and wrote hundreds myself). The problem of our country can actually be described very briefly. Its solution (remedies) can also be described briefly. Implementing the solution would be doable and is the only way to avoid a catastrophic world war.

  The only way I can see this developing into world war is if the US gets so inebriated with Israel's military arrogance it goes after bigger game, like Russia and China -- which I suppose could be his point. But the local war is catastrophic enough, not just for its obvious victims, but also for the increasingly brutalized victors. Qumsiyeh is right to frame Israel/Palestine as a colonial settler conflict, although simply villainizing the settlers isn't helpful, especially as it blurs distinctions that matter to them.

  We know now that such conflicts can only end (by which I mean stabilize) three ways: either the colonizers are repulsed (as with Algeria and Zimbabwe, both well after the founding of Israel, so recently enough that Palestinians could take hope from their examples), or the colonizers crush the natives (as in America and Australia), or the colonizers realize that they need to negotiate some sort of viable coexistence (as in South Africa), which entails ceding power while retaining generally recognized rights.

  Israel has eliminated the first option: Arafat conceded Israel's right to exist and govern in the 1980s, and Hamas came around to that position by 2005, leaving only the details of accommodation to be worked out. But a large and influential faction of Israelis still held out hope for total domination. They've risen in power on the crest of a series of increasingly nihilistic wars, testing the limits of what conscience -- both theirs and the world's -- will allow, especially since Oct. 7. I personally don't believe they can get away with it, but no one is going to force them to stop, leaving us with nothing more than appeals to decency, starting with those who have thus far supported and condoned their genocide. Qumsiyeh sees BDS as helpful, "international law" less so. But use what you got.

• Jennifer Rubin: [08-06] Netanyahu has managed to frustrate just about everyone: "It appears as though the Israeli prime minister wants to extend the war." I'd edit that a bit, replacing "appears" with "it's obvious," and I'd be tempted to make that "it's fucking obvious," because that's how obvious it is. But "frustrate" is an interesting word here, because it implies that you actually thought he was capable of something better. He isn't. He never was. He'll never be. But your naivete in thinking he might is kind of sweet.

• Michael Schwalbe: [08-06] Israeli racism shouldn't get a pass in America.

Election notes:

• Cori Bush: D-MO, elected in a big upset in 2020, displacing a 10-term incumbent as a would-be Squad member. She called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and has voted against military aid to Israel, which made her a target in AIPAC's purge of Democratic Party dissidents. She lost the primary last week.

  • Perry Bacon Jr.: [08-07] Cori Bush's defeat is a big, disappointing loss for progressives.

  • Medea Benjamin: [08-07] AIPAC hijacks Cori Bush race -- and our elections.

  • Ben Burgis: [08-08] AIPAC bought Cori Bush's seat.

  • Akela Lacy: AIPAC millions take down second Squad member Cori Bush.

  • Yousef Munayyer: [08-07] US support for Israel is collapsing. And AIPAC knows it: Argues their victory over Cori Bush was "a pyrrhic victory for a losing cause."

  • John Nichols: [08-07] Cori bush may have lost an election but she won the moral high ground: "The Missouri Democrat was among the first to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and there can be no disputing that she stood on the right side of history."

  • Nicholas Wu: [08-06] Cori Bush becomes second Squad member ousted in a primary: After Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).

• Thomas B Edsall: [08-07] Two opposing developments that changed American politics: "A pair of major developments in recent years -- the ascendance of Donald Trump and the emergence of Black Lives Matter protests -- have decisively altered the nation's two political parties." Trump, as party leader, has become the sharp focal point for all sorts of crazy thinking on the right (including things he doesn't seem to understand, but supports anyway, because he knows he's their leader). The left doesn't have a comparable leader figure, not that Bernie Sanders couldn't have filled that role had he prevailed, but it's fitting that the left has been driven from below, through protests.

  But BLM, important as it was, was just one of several upheavals, of which Occupy Wall Street was especially important for re-introducing class struggle (framed as the 99% vs. the 1%; while you may think it was just a phase, it specifically brought the student debt issue to the fore). Also mention the Keystone Pipeline protests, which won out. Also a tremendous uptick in labor organizing. And now we have the anti-genocide protests. Plus another constellation of issues, like abortion.

  It further occurs to me that this ground-level shift to the left by Democrats follows a similar, earlier change on the right, which was largely driven by right-wing media (especially if you recognize that the Tea Party was essentially astroturfed). Trump's emergence as party leader didn't depend on any new ideas. He simply recycled what Fox fed him, adding the conceit of his own personality cult. The delay is easy to understand. The right was funded by rich folk who wanted to protect their business empires from the scourge of public interest (also unions, of course), so they plotted to take over government, largely by making politicians beg for their money. The pressure on ordinary people to move left came not from secret interest groups but from fear of what the right was getting away with.

  Edsall does have some reason for focusing on BLM. He cites a 2018 article by Matt Grossman: People are changing their views on race and gender issues to match their party. As Democrats increasingly recognized the perils of the right, they came to feel solidarity with their fellow victims, to the point where, as Grossman puts it, "liberal-leaning voters moved away from [Trump's] views faster than conservatives moved toward them."

• Michael Tesler: [08-08] Why immigration is a better issue for Trump than it was in 2020. As an issue, it's better because he's running against Biden's record, not on or against his own. And Republicans have had nearly four years to amplify it as a constant talking point. Also, to some extent, Democrats, including Biden, have run away from it, which neither makes them look smart nor strong.

• Daniel I Weiner/Owen Bacskai: [08-09] Unregulated money continues to corrode US politics. Reforms are needed.

• Sam Wolfson: [08-09] Brats, dads and bravado: this US election will be decided on vibes: "Personality is always central to elections. But this year, it's about who you think the candidates could be." I found this piece first, and thought it generic enough to slot here (under elections), but later found much more talking about "vibes" (our buzz word of the week), steering strongly toward Harris-Walz:

  • Fareed Zakaria: [08-10] Harris is winning the all-important battle -- of vibes.

  • Charles M Blow: [08-07] Harris, Walz and Democrats' joyful campaign: Democrats may have little to complain about the Biden administration, but the big promise to protect us from the depredations of Trump and the Republicans hasn't worked out so great. He mentions a bunch of examples, which seemed to be snowballing as Trump dominated the airwaves and inched up in the polls, while Biden appeared increasingly hapless.

    I underestimated how much soul damage Democratic voters had suffered over the past three and a half years -- not in the main because of the Biden administration, but because of the seemingly endless culture wars -- and how that damage had jelled into a form of electoral depression.

    Harris changed that almost instantly: "She isn't articulating policy positions that differ substantially from President Biden's. She is, however, allowing herself to be the vessel for pent-up liberal energy." I also like this bit:

    Last year, when Biden was gearing up to announce his re-election bid, Terrance Woodbury, a founding partner at the consultancy HIT Strategies, whose research includes surveying Black voter sentiment, told me something that has stuck with me: Young Black voters -- young Black men in particular -- are less responsive to political messages of fear and loss and more responsive to messages of gain and empowerment. . . .

    Republicans have slammed Harris as a D.E.I. candidate, tossing around the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion to insinuate that she didn't earn her place. But overwhelmingly, one of the reasons Democrats are excited about her is that she's highly qualified and also happens to be a woman of color. They recognize that she represents all that is good about D.E.I., that it isn't about the granting of privilege but the dismantling of it.

    Personally, I'm totally bored with all those checklist firsts. I'm not inclined to think of her in those terms at all. On the other hand, D.E.I. is an insult we can embrace as a principle, and run with.

  • Jennifer Rubin: [08-08] Walz brings the vibes, but that's not all: "On education and agriculture, this vice-presidential pick's experience runs deep."

  • David Sirota: [08-10] Harris-Walz's good vibes aren't enough: Sure, but why not enjoy them while you can? It's not like we've had enough good vibes in our lives to get used to them, let alone to overdose on them. Savor the feeling. Isn't this what democracy is supposed to feel like? Sure, after they win in November, we'll still have challenges and problems, to which they won't always have answers or be helpful, but work from that. At least you won't have to start out from Trump again. And if they lose, the only reason to think about that now is for motivation to keep it from happening. Afterwards, there will be plenty of time for lessons learned. But after the dread of Biden losing his place on the teleprompter or trying to negotiate a flight of stairs, we need good some vibes. Enjoy.

Trump:

• Brooke Anderson: {08-01] How Trump hijacked the Republican Party.

• Isaac Arnsdorf/Josh Dawsey/Hannah Knowles: [08-07] Trump took a private flight with Project 2025 leader in 2022: "Trump took the flight to speak at a Heritage Foundation conference, where he said, 'They're going to lay the ground work and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.'" Now Trump is trying to disclaim their plan.

• Jamelle Bouie: [08-09] The real reason Trump and Vance hate being called 'weird'. Republicans are losing their grip on the Nixonian bequest of "the silent majority." They haven't been either for a long time now, but Democrats were too timid to point it out, until one did, and instantly it was obvious to all.

• Frank Bruni: [08-08] Donald Trump, prince of self-pity.

• Abbie Cheeseman: [08-11] Trump campaign hack could indicate wider election disruptions, experts warn.

• David French: [08-11] To save conservatism from itself, I am voting for Harris: Filed here instead of under Harris, because this is really about Trump, not Harris. I agree with virtually nothing French writes here. I don't even fully buy this:

  The only real hope for restoring a conservatism that values integrity, demonstrates real compassion and defends our foundational constitutional principles isn't to try to make the best of Trump, a man who values only himself. If he wins again, it will validate his cruelty and his ideological transformation of the Republican Party.

  I believe that conservatism is so utterly corrupt and rotten, so selfish and cruel, it deserves Trump, and those are the reasons he's attracted to it -- although his vanity is probably a bigger one. I do suspect that many people who identify as conservative, possibly including French, are decent and honorable, at least in their personal lives, but they falter when they try to tell other people how to live, because they simply don't understand how the world works beyond their own perception and projection. If they could, they'd be welcomed by Democrats, who by and large are tolerant and respectful of all sorts. They might even help make us better people. But while French's vote is welcome, his reasoning is still selfishly parochial. He needs to work on that.

• Maureen Dowd: [08-10] Trump, by the numbers: Anyone who can recall engaging with Trump 20+ years ago is bound to come up with unsettling images:

  From the first time I went on an exploratory political trip with Trump in 1999, he has measured his worth in numbers. His is not an examined life but a quantified life.

  When I asked him why he thought he could run for president, he cited his ratings on "Larry King Live." He was at his most animated reeling off his ratings, like Faye Dunaway in "Network," orgasmically reciting how well her shows were doing.

  He pronounced himself better than other candidates because of numbers: the number of men who desired his then-girlfriend, Melania Knauss; the number of zoning changes he had maneuvered to get; the number of stories he stacked on his building near the U.N.; the number of times he was mentioned in a Palm Beach newspaper.

  But the flash forward to today:

  He is clearly befuddled by someone with brown skin who has come not to hurt Americans, but to save them from Donald Trump; someone who is not scary, as he is, but joyful, not threatening but thrilling.

  And, in Trump's worst nightmare, this dark-skinned someone is attracting huge adoring, dancing, laughing crowds.

• Michael Grasso: [08-09] Donald Trump and the '80s aesthetic: "The pro-Trump Zoomer sees the 2020s as a degenerate age and the '80s as a time when men were men. It's why their homemade videos are filled with VHS scan lines, old Gillette commercials, and Van Halen's 'Jump.'"

• Malcolm Harris: Tech billionaires love Trump now -- because he's one of them.

• Brian Karem: [08-08] Trump left spinning by Kamala Harris' surprise strength: "Trump's implosion is nearly complete."

• Glenn Kessler: [08-06] Trump's fusillade of falsehoods on debt and taxes: Fact-checks a Trump interview by Maria Bartiromo.

• Ed Kilgore: [08-08] Trump's 2024 election-denial playbook: "Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to overturn a possible 2024 loss -- and they don't intend to repeat the mistakes they made last time." They're going to make new mistakes? Could one be conceding they have no faith they can win honestly?

• Susan Milligan: [08-06] Trump's campaign is drowning in rage: "Faced with a surprisingly united Democratic Party, the Republican nominee is trotting out the same old strategy."

• Danielle Paquette: [08-10] A pastor said his pro-Trump prophecies came from God. His brother called him a fake. "Jeremiah Johnson became a sensation when he embraced politics. His brother Josiah, also a preacher, couldn't shake his concerns."

• Matthew Stevenson: [08-08] Trump's wolves on Wall Street: Inside the Truth Social numbers. This has a lot more detail on the business/financial side than I cared to follow, but here's one sample that caught my eye:

  Nor does the SEC seem particularly concerned that inside traders in Digital World shares might well have gotten their tips from a Russian banker who bailed out Trump's Truth Social in 2021 with a loan from his Caribbean porn bank.

• James D Zirin: [08-07] Trump's slur of Harris -- 'Is she Indian or is she Black?' -- echoes a creepy episode from his past. As does nearly every Trump story, but the devil's in the details.

Vance:

• Aaron Blake: [08-07] It's getting worse for JD Vance: "A half-dozen polls in recent weeks have shown his already-underwhelming image deteriorating. And they suggest his past comments about childless women aren't helping."

• Ben Burgis: [08-08] JD Vance got his faux populism from internet weirdos.

• Michelle Goldberg: [08-05] JD Vance just blurbed a book arguing that progressives are subhuman: The book is by Jack Posobiec ("far-right provocateur") and Joshua Lisec ("professional ghostwriter"):

  The word "fascist" gets thrown around a lot in politics, but it's hard to find a more apt one for Inhumans, which came out last month. . . .

  As they tell it, modern progressivism is just the latest incarnation of an ancient evil dating back to the late Roman Republic and continuing through the French Revolution and Communism to today. Often, they write, "great men of means" are required to crush this scourge. The contempt for democracy in Unhumans is not subtle. "Our study of history has brought us to this conclusion: Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans," write Posobiec and Lisec.

• Andy Kroll/Nick Surgey: [07-16] In private speech, JD Vance said the "Devil is real" and praised Alex Jones as a truth-teller: "Vance gave the speech to the secretive Teneo network."

• Clay Risen: [08-10] What's so new about the 'new right'? "JD Vance and his allies represent a mind-set that dates back to the McCarthy era and the dawn of the Cold War."

• Bill Scher: [08-08] When Vance told Appalachians to leave Appalachia: "A decade ago, Vance wrote that the Appalachian poor should abandon their 'destructive' communities and stop blaming others for their misery. Now, all he does is blame." Also:

  • [08-08] "Hillbilly Elegy" elegy: "Also, Trump's disparagement of Native Americans, and RFK Jr.'s bear incident." He also links to:

  • Jeet Heer: [2021-07-28] JD Vance's misogynist dog whistle: "The Hillbilly Elegy author turned Ohio Senate candidate is speaking a private language to pander to Trump voters he once scorned."

  • Ezra Klein: [2017-02-02] A conversation with JD Vance, the reluctant interpreter of Trumpism: "The author of Hillbilly Elegy on why Trump won, how elites helped, and what we miss about social mobility."

• Alex Shephard: [08-06] Donald Trump has no heir: "Yes, Trump is just popular enough to win again this year. But no one has emerged yet to take the MAGA crown whenever he relinquishes it." So this is really about how far Vance has slipped in two weeks, from back when practically everyone was writing about him as heir-apparent.

• Farah Stockman: [07-28] Decoding JD Vance's brand of nationalism.

And other Republicans:

• Project 2025:

  • Griffin Eckstein: [08-07] Project 2025 architect pushes book with JD Vance foreword until after election.

  • Jake Johnson: [08-08] Watchdog of far-right GOP issues 'The Definitive Guide to Project 2025': Media Matters for America issued a 67 page report.

  • Alec MacGillis: [08-06] The man behind Project 2025's most radical plans: A long profile on Paul Dans.

  • Andrew Perez/Asawin Suebsaeng: Project 2025 is an unmitigated polling disaster for Trump and Republicans: "Democrats are planning to 'smother' Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the GOP with Project 2025 until November. New polls show why." They also wrote:

    • Trump flipped out that 'lunatic' Project 2025 could tank his campaign.

  • Rick Perlstein: [08-07] Crow Jim: Project 2025's obsession with reverse racism: "Blueprints for conservative rule can't get enough of the smear that fighting racism against Black people amounts to racism against white people."

  • Tia Yang/Nathaniel Rakich/Mary Radcliffe/Cooper Burton: [08-09] Americans don't like Project 2025: "Plus, polls on vaccines, the child tax credit and which party is more 'weird.'"

• David Daley: [08-05] GOP plans to win this election -- in court, if not at the ballot box: "Republicans learned from their 2020 mistakes -- and have good reason to believe the Supreme Court is on their side." Not the only article on this:

  • Dennis Aftergut/Norman J Ornstein: [08-07] January 6 was a beta test for 2025.

• Jake Johnson: [08-07] GOP budget plans spotlight party's top priority: handouts for the rich.

• Dominik A Leusder: [08-10] How Republicans fell in love with crypto.

• Amanda Marcotte: [06-13] Rudy Giuliani's mug shot and Steve Bannon's prison sentence: Why MAGA loves to be seen as villains.

• Ishmael Reed: [08-09] MAGA and the fear of being eaten:

  To be a Trump Republican is to live in a horror film. Fears abound. The fear of immigrants, the fear of Woke (a euphemism for Black culture), a fear of books, a fear of cat ladies, a fear of being replaced, a fear of George Soros, and now Anthropophagophobia, the fear of being eaten. In two books that are required reading for far-righters -- The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce, a physicist who used the pen name Andrew Macdonald, and Unhumans by Jack Posobiec -- Blacks commit cannibalism.

  By invoking Hannibal Lecter, Trump is warning his Red Caps that Black cannibals aren't their only threat. According to him, millions are arriving in the United States to find some MAGA meat to munch on. When confronted by live cannibals, their victims will miss the old days when the cannibals were "The Walking Dead," who moved so slowly that one could escape.

• Faiz Siddiqui/Jeremy B Merrill: [08-11] Elon Musk's X feed becomes megaphone for his far-right politics.

• Katherine Stewart: [08-10] The Claremont Institute: The anti-democracy think tank: "It was once (mostly) traditionally conservative and (sort of) intellectually rigorous. Now it platforms white nationalists and promotes authoritarianism." This is a long and thorough dig through the history of one of the right wing's premier think tanks, so it also qualifies as a cautionary tale of the rot of the conservative brain. The days when anyone could plausibly claim that conservatives were doing real thinking are long gone.

  The kind of authoritarianism that Claremont is peddling did not happen to the conservative movement by accident. It is the predictable result of the massive investment that conservative money made over the past 50-plus years in polluting American political discourse with its massive complex of ideological factories. When you spend enough to spread unreasonable ideas, you will get an unreasonable society. You might even become a bit of a crank yourself. It goes back to a problem at least as old as Plato. If your power depends on lying to the people, that doesn't make you noble. It just leaves you with a choice: Accept that you are a fraud, or embrace the lie.

Harris:

• David Badash: [08-09] Fox host furious Kamala Harris loves to cook: This is causing some cognitive dissonance for me: she loves to cook; her husband is a serious jazz fan. Politics aside, these are people I could actually imagine enjoying socializing with. As hobbies and interests go, these are things that show a zest for life, and a willingness to engage it intellectually as well physically.

• Jonathan Chait:

  • [08-06] Kamala Harris and Tim Walz need to pivot the center right now: "Does Harris really understand the assignment?" That's a rather peculiar term to use here: Just who's doing the assigning here? Barring some hidden power, that may just be Chait. After all, his definition -- "the assignment, to be clear, is to win over voters who don't like Donald Trump but worry Harris is too liberal" -- sounds exactly like Chait, who represents an electoral bloc of himself and hardly anyone else. I mean, how many people who don't like Trump still make such fine-grained distinctions among shades of Democrats that they'll hold their votes in sway? I doubt even Chait is that fickle. So what's he doing here? Well, he seems to feel it's his job to stamp out any hope that the Democratic Party might be able to accomplish anything by getting elected. He does this by steering Democrats to the corrupt, do-nothing "center."

    I'm old enough to remember when Democrats ran scared of being called "red," but does running away from your principles and beliefs really win elections? And even when you do manage to win one, how much loyal support do you gain by never implementing any serious reforms? The track record for Chait-approved centrists really isn't all that impressive. On the other hand, Republicans have built up an enthusiastic base by fighting for the wrongs they believe in. Maybe Democrats should consider fighting for some rights. Sure, they may lose, but if they can't take a stand for something, they're lost anyway. And even when Republicans win and make our lives more miserable, they will at least have sown some seeds, like the idea that winning next time might make a difference.

    After all, what do we have to lose (but Jonathan Chait)? I doubt we're even going to lose him, as it's easier to stoke his conceited liberal virtue-signaling by taking pot shots at easy Republican targets. For example, he paired his left-bashing post with this:

    • [06-08] Desperate Trump pines for Biden to return as Democratic opponent: "Make the mean lady go away!"

    PS: Luke Savage tweet on Chait's article: "Jonathan Chait brings us his only idea for the 700th time."

  • [08-09] Yes, She Can: "Bidenism brought Kamala Harris and the Democrats to the brink of catastrophe. Obamaism can save them." What the fuck? Chait tried to sum this up in a tweet:

    There was a campaign to persuade Democrats that Obama failed. The campaign succeeded. But it was wrong. It is now up to Harris to recover. I think she can do it.

    Uh, Obama did just fine for himself: he got a second term, he got rich, he got into movies, and he's building a gargantuan monument to himself next to Lake Michigan. But he didn't do so well for his Party. He entered in 2009 with strong majorities in both wings of Congress, accomplished very little with all that potential power, lost Congress, lost the State Houses and the Courts, and after eight years surrendered the presidency to Donald Trump. He did some decent things, and avoided doing some of the far worse things Republicans wanted, but even in foreign policy, where he had a lot of autonomy, his record is checkered at best. He got out of Iraq, then got back in again. He dug in deeper in Afghanistan, then got stuck. He faced crises in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and Ukraine, and bungled them all. He did make some progress with Iran and Cuba, but it was so tentative Trump easily wiped him out. He made toothless gestures on climate change. He was still pursuing trade deals to the end that even Hilary Clinton wouldn't touch. So I can see how Democrast could think he failed. I'm surprised that so many Democrats still revere him. I suspect that's just sentimental attachment to the hope they once associated with him. But that's just my reaction.

    Let's instead consider Zachary D Carter, who tweeted:

    Odd piece. Chait seems to be going after Biden's economic record, but then doesn't. Credits Biden for a strong labor market, real wage gains, pins only "small" responsibility for inflation on Biden. Defends Obama by saying he wanted to do the same things.

    The worst thing he has to say about the IRA and Biden's domestic manufacturing program is that Trump might unwind it because a lot of it still hasn't been spent.

    I think Chait is too charitable with Obama's economic legacy and overstates how progressive movement-oriented Biden has been on the economy. Brian Deese was great at the NEC, but he came from BlackRock. Hather Boushey has been great at CEA, was a 2016 Clinton campaign economist.

    Biden's big post-ARA spending -- an infrastructure deal, domestic microchip manufacturing and green energy/tech manufacturing -- were all done through negotiations with Joe Manchin and Republicans, not Bernie and AOC.

    I do think Biden represents a significant change from the Obama era, but it's one in which party moderates and some conservatives embraced new ideas, not one in which radicals infiltrated the administration and bent it to their will.

    Biden treated progressives like they were part of the coalition, he didn't let them run the show.

    This is a long piece, and it touches on a lot of things, viewed through his own peculiarly neoliberal prism. It's never quite clear whether he hates the left on principle, or he is simply convinced that Americans are so indelibly reactionary that leftist politics is unworkable and has to be banished. The most telling line here is: "It is not clear if Harris or her allies recognize the full scale of the political devastation she actually inherits." His evidence comes from Biden's dismal approval ratings (as low as 32%). While that sounds grim, it doesn't necessarily follow that his administration, let alone his still-unimplemented policy preferences, are so unpopular. It's quite plausible that his low polls were personal: that many people who wanted to support him had simply lost faith in his ability to lead and communicate effectively. The ease with which his vice president, with little or no political standing of her own, was able to take over the campaign and revive it suggests that Chait's "devastation" wasn't real.

    As Carter tries to point out, fear of a left takeover isn't real either. The idea that the American left are some kind of bolsheviks scheming to seize power so they can arbitrarily dictate wokeness and undermine public morals is way beyond ridiculous -- although, following the red scare playbook, it's not just a staple of the right but a projection of their own antidemocratic dreams and fears. The left still attracts idealists, but most are wary of power, and are willing to compromise for modest reforms. They do, however, insist on tangible results, whereas the Democrats Chait admires are all talk but action only when their corporate sponsors see an angle.

• Rachel M Cohen: [08-06] Kamala Harris's recent embrace of rent control, explained.

• David Dayen:

  [08-09] Why Tony West matters: "It's more than his moves from government to corporate America. It's what he did while in government." West is Harris's brother-in-law and is now a campaign adviser. He held a high post in the Obama DOJ, then left to become chief legal officer at Uber.

  • [08-07] The irrelevant permitting bill: "A bipartisan measure to accelerate clean energy and fossil fuel projects has no constituency in Congress right now."

• EJ Dionne Jr.: [08-11] Harris is beating Trump by transcending him: "The vice president and her running mate are achieving a radical shift in messaging."

• Moira Donegan: [08-06] Kamala Harris's VP pick may signal a shift away from pivoting to the center.

• Benjamin Hart: [08-05] Can Kamala Harris win just enough of the working class? The author talks to Ruy Teixeira, "once known as a Democratic oracle, but these days he's more of an apostate," as his 2002 book The Emerging Democratic Majority fizzled, while his new 2023 book (both with John Judis) Where Have All the Democrats Gone? never ignited. (I have an unread copy of the latter, figuring it relevant for my political study, but I'm finding less and less reason to crack it open.) What I hate about this title, and the thinking that goes into it, is the notion that winning by a nose is all that is necessary -- winning by a landslide, even though the Republicans are essentially conceding the interests of an overwhelming majority of Americans, is too much work or something. This kind of thinking caters to donors, who like a divided government where nothing gets changed and everyone is preoccupied looking for bribes.

  By the way, it's the Republicans who like to think in "just enough" terms, because for their purposes any majority (or plurality, or in the right circumstances slight shortfall) works just fine. Where they draw the line is offering any concession beyond empty words.

• Elie Honig: [08-09] Kamala Harris and those 'lock him up' chants:

  "The vice-president -- and former prosecutor -- has it exactly right so far."

  It's become a recurring scene at the political rallies of Vice-President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Harris refers to the ongoing criminal cases against her electoral opponent, Donald Trump. The crowd begins to chant, "Lock! Him! Up!" And Harris calmly but firmly shuts it down. "Well, hold on," the VP said earlier this week to her own crowd, "You Know what, the courts are going to handle that part of it. What we're gonna do is beat him in November."

• Ben Jacobs: [08-06] Republican operatives are 'thrilled' Harris picked Walz: At least that's their inevitable spin, not that any other Democrat in play wouldn't have ticked off their same "too liberal" boxes. Would Shapiro have escaped their slander for a moment? But now that he's off the ticket, they're equally delighted to accuse the Palestinian-loving Democrats of antisemitism:

  • Ed Kilgore: [08-06] The GOP's dumbest attack on Walz pick: Democrats are antisemites: Or as Sen. Tom Cotton puts it, "the antisemitic, pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party."

  • Marc A Thiessen: [08-07] Walz is Harris's first unforced error -- and an opportunity for Trump: "By picking a fellow leftist, Harris has a running mate who appeals to her base but not swing voters." You knew he, like the other hack operatives Jacobs cites, was going to swing against Walz, and you probably suspected it would be the old "too liberal" ploy, since for them every Democrat is way too liberal. The question is why they think we're so skittish to care. One thing that I like about Walz is that he not only knows good things to say, he has a record of getting good things done. The "too liberal" charge works best when exposing the words as hollow, insincere gestures. Sure, that's not what they think they're saying, but it's what voters react to: the idea that liberals are phonies, while Republicans are authentic, if for no reason other than that they're seriously committed to the awful things they want to do.

• Ezra Klein: [08-11] Biden made Trump bigger. Harris makes him smaller. I would've been happy spending the rest of the campaign focusing on how evil Trump and Vance are, but hey, how petty and how ridiculous they are could work, too. And creepy -- that's the nuance that "weird" was aiming for.

• Nicole Narea: [08-07] Why Kamala Harris's fundraising spree might prove more valuable than Trump's.

• Robert J Shapiro: [07-29] Data don't lie: Harris has the facts to refute Trump's lies about the economy: "Trump's claims that the economy was better under his presidency than the Biden-Harris administration don't add up." Nice to know, but I'm not sure how persuasive that will be. This risks being an argument defending the status quo, instead of making the more important argument that you'll be better off with Harris than with Trump. It's probably true that a second Trump term will be worse, given that his first term was so much worse than either Obama's before or Biden's after, but it's the future that matters. Republicans have been increasing inequality and precarity since 1980, and those results have accumulated, bringing us ever closer to a breaking point. We've seen the data on that, and it's very conclusive. But how many people understand it? And how many can explain it?

• Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [08-08] How Kamala Harris became bigger than Donald Trump.

Walz:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [08-06] Tim Walz is a bold, smart choice for Harris's running mate: "The Minnesota governor rightly argues that many progressive ideas are good and practical." Aside from Walz's own value, there's this:

  Kelly and Shapiro were the favorites of centrist Democrats -- the same people who were strongly defending Biden's political skills even as he became very unpopular. Harris needs to replace not just Biden but also the outdated political strategies of the president and much of the Democratic Party establishment. Hopefully, the Walz choice is the first of many decisions Harris will make that take the Democratic Party in a much-needed new direction.

• Kate Aronoff: [08-07] Tim Walz is not a left-wing hero: "Kamala Harris's VP pick matters more as a political signal than a policymaker."

• David Atkins: [08-06] Why the "weird" charge from Governor Tim Walz against Republicans works: "The vice presidential pick and Minnesota governor gets at the crisis in masculinity that the GOP has exploited expertly -- until now."

• Ross Barkan: [08-06] Why Tim Walz will be a potent weapon for Kamala Harris.

• Zack Beauchamp: [08-06] The left loves Tim Walz. Can we unite the Democrats? "As a non-leftist beloved by the left, Walz is ideally suited to expand Harris's appeal across the ideological spectrum." This kind of talk makes me a bit queasy. I've known leftists who would never admit to having loved a politician in their life. I'm more inclined to take what you can get, but I wouldn't call it love, even for the few people who are pretty reliable. It is true that Shapiro and Kelly got dinged up a bit for some of their positions. Walz survived (or escaped?) that level of scrutiny, and seems like a decent enough bloke, who's done some good things, and it's not like we're really demanding more than that. He got a couple of endorsements from labor, and that probably helped. He seems to have more appeal there than the alternatives, which strikes me as something the ticket and the party needed. So with no major negatives and some real positives, most of us are pretty happy. As for the question, the answer may be in another question: can he hit the Republicans hard, and score points that win votes? If he can, he will unite us? At least through November. After that, the voters fade into memory, and the money powers come back to the fore.

• Aaron Blake: [08-06] 5 takeaways from Harris's pick of Tim Walz as her VP nominee.

  1. Harris went for broad appeal over swing-state appeal
  2. A 'weird' and viral audition
  3. A blend of folksiness with a recent left-leaning record
  4. Walz's electoral record tops Vance's
  5. Notable tidbits about Walz's selection

• Nandika Chatterjee: [08-06] Joe Manchin and other moderates praise Harris' selection of Tim Walz: Manchin said Walz "would 'bring balance' to the Democratic Party."

• David Dayen: [08-06] Tim Walz: From small-town Minnesota to the campaign trail.

• Pat Garofalo: [08-07] The secret to Tim Walz's progressive success: "It turns out that challenging corporate power is a winning approach."

• Steve Kettmann: [08-09] The ballad of coach Tim Walz: "The Minnesota governor's football coaching helps the Democratic ticket because, unlike Trump's shtick, the relatable, down-to-earth terminology of sports is a patois that never dies." But for some of us, it does get fucking tiresome, and worse when it implies that we should draw life lessons from zero-sum games. But still, if the public insists on playing that game, it might be nice to have someone playing it from our side.

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [08-06] In Tim Walz, Kamala Harris has her super-normie running mate: Interesting that Kilgore, who's every bit the "moderate" Chait claims to be, came up with a completely different take on Walz, probably because he opened his ears, rather than just weighing everyone out on a conventional right-left ideology axis.

  • [08-08] Why the swiftboating of Tim Walz won't workl: "The attacks on Walz's military service are weak tea. And they're being vigorously contested, not ignored like the attacks on John Kerry in 2004."

    • Li Zhou: [08-08] How to think about the attacks on Tim Walz's military record. Something I have no interest in thinking about.

• Robert Kuttner: [08-09] Teflon Tim: "The right's pathetic effort to find some smear that will damage Gov. Walz."

• Daniel Larison: [08-06] Harris picks Walz, a midwesterner with antiwar credentials.

• Eric Levitz: [08-06] Will Kamala Harris regret picking Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro. Rehearses the same anti-left arguments Chait harped on, but with slightly more nuance. Nothing here suggests to me that Harris will regret not choosing Shapiro. The first three points in Walz's favor seem pretty solid:

  1. Walz balances the ticket demographically
  2. Walz has excelled on television
  3. Walz is implicated in fewer potential scandals

  I'll add that the balance is not just demographic. He comes from a very different background, yet has reached similar political views, so that provides not just balance but constructive contrast. Also that scandals are much deadlier for Democrats than for Republicans, who are just as likely to be celebrated as scoundrels.

  PS: Levitz's tweet elicited some commentary, including this interchange:

  • JDTrader64: "Harris's greatest political liability may be the widespread perception that she is very left-wing." Uh . . . Eric . . . it's not perception . . . it's truth . . .

  • Tom Hull: Uh, it's the perception that her being "very left-wing" is a bad thing, which would be amplified if she ran away from it, like "centrist" Democrats have been trained to do for ages, only to find themselves echoing R talking points. She needs to defend what she stands for.

    PS: [Later reply from JDTrader64]: Being "very left wing" is a bad thing - the Prez is supposed to represent "we the people" not the fringes - right or left. Her voting record is too far left, she is now no different than any other politician - trying to change her past with a pile of lies and deceit.

    [TH: One never knows how to respond to things like this. On the one hand, from my vantage point, Harris is not very far left at all, and never has been, so I don't see her lying to cover up her past. On the other, you have to be pretty far left to be interested in representing all the people -- simply dismissing those you don't like as "fringes" and denying them representation is pretty anti-democratic.]

• Dan Mangan: [08-07] Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz owns no stocks, bonds or real estate, disclosure shows: So what the hell is this man doing in politics?

• Branko Marcetic: [08-06] The Tim Walz VP pick shows America's politics are changing.

• Timothy Noah: [08-07] Tim Walz is a dream pick for the labor movement.

• Michele L Norris: [08-07] 6 reasons Tim Walz was the right choice.

• Christian Paz: [08-07] How Tim Walz actually handled the George Floyd protests in Minnesota: I'm not getting much out of this piece. Republicans seem to think they can lay blame on him. Totally blameless, of course, is Donald Trump, with his "good people on both sides" and "then the shooting starts" quips.

• Nia Prater: [08-07] What we know about why Harris picked Tim Walz: As best I can tell, it mostly came down to chemistry: Walz seemed like a guy Harris could be comfortable with, could work with, and could be trusted not to run his own deals on the side. Shapiro wasn't -- as my wife put it, he was "kind of a drip." I doubt his piety angle played well, either. The main news in the article is that the one-on-one interviews came out much better with Walz than with Shapiro. And once Harris picked Walz, a lot of little things fell neatly into place. Ideology wasn't a consideration, but give Harris some credit for not running scared of the left-baiting.

• Andrew Prokop: [08-09] Is Tim Walz a progressive or a centrist -- or both?

• Molly Roberts: [08-08] Tim Walz won the veepstakes because first he won the internet.

• Peter Slevin: [08-06] What Tim Walz brings to Kamal Harris's campaign to beat Donald Trump.

• Sarah Smarsh: [08-07] Democrats have needed someone like Tim Walz for decades.

• Patrick Svitek/Taylor Lorenz: [08-07] 'Bringing back the joy': Walz's first day keeps Democrats' buzz going.

• Michael Tomasky: [08-06] The Tim Walz nod: Caving to the left? No. Reaching into the heartland. "Kamala Harris's new running mate has one hell of a résumé."

• Rebecca Traister: [08-10] Tim Walz, Doug Emhoff, and the nice men of the left: "An election defined by two very different kinds of guys."

• Karen Tumulty: [08-06] Tim Walz made 'weird' happen. What he offers the ticket is much more. "Walz has a genuine feel for the concerns of people in conservative corners of the country."

• Robert Wright: [08-09] Walzing into a saner foreign policy?

• John Zogby: [08-07] In choosing Tim Walz, Kamala Harris went for policies not electoral votes.

Biden:

• Ryan Lizza: [08-09] Why Biden was really forced out of the race, according to Anita Dunn: Interview where "the longtime presidential adviser blames the press and her party."

• Phillip Longman: [07-26] Biden and Harris broke the suffocating "Washington census" on economics: "They put a stake through neoliberalism. Now, the vice president has to convince voters that her antitrust, trade, and public investment policies, unlike Trump's, will improve their lives."

And other Democrats:

• Branko Marcetic: [08-07] Gina Raimondo would be a terrible choice for Treasury Secretary: "The commerce secretary is rumored to be the front-runner to head the Treasury Department in a Harris administration. Her coziness with corporations makes her a disastrous pick." As I recall, she was rumored to be in the VP pack as well. I wonder if she has a press agent?

• Bernie Sanders: [08-05] Democrats should run on a progressive economic agenda. Americans are ready. Similar advice:

  • Dustin Guastella/Bhaskar Sunkara: [08-01] Kamala Harris needs to mobilise voters around class -- not race.

• Nicholas Slayton: [08-02] Gavin Newsom's fraudulent homelessness agenda: "The governor of California proposes to solve the problem by harassing people in circles."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ryan Cooper: [08-08] Elon Musk thinks advertisers not paying him money should be illegal: "Americans right-wing judicial tyrants face their most preposterous lawsuit yet."

• Eva Dou/Gerrit De Vynck: [08-05] Google is an illegal monopoly, federal court rules: "Judgment delivers a victory to the Justice Department as it takes on a string of federal antitrust lawsuit against Big Tech." A quarter-century ago I followed the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit very closely, but I have paid little attention to the recent batch of suits and other regulatory rulings, so I'm caught off guard by this ruling. I do know a fair amount about how Google and other high tech companies work, so I understand the angles and temptations for abuse pretty well -- at least well enough to imagine what's going on here. But my own thinking has evolved in a different direction: while I agree that more competition would be better than monopolies, much better still would be to knock the financial legs out from under them and replace their services with non-profit open-source utilities. But sure, this story is big enough to track:

  • Luke Goldstein: [08-09] Will Google's monopoly be vanquished? "The path includes appeals challenges, a judicially ordered remedy phase, and a change in the presidency."

  • Nicole Narea: [08-06] A historic ruling against Google could change the internet as we know it.

  • Shira Ovide: [08-06] 6 ways the Google antitrust ruling could change the internet.

• Marin Scotten: [08-05] Clarence Thomas failed to disclose another trip on a GOP megadonor's private jet."

• Kate Aronoff: Hurricane Debby is fading but Florida's hellish insurance crisis isn't.

• Ruby Mellen/Scott Dance: [08-06] In Charleston, floods are a 'constant existential fear. This is, of course, still connected to Hurricane Debby as it hits city after city along the East Coast

• Joshua Partlow: [08-07] A melting Alaska glacier keeps inundating Juneau. Floods are getting worse. Tuesday's flood was almost exactly one year after "another glacial outburst flood scoured away homes and undercut riverfront condonminiums as then-record amounts of water eroded vast swaths of the bank along the Mendenhall River."

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker:

  • [08-04] Manufacturing jobs: unions made them good, not the factories.

  • [08-07] The economy grew 2.8 percent last quartet, CNN is trying to decide who gets blamed for the slump:

    CNN's coverage of the economy under President Biden has been unrelentingly negative, even as we have seen the longest stretch of below 4.0 percent unemployment in more than 70 years, the fastest pace of real wage growth for low-paid workers in decades, the highest measure of job satisfaction ever, and a huge surge in new business openings. Today it pontificated on who should get blamed for an economic slump that has not happened.

  • [08-07] The New York Times thinks it's a bad thing that corporations can't sustain pandemic bloated profit margins. "This should be treated as yet another entry in the 'bad economy' series where major media outlets are determined to push stories of a bad economy even when they are not grounded in reality."

• Ryan Cooper: [08-06] Will panic on Wall Street convince Jerome Powell to do his job? "The Federal Reserve should have cut rates months ago. Now it might be too late."

• Kevin T Dugan: [08-06] Why did the stock market crash? And what's next?

• Paul Krugman:

  • [08-05] The economy is looking pre-recessionary.

  • [08-06] Market crashes happen. They don't necessarily mean much.

  • [08-08] Tim Walz and the weird politics of free school lunches.

• Trisha Thadani: [08-05] Elon Musk moves X out of San Francisco. City leaders shrug. "The city's chief economist says that after Musk's deep staff cuts, X didn't offer much to San Francisco anyway."

Ukraine War and Russia:

• Ben Armbruster: [08-09] Diplomacy Watch: Ukraine takes the war inside Russia.

• Mark Episkopos: [08-07] What the Ukraine war has in common with Vietnam: "The establishment keeps coming up with convenient answers, but always to the wrong question."

• Anatol Lieven: [08-06] What a platypus can teach Europe about Ukraine: "Doubling down on 'victory' over Russia will be bad for the war and for relations with the next US administration."

America's empire and the world:

• Rachel Chason: [08-05] How the US military cultivated -- and then lost -- a key African ally: "A timeline of key events in the lead-up to the US troop withdrawal on Monday from the West African country of Niger."

• Tanya Goudsouzian/Zekria Barakzai: [08-07] Water wars: What the US can offer the Taliban, for a price.

• William Hartung: [08-05] There they go again: Heritage pushes new nuclear arms race: "The report asserts that its proposals are meant to preven rather than spark a conflict."

• Ellen Ioanes: [08-05] Bangladesh's prime minister just fled the country in a helicopter. Why?

  • Arafat Kabir: [08-07] Sheikh Hasina's downfall and exile are of her own making: "The Bangladeshi leader's delusional belief in her own invincibility precipitated her downfall amid a Gen Z revolution."

  • Ishaan Tharoor:

    • [08-06] Bangladesh's Hasina faces the revenge of history.

    • [08-07] Thailand takes another backward step by banning main opposition party: Meanwhile, another slippery slope.

• Georgios Samaras: [08-08] Britain's riots are designed to terrorize Muslims: "For years, the far right has benefited from a growing rot in British politics, as politicians and the media promote Islamophobia."

  • Reuters: [08-07] Explainer: Why are there riots in the UK and who is behind them? This was followed by:

    • [08-08] Anti-racism protests sweep Britain after far-right riots.

  • Vikram Dodd: [08-04] Extreme-right activists are terrorising UK's Muslims.

  • David Hearst: [08-09] How an unholy alliance between fascists and far-right Zionists fuelled UK riots.

  • Peter Oborne: [08-05] Far-right riots: UK media and politicians are almost wholly to blame.

  • The New Arab: [08-06] Nearly 400 arrested in UK anti-Muslim far-right riots: A police spokesman added that "others would be 'brought to justice.'"

  • Jonathan Freedland: [08-09] You know who else should be on trial for the UK's far-right riots? Elon Musk: "Direct guilt sits with those who brought violence to our streets, but their hatred was inflamed by lies spread on X."

  • Ishaan Tharoor: [08-09] Britain's riots put spotlight on far-right misinformation: "Social media posts -- including a few by X owner Elon Musk -- have played a crucial role in accelerating rage and misinformation."

• Nick Turse: The US has dozens of secret bases across the Middle East. They keep getting attacked. "An Intercept investigation found 63 US bases, garrisons, and shared facilities in teh region. US troops are "sitting ducks," according to one expert."

  • Ellen Ioanes: [08-06] The attack on US troops in Iraq, explained: "What the attack on US troops in Iraq says about a wider Middle East war." Maybe that the wider war has already happened, like when the US sent troops half way around the world to set up bases in Iraq from which they could strike "targets" in the region? Maybe they should write an explainer of why the bases are there in the first place? But as long as they're there, they're easy targets, should the US ever do something to piss off the local population. Wonder what that could have been?

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: [08-06] US personnel wounded in 'dangerous escalation' at Iraq base.

Other stories:

• Jeffrey St Clair: [08-09] Conscience of the blues: how Howlin' Wolf got caged in Oregon.

• Vox: How factory farming ends: a set of articles "on the past and future of the movement against factory farming; its struggle to change our culture, politics, and palates; and how it might yet make real progress." I don't have any political interest in these issues -- in particular, I don't see them as a left-right thing -- but I do have curiosity about how the world works, and what risks may appear that could stop it from working satisfactorily. And the latter, at least, does have political ramifications. Possibly philosophical ones, too. More articles are listed here, but not yet linked.

  • Marina Bolotnikova: [08-07] Humanity is failing one of its greatest moral tests: "The long, maddening, glorious, vital fight against factory faming."

  • Jonathan Safran Foer/Aaron Gross: [08-07] Ditching factory farming can help prevent another pandemic: "The neglected environmental and health benfits of fighting Big Meat -- for humans."

  • Astra Taylor/Sunaura Taylor: [08-07] If the left is serious about saving democracy, there is one more cause to add to the list: "Animal rights must become a core issue for progressives."

  • Kenny Torrella: [08-07] How the most powerful environmental groups help greenwash Big Meat's climate impact: "Organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund are laundering the meat industry's propaganda."

Obituaries

Books

• David Masciotra: [08-05] Joe Conason on how grifters, swindlers, and frauds hijacked conservatism: An interview with the veteran journalist, author of the 2003 book Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth, and most recently The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism, who explains:

  Deception is central to the contemporary right for two reasons. One is that they've discovered, over a long period, that it is highly profitable to mobilize people's fears and resentments around mythical issues. You can pull in vast sums of money from the right-wing base. The second reason is that facts don't work for them. It is very hard, at this point, to make arguments on behalf of their positions that are fact-based. They push lies, conspiracy theories, fantastical inventions that support their ideological positions. To take one example, there is an idea that the minimum wage costs jobs. Not true. It's been debunked. No respectable economist believes it. Or if you cut taxes, you'll generate economic growth. Not true. It's been disproven over again. So, they rely on falsehoods.

  Also: "It would be good if Democrats paid attention to what I expose in The Longest Con. This is an argument that works because no one likes being ripped off."

• Katha Pollitt: [08-06] What's left after wokeness? An interview with philosopher Susan Neiman, author of the 2023 book Left Is Not Woke, recently reprinted in paperback (with some changes, including note of Oct. 7). I've noted the book before, and am generally sympathetic to its argument, as I've long insisted that the criterion defining left and right is equality vs. hierarchy, and anything else is just a correlation or coincidence. Woke is probably a correlation, because it opposes one particular form of hierarchy -- how effectively I cannot say, but Neiman may have some views on that. I don't see much point in criticizing people who advocate for wokeness, because they're usually facing off against people who need to be opposed. (The opposite of "woke" seems to be "asshole.") But I do think it's worth defending the real left against anyone who would try to reduce us to simple anti-wokeism.

  This led me to an earlier interview and other bits (for more of which, see Neiman's website):

  • Robert Kuttner: [2023-05-02] A conversation with Susan Neiman about left and woke.

  • Guy Lancaster: Susan Neiman: Left Is Not Woke.

PS: In looking at her new introduction, I see that she defines left differently than I do: as belief in a bundle of social rights. I see equality as more fundamental, but for sure, social rights are an expression (aspirational, at least) of equality.

Music (and other arts?)

• Corey Kilgannon: [08-11] A jazz DJ's lifetime of knowledge leaves Queens for a new Nashville home: "Phil Schaap's childhood home held what may be the largest collection of recorded jazz interviews, an archive that will now be housed at Vanderbilt University."

• Tom Sietsema: Dining chat: Are restaurants as fraught as depicted in 'The Bear'? Spoiler alert, but answer is "dunno," followed by other questions he does know something about. I think we're 3-4 episodes into The Bear, and finding it pretty stressful and not very satisfying, but interesting enough we'll keep plugging away at it (unlike the similarly hyped Beef).

• Jeffrey St Clair: [08-07] Sound Grammar: The best jazz records of the year so far: The author has made a regular practice of jotting down three records he's listening to each week, and I noticed that about a third of them were more than a little jazz. I had thought about inviting him last year, but I didn't get it done. I wasn't really looking for new critics to invite for the mid-year poll, but as I was reading one of his pieces, I decided to give him a shot. As you can see, he submitted a very credible list.

Chatter

• Dean Baker: [08-05] [replying to: "Trump has now made 6 posts this morning gleefully celebrating the stock market being down today"] Come on, what else is Trump going to talk about, his plans for a nationwide abortion ban, huge tax increase on imports to offset the cost of tax cuts for the rich, sending food prices through the roof by deporting the farm labor workforce?

  I guess Trump could also [talk] about his plans for promoting the spread of measles and polio and make more threats against "crappy Jews."

• geekysteven: [08-06] Harris choosing Tim Walz as her running mate sets a dangerous precedent that Democrats might do cool shit that voters love

• Prem Thakker: [08-06] "You don't win elections to bank political capital -- you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives." - Minnesota Governor Tim Walz

• Richard Yeselson: [08-06] [replying to "The Walz selection shows just how deep the Dems' antisemitism problem runs."] Dude: the senate majority leader is Jewish; the Secretary of State is Jewish; the Attorney General is Jewish; the leader of the leftist faction is Jewish; the "husband of the nominee" is Jewish. I'm Jewish/you're Jewish so I ask you because Jews disagree: wtf are u talking about?

• Kate Willett: [08-07] Hot take but I don't think it's actually bad for socialists if Republicans spend months saying this is socialism. [followed by picture of Tim Walz being hugged by school kids]

• Mehdi Hasan: [08-07] Whether you're pro Cori Bush or anti Cori Bush, pro Israel or anti Israel, how can any American who c ares about democracy be okay with a lobby group - in this case, AIPAC - spending $15m to defeat one member of Congress (Bowman) & now $8m to defeat another (Bush)?

• Teddy Wilson: [08-08] I've reported on the conservative movement and right-wing politics for more than a decade, and I've never seen anything like the collective temper tantrum and epic meltdown that has occurred the past few weeks. There is a palpable amount of fear, loathing and desperation.

• Thoton Akimoto: [08-08] BREAKING: U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel boycotts Nagasaki peace ceremony after mayor disinvites Israel.

• Zachary D Carter: [08-12] Nobody wants to talk about Brian Deese in this little spat that Yglesias and Chait are picking because he came from BlackRock and did a great job by doing stuff that Chait and Yglesias don't like.

  The idea that Biden was some kind of left wing radical is preposterous on its face. There's no political or economic principle being raised here, just one subset of democrats expressing disdain for another.

Local tags (these can be linked to directly): music.

Original count: 270 links, 12539 words (17034 total)

Current count: 272 links, 12620 words (17145 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

August archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42761 [42729] rated (+32), 39 [36] unrated (+3).

I don't have much to say here, and want to move on, so let's keep this brief. Big Speaking of Which yesterday. I want to go back and edit a bit, but I'm afraid if I do it will drag on indefinitely. But if I post this now, I can go back with any revisions later (possibly including revisions here). I can also open a file for next week, which already has important stuff to report and comment on.

Only thing to note here is that this week is mostly hip-hop, and mostly underground at that. I finally added HHGA's The Best Hip Hop Albums of 2024 to my Metacritic File, and listened to about half of the unheard albums on the list. I remembered that their The Best Hip Hop Albums of 2023 produced a bonanza of finds, and hoped that this mid-year list would be half as productive. It wasn't even close, with Jay Skeese the only A-, although most of the rest were worth hearing. Of 60 albums on their 2023 list, 14 made my A-list (5 previously known to me). So far this year, it's only 2 of the 32 I've heard (1 previously known: Heems; leaving 37 still unheard).

I can't totally discount the possibility that my bad moods took a toll. And sure, one play (which is all nearly all of these got) has its limits, especially given how slow I am with words. I'll also admit that I spent a lot of time last week playing oldies. Also, the week was at least a day short, so I was surprised to find the rated count (32) as high as it is. No idea what next week will bring, other than that it's going to be hot. And we're officially in a drought now.

Hopefully I'll get to some questions this week.

New records reviewed this week:

21 Savage: American Dream (2024, Slaughter Gang/Epic): Rapper Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, born in London but raised in Atlanta, third solo album since 2017, also has three collaborations, all charted top-five in US. B+(**) [sp]

Adeem the Artist: Anniversary (2024, Four Quarters): Country singer-songwriter, from North Carolina, several albums going back to 2011, but only came to my attention with Cast Iron Pansexual in 2021, followed by White Trash Revelry, both well off the beaten path, which wasn't their only appeal. B+(**) [sp]

Apathy: Connecticut Casual: Chapter 2 (2024, Dirty Version): Connecticut rapper Chad Bromley, member of the Demigodz and Army of the Pharoahs, his own albums start in 2004, called a 2014 album Connecticut Casual, with hard beats and heavy vibes. B+(**) [sp]

Arrested Development: Bullets in the Chamber (2024, Vagabond Productions): Hip-hop group from Atlanta, had a massive debut hit in 1992, broke up after their 1994 album, regrouped in 2000 and have released albums regularly ever since, to little notice (at least to no notice by me). B+(*) [sp]

Awon & Parental: Sublime (2024, HHV): Rapper Antwan Wiggins, grew up in Virginia Beach, dozen-plus albums since 2008, working with French producer Raphaël Besikian, who favors jazzy vibes and explains that "hip-hop is the pinnacle of diversity and inclusion" and "one of the greatest blessings I've had." Ends with an instrumental version of the album, which is pleasant but unnecessary. B+(***) [sp]

Beans: Zwaard (2024, Tygr Rawwk): Rapper Robert Edward Stewart II, started out in Antipop Consortium, joined here by Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti, better known as Vladislav Delay. B+(*) [sp]

Blu & Evidence: Los Angeles (2024, Bigger Picture Music/New World Color): Rapper Johnson Barnes III, from Los Angeles, debut 2003, prolific since 2007, working here with producer Michael Perretta, who started with Dilated Peoples in the late 1990s. B+(**) [sp]

Brother Ali & unJUST: Love & Science (2024, Travelers Media): Underground rapper since 2003, has a light touch. B+(*) [sp]

Cavalier: Different Type Time (2024, Backwoodz Studioz): Rapper, from Brooklyn but based in New Orleans, couple albums since 2014. B+(**) [sp]

Common & Pete Rock: The Auditorium Vol. I (2024, Loma Vista): Big-name rapper, debut 1992 as Common Sense, when his ambitions were more modest, has done quite a bit of acting since 2002, as well as producing a steady stream of quite respectable albums. Rock (Peter Phillips) produces, goes back as far, especially for his duo with CL Smooth. B+(***) [sp]

Flo Milli: Fine Ho, Stay (2024, RCA): Rapper Tamia Carter, from Alabama, second album or third mixtape -- the distinction eludes me, all with Ho in the title. B+(**) [sp]

Future & Metro Boomin: We Don't Trust You (2024, Epic/Freebandz/Republic Boominati Worldwide): Rapper Nayvadius Cash, from Atlanta, best-selling albums since 2012, working here with producer Leland Tyler Wayne, first of two collaborative albums this year, but they go back at least to 2013. Runs 17 tracks, 59:39, and they weren't done yet. B+(**) [sp]

Future & Metro Boomin: We Still Don't Trust You (2024, Epic/Freebandz/Republic/Boominati Worldwide, 2CD): So, less than a month later, they released another 25 tracks, 88:33, the last seven overflowing to a second CD. Strikes me as maybe a tad catchier, but not sure the difference is worth quantifying. B+(**) [sp]

Gangrene: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (2024, ALC): Hip-hop duo, Alchemist and Oh No, fourth album since 2010. B+(**) [sp]

Fred Hersch: Silent, Listening (2023 [2024], ECM): Eminent pianist, more than 50 albums since 1984, mostly trios but I count 16 solo albums, including this one -- I'm not a big fan of solo piano, but 2015's Solo is an exception. This one, as the title implies, winds up a bit thin. B+(*) [sp]

The Hot Toddies Jazz Band: The Hot Toadies Jazz Band (2019-22 [2023], Prohibition Productions): New York-based trad jazz outfit, first album, considerable turnover between early and later sessions, the constants being Justin Poindexter (guitar/vocals), Gabe Terracciano (violin/vocals), and Patrick Soluri (drums), with featured singers Queen Esther (2019) and Hannah Gill (2022). B+(***) [bc]

Lupe Fiasco: Samurai (2024, 1st and 15th Too): Chicago rapper, 2006 debut was a breakout hit. Still has a pop touch. B+(**) [sp]

Roc Marciano: Marciology (2024, Marci Enterprises): Rapper Rakeem Myer, has a regular stream of albums since 2010, many plays on his alias, this being even more inscrutable than most. B+(*) [sp]

Masta Ace & Marco Polo: Richmond Hill (2024, Fat Beats): Rapper Duval Clear, from Brooklyn, started 1988 in Juice Crew, debut album 1990, more after 2000, teaming up with Canadian beatmaker/producer Marco Bruno in 2018. B+(**) [sp]

James McClaskey & the Rhythm Band: Later on Blues (2024, BigTone): From New Orleans, plays tenor guitar and sings, second album for band (has another supporting Annabelle Zakaluk), mostly blues, three originals, but also covers from Tiny Grimes (one Charlie Parker, another Art Tatum) and Coleman Hawkins. B+(**) [sp]

Midnight Sons: Money Has No Owners (2024, Chong Wizard): Philadelphia rapper Stephen Zales, aka Zilla Rocca, with Canadian DJ Chong Wizard, with most cuts featuring others (the ones I recognize are Blu, AJ Suede, and Alaska). Has a jazzy underground vibe. B+(**) [sp]

Moses Rockwell Featuring Plain Old Mike: Regular Henry Sessions (2024, Hipnott): Rapper from Rochester, has at least one previous album, don't know anything more about his partner here, but cover photos two bearded blokes, and Mike gets the producer credit, earning his "jazzy" cred. B+(***) [sp]

ShrapKnel: Nobody Planning to Leave (2024, Backwoodz Studioz): Hip-hop duo, Curly Castro and Mark Debuque, third album. Kind of patchy, sketchy too. B [sp]

Jae Skeese & Superior: Testament of the Times (2024, RRC Music/BarsOverBs): Rapper from Buffalo, fifth album since 2020, producer is Marcos Oviedo (German "with Spanish descents"), his first album 2009. Underground, smart, really nice flow. A- [sp]

Daniel Son & Futurewave: Bushman Bodega (2024, WavGodMusic): Toronto rapper Daniel Borley, Discogs credits him with 18 albums since 2017, 7 with producer Martin Budik (Futurewave). B+(*) [sp]

Kelsey Waldon: There's Always a Song (2024, Oh Boy): Deep country singer-songwriter from Kentucky, ninth album since 2010, fourth on John Prine's label. Always has that deep holler voice and vibe, but leans heavily on guests to stretch eight songs (including covers as well worn as "Hello Stranger," "Uncle Pen, and "Travelling the Highway Home") out to 27:45. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters (1957 [2024], Blue Note Tone Poet, 2CD): Long regarded as a major item in the tenor saxophonist's oeuvre, but I've never been much of a fan. The original 1958 LP (6 tracks, 44:17; one afternoon track with Donald Bailey and Pete La Roca, the rest from the evening sets with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones) was expanded to two CDs in 1987, picking up tracks from 1975's 2-LP More From the Vanguard (which I once owned). I've certainly underrated those CDs (in my database at B- and B, with the 1999 2-CD reissue at B+, and now this one, conceived as a 3-LP set but also available as 2-CD (130:00), adding nothing new of consequence (possibly some extra patter). I might complain of too many drum solos, but they're not bad, and the saxophone is majestic. Still, I have enough experience with really great Rollins to find this a tad overrated. B+(***) [sp]

The Louis Stewart Trio: Louis the First (1975 [2024], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2016), seems to have been his first album (although he had previous side-credits, including Clark Terry, Benny Goodman, and Jesus Christ Superstar). Mostly trio, with Martin Walshe (bass) and John Wadham (drums), dropping down to solo or bass duo on occasion. B+(***) [bc]

Old music:

Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life (1975 [1976], ECM): First album for the now-famous guitarist, a trio with Jaco Pastorius (bass) and Bob Moses (drums). Before he found his fusion schtick, he had a lot going on. B+(**) [sp]

Jumaane Smith: I Only Have Eyes for You (2014, self-released): Trumpet player, also sings (but not much here), first album, side credits include Rashied Ali in 2005, also Alicia Keys and Michael Bublé, the latter opening with a guest vocal here. Some nice trumpet, but song selection is odd, and the string backdrops uninspired. B- [sp]

Jumaane Smith: When You're Smiling (2020, Zinn Music): Trumpet player, plays hot, sings with some enthusiasm, picks more upbeat songs this time. I'm not finding any credits. But he hasn't totally lost the strings. Or the milquetoast guest singers? B [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Patricia Brennan Septet: Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic) [09-06]
• Dylan Hicks & Small Screens: Modern Flora (Soft Launch) [09-06]
• Dave Rempis/Jason Adasiewicz/Joshua Abrams/Tyler Damon: Propulsion (Aerophonic) [10-04]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, August 5, 2024

I started working on this back on Thursday, the day after I posted Music Week and minor updates to last week's massive Speaking of Which (final: 263 links, 11360 words). For a while, it looked like I might actually wrap this up on Sunday evening, but didn't make it. Probably just as well, although the imminent Harris VP pick may upset some apple carts. Even if it happens (Tuesday morning, I now hear), consider it unknown to this post.

PS: Harris picks Tim Walz as VP ahead of multistate tour. For now, the best link is Perry Bacon Jr.: [08-06] Tim Walz is a bold, smart choice for Harris's running mate.

Last week I stayed clear of Israel's latest round of "targeted assassinations," most significantly that of Hamas diplomat Ismail Haniyeh (conveniently in Tehran; I imagine Mossad is already shopping movie rights to that story). Last week's lead story title ended "as US officials say a ceasefire deal is close." No one's saying that this week, as Haniyeh was Hamas's lead negotiator in those talks, which Netanyahu had managed to sideline for weeks, and now simply blew up. Rather, I devoted a large chunk of last week's post to Netanyahu's speech to Congress. Some key article cited there:

• Nathan J Robinson: One of the most shameful moments in American history
• Fred Kaplan: Netanyahu's shameful speech was nothing but theater
• Richard Silverstein: Netanyahu's Congress speech shows America who's the real boss
• Jonathan Cook: Only a failing US empire would be so blind as to cheer Netanyahu and his genocide

While we're at it, let's also reiterate:

• Brett Wilkins: Ben-Gvir endorses Trump, says he's more likely to back war on Iran

This reminds me of Andrew Gillum on DeSantis: "I'm not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist, I'm simply saying the racists believe he's a racist." (Gillum also noted: "he's got neo-Nazis helping him run the state.") I have at least one article below on how Trump is deciding that some Jews are "good" (love Israel, support Trump) and "bad" (oppose Trump, hate Israel), and can easily find more, e.g.:

• Washington Post: [2022-10-16] Trump attacks American Jews, posting they must 'get their act together' on Israel.
• NBC News: [04-09] Trump says Jews who vote for Biden do 'not love Israel' and 'should be spoken to'.
• New York Times: [04-10] Trump again insults Jews who support Biden: any Jew who "votes for Biden should have their head examined."
• Axios: [07-30] Trump again takes aim at Jewish Democrats.
• PBS News: [07-30] Trump claims Harris, who's married to a Jewish man, 'doesn't like Jewish people'.

For deeper background, see:

• Aaron Blake: [2022-10-17] Trump's long history of trafficking in antisemitic tropes
• David Remnick: [2021-12-21] Is Donald Trump an anti-semite?

I also did a Google search on trump on war with iran, but it mostly revealed past deeds, not current words. E.g.:

• Al Jazeera: [2020-06-29] Iran and US President Donald Trump: A timeline of key events.
• New York Times: [2020-01-11] Seven days in January: How Trump pushed US and Iran to the brink of war.
• New Yorker: [2021-07-15] "You're gonna have a fucking war": Mark Milley's fight to stop Trump from striking Iran.
• David A Anderson: [2020-11-19] Trump wanted to bomb Iran -- and still could -- leaving Biden to pick up the pieces
• The Times of Israel: [2021-07-16] Netanyahu urged Trump to attack Iran after he lost the presidency
• Branko Marcetic: [2023-06-13] The biggest scandal in Trump's indictment: US war plans for Iran.
• Aaron Blake: [2024-04-15] Trump's rhetoric on thwarting Iran vs. his record.

McGeorge Bundy once explained that the difference between presidents Kennedy and Johnson was that Kennedy wanted to be seen as smart, but Johnson wanted to be seen as tough. You can use the relative importance of smart and tough as a scale for weighing most presidents. We like to think of Obama as being on the smart side, but he picked many moments to prove he could be tough (like his first order to kill Somali pirates, his numerous drone strikes, his raid on Osama Bin Laden; on the other hand, he caved in every time he ran afoul of Netanyahu, which wasn't so smart, and betrayed a deficit worse than toughness: of courage). But Trump's idea of smart doesn't extend much beyond cheating on his taxes and paying off a porn star. And while he brags about being "a very stable genius," the quality he most wants to project to the world is how very tough he is (e.g., his boasts that were he still president, Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine, and Hamas wouldn't have attacked Israel).

We will, of course, continue to hold Biden and Harris responsible for own their contributions to Israel's genocide and warmongering, but we should always be clear that Trump's malice, which pervades every pore of his campaign, is much more dangerous than Biden's indifferent cowardice, despicable as it is. As for Harris, all I can hope for is that she keeps her head down until she's in a position to do something about it. Then, by all means, she must, and failure there will be catastrophic, but until she has that power, mere speculation is unlikely to be helpful. There will always be more to do later.

Top story threads:

Israel:

Israel's long-standing policy of assassinating political opponents was brought to the fore last week with the murder of Ismail Haniyeh (head of the Hamas political bureau, and chief negotiator in the "ceasefire" talks Biden has promoted and Netanyahu has sabotaged at every turn). This immediately followed Israel's major escalation of bombing in Lebanon, which included the killing of a prominent Hezbollah commander. The calculation here is pretty obvious, even though it is rarely commented on. Israel is not merely killing for the hell of it, they want to provoke reprisals, which they can use to justify further killing. They are gambling that their targets cannot hurt them, or if they do land a lucky punch -- as Hamas did on October 7 -- they can escalate to previously unimaginable levels of mass destruction.

But Israel has one weakness: it depends on American support, both to replenish its supply of munitions and to prop up an economy that has never (well, not since 1950) been so extensively mobilized for war for so long. Netanyahu knows that he cannot sustain his genocidal war without American support, so he and his allies are pulling out all the stops to keep unthinking, uncritical support flowing. You see this in the flood of propaganda, including Netanyahu's obscene speech before Congress. You see this in the astounding money that's going into purging independent thought in American politics. But the real linchpin would be if he could maneuver the US into joining the war. He achieved a partial success in getting the Houthis to fire on Red Sea shipping, with the result that the US and UK have joined Saudi Arabia in bombing Yemen. But the real prize would be getting the US to go to war against Iran. Or at least Lebanon.

It helps here to understand that Israel doesn't actually care about Iran. The essential background here was explained by Trita Parsi in his 2007 book, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. The key point here is that while the US soured on Iran with the 1980 hostage crisis, Israel remained close to Iran throughout the 1980s -- you might vaguely recall that Israel was the intermediary in the Iran-Contra scandal -- but only turned against Iran in the 1990s, after Saddam Hussein ceased to be a viable foreign threat. Israel switched to Iran because the Americans already hated Iran, which made them easy to play with a ridiculously inflated story of Iran's "nuclear program." Obama's negotiations with Iran were intended to allay Israel's fears, but Netanyahu rejected them because Israel never feared Iran: they only faked it to cater to American prejudices. When Trump killed the deal, he capitulated to Israel, allowing Netanyahu to dictate America's understanding of allies, enemies, and interests.

While Trump did this for the most craven of reasons, Biden followed blindly because his long experience with the Israel lobby had taught him that no alternative course was imaginable. Still, providing "arms, money, and [freely ignored] advice" was the easy part. Committing US troops to conventional war against an unconquerable nation like Iran would be a much more daunting order. Of course, Israel isn't insisting that the US actually invade Iran, like their fiascos in Afghanistan and Iraq. They would be perfectly happy to see the US conduct an Israel-style assault, where massive bombing denies any responsibility for cleaning up the mess. Going back to WWII, the US is used to seeking definitive solutions that lead to peace, but Israel has always understood that each victory is just a prelude to the next war, which they must eternally prepare for. Peace for them is nothing but false hope and mass delusion, which is why their warrior caste breaks it at every opportunity.

Of course, America hasn't quite become a pawn in Israel's game. Biden has little appetite for war against Iran, or even against Lebanon -- although he also has little will to resist bombing Yemen and Syria, or to move aircraft carrier groups supposedly to deter attacks against Israel. Biden, in contrast to Trump, retains at least some sense of human decency, so he can't really endorse Israel's genocide, but he tries hard to not see it, either, so he readily parrots Israel's lies and clichés -- which so far is all that Netanyahu has needed.

But it would help to see the game he and his far-right allies are playing: they don't care about Iran, and they don't worry about foreign attack; they only care about the US and Europe as a meal ticket, and even there they don't care how unpopular they become, as long as those in power toe their line; what they do care about is grinding the Palestinians down to dust, to utter insignificance, not just in Gaza but everywhere they control; unlike some genociders, they are not obsessed with killing every last Palestinian, as they know that's not the only way to render them inconsequent, but they also have no qualms about killing indiscriminately, and see that as instrumental to their cause.

On some level, most Israelis must realize that they cannot keep killing and destroying indefinitely. True, no other army has the means and will power to stop them. And there's little chance that Israelis, who have grown up under a regime that has systematically inculcated the belief that Jews are eternal victims but in Israel have become invincible warriors, will develop a conscience and decide they've gone far enough (let alone too far). On the other hand, world opinion, even in the so-called western democracies that currently sustain Israel's military and economy, is turning against Israel's war, not just because most people find this killing and destruction abhorrent when done by anyone, but because we increasingly see it as rooted in inequality and hatred, in the fundamentally unjust belief that might makes right.

We see this most clearly in America, where our most reactionary political elements, including the neocons (who led us into the Israel-inspired Global War on Terror) and the Christian Zionists (with their dreams of Armageddon) are by far the most enthusiastic backers of Israeli genocide. Granted, there is still a significant rump faction of Democrats who are loyal to Israel, but their loyalty depends on misinformation and myths, not on a belief in violence. They do want to see a ceasefire and humanitarian relief, and generally accept that diversity, democracy, and equality are not just desirable but necessary. They just have trouble holding Israel to their otherwise general beliefs. But unlike the right-wingers, it should till be possible to reason with pro-Israel Democrats. One can make a strong case that Israel is harming itself by pursuing such extreme policies.

Note: The assassination of Hamas eminence Ismail Haniyeh has become a big enough story to warrant its own section, between this one (which is mostly limited to Israel's domestic politics and military operations) and the next one (which deals with US politics and support for Israel). As usual, there is another section following on Israeli propaganda and world opinion, especially around the genocide charge. The subdivisions are useful because there's so much material to cover, and it's nice to keep similar pieces together, but it's also difficult, in that many pieces lap over from one area to another. For instance, articles specifically on the US reaction to the Haniyeh assassination may be included in the US section. The assassinations and escalation in Lebanon hasn't yet mandated its own section, so pieces on that are mostly in the US section, as my view is that Israel's attacks on Lebanon (and Iran) are mostly attempts to lead US policy.

• Mondoweiss:

  • [08-01] Day 300: Nasrallah declares 'new phase' of war, vows 'inevitable' response to Israeli attack on Beirut: "In a strident speech on Wednesday evening, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah said that the fighting with Israel has 'entered a new phase' that goes 'beyond supporting Gaza,' vowing an 'inevitable' response to Israel's Beirut bombing." So has Israel finally managed to goad Hezbollah into attempting to inflict some serious damage on Israel? Thus far, they've just been playing tit-for-tat exercises, supposedly to maintain their delusions of deterrence.

  • [08-05] Day 304: Israel kills Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank as it braces for response to assassinations: "As Israel awaits Iran's and Hezbollah's responses to assassinations carried out last week, Israeli forces bombed three shelters in Gaza, killing 47 Palestinians, and escalated attacks in the northern West Bank, killing 12."

• Middle East Monitor: [08-01] Israel confirms 'eliminating' Hamas military wing chief Al-Deif.

• Helena Cobban: [08-03] Israeli society, institutions continue to implode.

• Juan Cole:

  • [08-03] Israeli total war infects 40,000 with Hepatitis A, threatens Polio epidemic, recalling past experiments on human subjects: I haven't seen any reports of Israel conducting biological warfare in Gaza, but the conditions -- no electricity, little if any sewage management, the hospitals destroyed, most housing destroyed, accounting of all sorts disrupted (do you really believe that the death toll is stuck at 39,000?) -- are ripe for biological agents to take a terrible toll.

  • [08-04] Iran condemns "medieval barbarity" of Israel's Sde Teiman Camp, insists on right to deter further aggression. I don't recognize any such right (for Israel as well as for Iran), and insist that "deterrence" is a fool's game. I have a couple more points. One is that it isn't a level playing field. Obviously, it favors the side with the most weapons, so the other side is pressured to keep up, while the stronger side struggles to keep ahead, so it causes an arms race. Risk goes up too, as the more weapons you have, the more likely you are to use them. (Every side has their Madeleine Albrights, although it is fitting that the archetype is American, as the US has long recognized that deeper pockets make it possible to bankrupt your opponent, as the US did with Russia, especially with the "Star Wars" expansion.) "Deterrence" works pretty well against countries that had no intention of attacking you in the first place. However, real threats see it as a challenge, which is why a small power like Hezbollah can't deter a militant aggressor like Israel. Iran, on its own, might command more respect, but as long as Israel has the US in its hip pocket (not to mention its own sizable nuclear arsenal), there isn't much Iran can do either. The net effect is that these tit-for-tat exchanges always work to Israel's advantage.

  • [08-05] Using US tech giants' "cloud" and AI, Israel bombed schools, killing 24 children, to hit 2 "saboteurs".

• Dave DeCamp: [08-04] Netanyahu appoints new spokesman who wants ethnic cleansing of Gaza: "Omer Dostri has called for settlements to be established in areas of Gaza that are under Israel's control."

• Jason Ditz: [08-04] Israeli drone strike kills senior Hezbollah member in Southern Lebanon: Ali Nazih Abed Ali.

• Yoav Haifawi: [08-04] Palestinian demonstrators are back in Haifa -- and facing police oppression: "Since Israel's genocidal attack began in October, a terror campaign has also been carried out against Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, including quashing any signs of solidarity with Gaza. Despite this repression, protests are starting again."

• Tareq S Hajjaj:

  • [08-01] A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh's home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.

  • [08-02] 'An entirely preventable disaster': Health officials warn of catastrophic polio epidemic in Gaza.

• Oper Neiman: [08-01] In supporting Israeli army rapists, right-wing protesters signal the coming Israeli civil war: "A recent speech in support of Israeli soldiers detained for torturing and raping Palestinian detainees shows the Israeli right not only wants to escalate the ongoing genocide against Palestinians but also threatens bloodshed between Israeli Jews."

  • Zack Beauchamp: [08-02] Israel's January 6 moment: "A far-right riot at a military base exposed the contradiction tearing Israel apart."

  • Adam Gaffney: [08-02] Israel's crimes against humanity at Sde Teiman -- and the complicity of its doctors: "The conditions at the Israeli detention camp, abetted by its medical staff, violated both international law and medical ethics."

  • Bill Van Esveld: [08-04] Israeli lawmakers try to block torture prosecutions.

  • Oren Ziv: A riot for impunity shows Israel's proud embrace of its crimes: "Far-right protesters, soldiers, and MKs rallied for guards suspected of raping a Palestinian detainee. Once fringe, they're now the public face of the state."

• David Remnick: [08-03] Notes from underground: "The lift of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza." I'm skeptical about how much an outsider like Remnick can actually know and understand about someone so hidden from access, with such different experiences and opportunities, but this is a substantial piece. And it should make us more aware of how fragile the "victories" of Israel's dominance are.

• Ali Rizk: [07-29] Golan Heights attack is match that could set Israel-Hezbollah ablaze: "US is working to stave off what could be a major cross-border war and regional conflagration."

• Staron Zhang: [08-02] Israel has damaged or destroyed 85 percent of schools in Gaza.

The Haniyeh assassination:

• Fatima AbdulKarim/Mohammed R Mhawish: From Gaza to Ramallah, Haniyeh remembered as advocate of unity.

• Nasim Ahmed: [08-01] Ismail Haniyeh: assassinated in Israel's war on peace and quest for endless occupation. Notes that "Western sources consistently portrayed Haniyeh as a moderate figure within Hamas."

  The political murder of Haniyeh fits a troubling pattern of Israeli behaviour. Political observers have long noted Israel's fear of what is often referred to as a Palestinian "peace offensive." Throughout its history as an occupation state, Israel has been accused of targeting moderate Palestinian leaders who show the potential for engaging in meaningful peace negotiations. This strategy, critics argue, is aimed at closing the door to peace and maintaining a state of perpetual conflict that serves Israel's long-term goal of establishing its illegal sovereignty over all of historic Palestine.

• Ramzy Baroud: [07-31] It's both criminal and desperate; that's why Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh. He also notes: "Israel chose the time and place for Haniyeh's murder carefully." Israel has persistently attempted to link Hamas with Iran, which has never made a lot of sense, but the opportunity to kill him in Iran will leave an indelible impression, as well as serving as a major embarrassment to and provocation of Iran.

• Juan Cole: [08-02] Turkey's Erdogan denounces killing of Haniyeh, blocks Israel at NATO, boycotts it, and threatens intervention.

• David Hearst: Ismail Haniyeh killing: Netanyahu's only goal is to set the region on fire.

• Fred Kaplan: [07-31] What Israel's killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders could mean for war in the region.

• Qassam Muaddi: [07-31] Israel assassinates head of Hamas political bureau amid regional escalation: "Israel assassinated Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran after a series of mounting regional tensions that included unprecedented Israeli attacks on the 'Axis of Resistance,' including airstrikes on Beirut and Yemen."

• Ashraf Nubani: [08-05] Killing Hamas leader: an act of Israeli desperation. I understand the impulse to write something defiant like this, but I don't sense the desperation. Israel saw an opportunity and, consistent with their principles, acted on it, with little regard for future consequences, because they really aren't worried about things like that.

• Abdaljawad Omar: [07-31] The real reason Israel is assassinating Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and why it won't stop the resistance: "Israel's assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders doesn't aim to weaken the resistance. Its real motive is to restore the image of military and intelligence superiority in the eyes of the Israeli public." I think the author is overthinking this. Once Israel's leaders decided they could get away with killing everyone even remotely associated with Hamas, with no worries about killing other Palestinians, any opportunity to hit someone on their list was automatically greenlighted. The author desperately wants to think that the resistance is a factor Israel must reckon with, but Israelis don't care. If their attacks push more people to resist, they'll just kill more. Once the telos is genocide, resistance is just positive feedback.

• Paul R Pillar: [08-01] Trigger happy Israel and its thirst for revenge: "The cross-border assassinations reflect a national rage playing out in Gaza's carnage -- and Netanyahu's desire to keep the war going forever."

• Reuters: [07-31] Haniyeh was the pragmatic leader of Hamas.

• Muhammad Sahimi: [07-31] Assassination of Hamas leader in Iran puts new president in a trap: "Depending on how Pezeshkian responds, it may force the US to get directly involved in defense of Israel." No mention that the trap was solely the work of Netanyahu until six paragraphs in:

  Dialogue between Iran and the United States is, however, the last thing that Israel, and particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, wants at this stage. If anything, Netanyahu would expand the war to Lebanon in hopes that Iran will react strongly and enter the war directly. Neither Hezbollah nor Iran wants a war with Israel at this stage, but no one should be under the illusion that if Israel begins a full-scale war with Lebanon and Hezbollah, Iran will sit it out.

• Erika Solomon: [08-04] Hamas may emerge battered, but not beaten, from Israel's latest blows: "The assassination of two Hamas leaders may be a short-term setback, analysts say, not enough to prevent the group from emerging intact -- and possibly more radicalized." I have very little faith in articles like this, where reporters have very little access to primary sources, and everyone they do have access to has their own interests to promote. The line here, hardly surprising given where it's being published, is basically what Israel wants you to believe: that yes, we're inflicting serious short-term losses on Hamas, but no matter what we do, Palestinians will rebound to attack again, so Israel just has to keep fighting forever, beating them down (you know, "mowing the lawn"). Still, this argument depends on sleight of hand, confusing the idea of Hamas with its organization (which was never as monolithic as supposed), but also assuming that the dynamic remains extremely polarized (that Israel and Hamas can do nothing but fight until one or the other dies).

  I am reasonably certain that as long as Israel acts like Goliath, many Palestinians will want to resist, and will search for leverage they can use to assert their dignity and fight back. Hamas was one of many organizations that attempted to channel Palestinian desires for justice into effective political action. I think it's fair to say that it failed, repeatedly, but most definitively on or shortly after October 7, when in an act of desperation, the organization exploded like a suicide bomber. I suppose it's possible that there is still some sort of residual organization in Gaza, more likely as isolated cells than under any sort of unified command. Emigres like Haniyeh could continue to represent themselves as Hamas for diplomacy, but that just made them targets for Israel. No doubt there are others formerly associated with Hamas, some with their militia and many more mere civil employees of the Hamas-run de facto governance (now destroyed), and those people would continue to look for opportunities to resist, but they no longer constitute an effective force. Within a week or two, Israel could simply have declared victory over Hamas, and no one would have disputed them. That they didn't is because Hamas is their idea as much as it ever was a Palestinian idea. Hamas is Israel's ticket to genocide, so as long as they want to keep killing Palestinians -- and clearly they are nowhere near satiated yet -- they have to keep the idea of Hamas alive. Which is what they've done. And will continue to do, as long as you keep buying their hasbara.

• Syeda Fizzah Shuja: [08-01] Haniyeh's assassination unleashes a new era of political violence.

• Robert Wright: [08-02] The Haniyeh assassination will haunt Israel. Cites David Ignatius (below), quoting: "The Israelis are still stuck in a zero-sum game. But Israelis should ask themselves how well the hard-nosed, forever-war approach has worked in practice." They'd probably answer that they're still fighting, and killing more than they are losing, so it's working out just fine.

  • David Ignatius: [07-31] The mediators struggle to keep a lid on a blood feud: "The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is another blow to the delicate work of US negotiators trying to end the Israel-Gaza war." And note who struck the blow, and why.

• Middle East Monitor: [08-04] Massive rally in Istanbul to mourn Hamas leader Haniyeh, support Palestinians in Gaza.

America's Israel (and Israel's America):

• Yuval Abraham: 'Order from Amazon': How tech giants are storing mass data for Israel's war: Also "procuring further AI tools from Google and Microsoft for military purposes."

• Michael Arria:

  • [07-31] US officials react to Israeli assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders: "White House officials denied involvement in the Israeli assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr and Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh while also pledging an 'unwavering commitment' to Israel if it faces retaliatory strikes."

  • [08-01] The Shift: Netanyahu protests lead to more bills targeting protesters: "The protests targeting Netanyahu's recent visit to DC have led to a new round of anti-protest bills."

• Phyllis Bennis:

  • [08-01] US complicity in genocide may have just become direct involvement: "US complicity in genocide by providing the weapons Israel is using in Gaza, could expand to direct U S involvement in what could escalate into a major regional war."

  • [08-02] Middle East a tinderbox after assassinations.

• Marjorie Cohn: [07-25] Active violation of ICJ ruling -- US and Israel refuse to comply: "The US is actively violat[ing] the ICJ's ruling. The Biden administration has shown no sign to follow the ICJ's command to stop supporting Israel's illegal occupation."

• Mohamad Elmasry: [08-05] The US is no longer the senior partner in the US-Israel relationship: "When challenged by the Israeli government, Washington has chosen acquiescence."

• Joshua Keating: [07-31] A very dangerous 24 hours in the Middle East: "After strikes in Beirut and Tehran, the region has never been closer to all-out war."

• Sonali Kolhatkar: [08-03] What arming Israel costs us: "To end U.S. support for Israel's genocide in Gaza, cold, hard calculations about war spending versus domestic programs could have greater resonance in an election year." Main problem here is that the bean-counters stick to things that are easily counted, so don't factor what even economists recognize as externalities and opportunity costs, let alone intangibles, such as the tendency of injustice and wars to lead to more wars and more injustice.

• James North: [08-03] Mainstream media coverage of Israel's assassination campaign misleads the US public.

• Trita Parsi: [08-01] The Middle East is inching toward another war.

  Indeed, Netanyahu has for two decades sought to get the U.S. to go to war with Iran. The last four American Presidents have all at various times faced pressure from Israel to attack Iran. Though much focus has been on Iran's nuclear program, the desire for a direct U.S. attack goes deeper than uranium enrichment. Israel sees Iran as threatening a regional arrangement that otherwise provides Israel with maximum maneuverability, including the ability to strike Syria and Lebanon with almost complete impunity. A nuclear deal that prevents Iran from building a bomb would not shift the regional balance away from Iran, the Israelis believe. In fact, through the sanctions relief that Iran was promised under Obama's nuclear deal, Iran's conventional capabilities would probably grow. Obama's rapprochement with Iran edged the regional balance of power away from the Persian Gulf states and Israel. That balance of power cannot be sustained by Israel's military capacity alone. It requires severe economic sanctions and American military action.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [08-04] The fallout from Israel's assassination of Ismail Haniyeh demonstrates the Biden administration's failures: "The Biden administration wants a ceasefire deal but is not prepared to put pressure on Israel to make it happen. Netanyahu knows this and is pushing forward with the genocide of the Palestinians, and regional war with the Axis of Resistance." This is a nit, but why even dignify a phrase like "Axis of Resistance" with a reference? (I wondered about etymology. (Wikipedia attributes first use to a Libyan newspaper in 2002, where it was obviously a play on Bush's axis of evil speech -- a source where its Nazi/WWII associations would not have been grasped as readily as Bush intended. But has any "member" actually identified as such? It seems much more likely to appear in Israeli propaganda, to imply central coordination of armed potential opponents of Israel, where "resistance" is given the intonation of the phrase "resistance is futile." The article does note that Iran's Supreme Leader has "repeatedly defined the Islamic Republic government as a 'resistance government,'" but the implication there is defensive, that one resists against external aggression, not that one becomes aggressive in turn -- a distinction admittedly lost on Israelis.)

• Norman Solomon: [08-02] The smearing of Cori Bush for being truthful about the Gaza War. Also:

  • Devin Thomas O'Shea: [07-30] Cori Bush's opponent is swimming in right-wing AIPAC cash.

• Jeffrey St Clair: [08-03] The scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war: Ceasefire assassinated.

• Nick Turse: US poured billions of military aid into Lebanon. Now Israel threatens to invade.

• Ramona Wadi: [08-01] The US penchant for aiding Israel's violence.

• Adam Weinstein/Annelle Sheline: [08-01] Will Israel drag the US into a new forever war?

• Philip Weiss: [08-02] Americans are 'uber-soft,' unforged by war, and childless -- says Israeli advocate Bennett: "Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett has been all over US media calling for an attack on Iran and assassinating Hamas leaders. But his views are fascistic. He praises war and how it transforms society." It should be sobering to realize that someone whose views are as extreme as Bennett's -- and one could say the same thing about Avigdor Lieberman -- is in the opposition to the Netanyahu/Smotrich government. So while one can easily imagine Israel's next elections voting Netanyahu out, any sort of fundamental change of heart is very unlikely.

• Ann Wright: [08-01] Millions spent on Netanyahu's trip to Washington, DC: "Security for war criminal Netanyahu was more extensive than what was provided for 32 heads of state for the recent NATO anniversary in DC."

• Stephen Zunes: [08-02] Don't believe the rampant disinformation over Israel's escalation in Lebanon: "The US is misrepresenting the strike on Majdal Shams and even the geography and political status of where it took place."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Yousef Aljamal: [08-02] Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. Where is the outrage? That's not the question I would ask. People who know about this are plenty outraged -- probably more than is good for their own health. The bigger problem is who doesn't know? And who doesn't care? The question of starvation was raised almost instantly, with the blockade of food imports and a bombing campaign directed at agricultural resources (especially greenhouses). Since then, we've seen some deaths reported, but it's not clear how they're being counted -- or if they're being counted. The broader issues of malnutriton are hard to quantify, let alone report.

• Kribsoo Diallo: [08-03] African attitudes to, and solidarity with, Palestine: From the 1940s to Israel's genocide in Gaza: "Kribsoo Diallo reviews African perspectives on Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, the rise and fall of Zionist influence in Africa, and the state of African grassroots solidarity with Palestine."

• Faris Giacaman: [07-30] Netanyahu's willing executioners: how ordinary Israelis became mass murderers: "After ten months of relentless genocidal war, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that both the Israeli state and society are partners in the genocide. The picture that emerges is a genocide from above and below." Obvious reference here to Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's 1996 book, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, which argued that the Nazi Judeocide was a reflection of widespread vitriolic anti-semitism among ordinary Germans, as opposed to the view that it was an aberration driven by fanatical Nazis, often operating in secret. I haven't read that book, but I've always been suspicious of its thesis, which just doesn't strike me as the way things work. Still, this seems like a fair question to ask of Israelis right now. I can't really tell: there is a lot of personal dislike of Netanyahu in Israel, but there doesn't seem to be much serious opposition to his war policy (which some would argue is a personal stay-out-of-jail strategy). While I recognize his war as flagrantly genocidal, Israeli propaganda takes great pains to deny and deflect, and therefore to shelter supporters from having to acknowledge the consequences of Israel's actions. If they knew better, would they care?

  But I will note that there are several reasons to think that Israelis are more popularly aligned with their government's genocidal policies than Germans were in the early 1940s: Israel is a much more open democracy, so those (except Palestinians) who oppose government policy can (generally) speak out and assemble to protest without fear of jail and torture; while the press in Israel has been fairly tightly controlled, there is still much more information available about the atrocities than was publically available in Germany; the Holocaust took place under cover of total war, toward the end of a long era of European imperialism, where racism was casually accepted and rarely challenged, whereas today most of us know better; in particular, we know much about the Nazi example, and about many other examples of systematically racist behavior, some also amounting to genocide. For an Israeli (and even more so if you're simply an ally of Israel) today, it's much harder to pretend you don't know what's going on, and/or that there's nothing you can do about it.

  By the way, some old pieces on Goldhagen's book:

  • Norman Finkelstein: [1997] Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's 'crazy' thesis: a critique of Hitler's Willing Executioners: Paywalled, but the essay was later turned into half of a book, reviewed here:

  • Max Frankel: [1998-06-28] Willing executioners? Review of Norman G Finkelstein and Ruth Bettina Birn: A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth.

  • Richard John Neuhaus: [1996-08] Daniel Goldhagen's Holocaust.

  • David North: [1997-04-11] The myth of "ordinary Germans": a review of Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Excutioners.

  • Jonathan Ofir: [2023-12-08] I used to think the term 'Judeo-Nazis' was excessive. I don't any longer. A "related article" link worth mentioning again here.

• Robert Kuttner: [08-02] Bibi's death wish:

  Is Netanyahu deliberately provoking a regional war that will be disastrous for Israel? Unless he is certifiably insane, his motive has to be to drag in the U.S., not as mediator but as more explicit military protector. And the strategy is working. . . .

  But Israel is certainly guilty of the most barbarous sort of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. And Israel's reckless killing of civilians in Gaza violates international law as well as human decency, whether or not it meets some legal test of genocide.

  If you need a primer on the daily humiliations inflicted on the Palestinian population, you owe it to yourself to read Nathan Thrall's book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank meet any test of apartheid, and Israel is behaving precisely like a colonial power.

  In some respects, the South African apartheid regime was more benign. They didn't kill Nelson Mandela, and in the end they released him in full recognition that he would be the country's next president. If only F.W. de Klerk, the last president under apartheid, who recognized the inevitability of Mandela and the end of white rule, were a role model for Netanyahu.

  This example is a reminder that if you want peace, you need strong and credible leadership on the other side, to sell the deal to people who have little if any reason to trust you. Israel could have done that with Arafat in 1993, but instead they undercut and marginalized him, even bolstering Hamas to weaken Fatah. They could have done that with Hamas when it won elections in 2007, but they rejected the results. Israelis like to complain that they've never had a "partner for peace," but the more serious problem is that Palestinians have never been allowed to choose their own leaders. It was the British who selected Hajj Amin Ali Husseini and his successors. Israel arranged for Jordan to rule the West Bank from 1948 until they were ready to take it over in 1967, and even later made sure it was Jordan and not the Palestinians running the Waqf. Israel brought in Arafat rather than deal with the Intifada leaders.

• Craig Murray: [08-02] The Israeli nihilist state: "The apartheid state appears to have no objective other than violence and an urge for desolation."

• Joseph Massad: [07-29] Why the West created a new dictionary for Israel and Palestine: "Seeking ideological uniformity on the issue, western officials and their media accomplices have long recognised the centrality of language to their political indoctrination project."

• Nylah Iqbal Muhammad: [08-03] Understanding the connections between the Congo and Palestine genocides: "Friends of the Congo Executive Director Maurice Carney and Professor Eman Abdelhadi discuss the intersections between the genocides in the Congo and Palestine."

• Zainab Nasser: [08-04] Living remotely: a Palestinian expatriate's struggle from Gaza to Beirut: "The sun rises over Beirut and the city stirs to life. For many, it's a new day filled with promise and potential, maybe hope or pain. But for me, a Gaza-born expatriate who spent 25 years in Gaza, each dawn brings a blend of hope and dread."

• Corey Robin: [08-03] Two paths for Jewish politics: "In America, Jews pioneered a way of life that didn't rely on the whims of the powerful. Now it's under threat." Starts with a personal story:

  Having never thought that it wasn't, I flashed a puzzled smile and recalled an observation of the German writer Ludwig Börne: "Some reproach me with being a Jew, others pardon me, still others praise me for it. But all are thinking about it."

  Thirty-one years later, everyone's thinking about the Jews. Poll after poll asks them if they feel safe. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris lob insults about who's the greater antisemite. Congressional Republicans, who have all of two Jews in their caucus, deliver lectures on Jewish history to university leaders. . . . But as I learned that summer in Tennessee, and as we're seeing today, concern can be as revealing as contempt. Often the two go hand in hand.

  Consider the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which the House of Representatives recently passed by a vote of 320-91. The act purports to be a response to rising antisemitism in the United States. Yet the murder of Jews, synagogue shootings, and cries of "Jews will not replace us" are clearly not what the bill is designed to address. Nearly half of Republicans believe in the "great replacement theory," after all, and their leader draws from the same well.

  The bill will instead outfit the federal government with a new definition of antisemitism that would shield Israel from criticism and turn campus activism on behalf of Palestinians into acts of illegal discrimination. (Seven of the definition's eleven examples of antisemitism involve opposition to the State of Israel.) Right-wingers who vocally oppose the bill -- Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Tucker Carlson, and Charlie Kirk -- have little problem with its Zionist agenda. They just worry that it will implicate those who believe the Jews are Christ killers.

• Ilan Pappé: [08-01] To stop the century-long genocide in Palestine, uproot the source of all violence: Zionism. This led me to another historical piece worth perusing:

  • Amir Fleischmann: [04-22] How European nationalism and Zionism crushed the Arab-Jewish alliance.

• Rick Staggenborg: [07-31] Why do good people support genocide? "I met with a Zionist to discuss whether it was a 'plausible' case that Israel's tactics constituted genocide."

  At her request, I supplied links to the sources of my claims, including Israeli newspapers and mainstream press articles citing Israeli sources. She said little about the information I shared. Instead, she raised new arguments each time we met for why Israel had "no choice" but to continue its wholesale slaughter of the population of Gaza.

  I eventually realized that she was able to support the destruction of an entire people because she didn't want to confront the facts. I think she suspected that knowing the whole truth might undermine her deeply held beliefs about Israel and perhaps Zionism itself.

• Kathleen Wallace: [08-02] How will our great grandchildren look back on this chapter? "What is going on in Palestine is, as they say, simply a laboratory for the rest of the world. To not take a stance on such horror is to sign your own death warrant." Not too far back, the author also wrote:

  • [06-07] Does America have narcissistic personality disorder? "As a way of feeling powerful, the worst narcissistic traits are often emulated, and I think this is what we are seeing in the MAGA movement." The author notes "nine basic criteria to diagnose the personality disorder," and finds the US "currently meets all of them."

    1. A grandiose sense of importance.
    2. A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success and power.
    3. A belief that they are special in such a way that only other high-status peoples or institutions can understand them.
    4. A need for excessive admiration.
    5. A sense of entitlement.
    6. Interpersonally exploitative behavior.
    7. A lack of empathy.
    8. An envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her."
    9. Arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes.

  • 05-03] More than just protests for Palestine: existential hope for the world: "Americans have been told that Israel is their only true ally in that region of the world. But nobody wants to know how that situation came to be."

• Robert Zaretsky: [08-05] Israel's use of torture is a travesty -- just like it was for the French in Algeria 70 years ago.

Election notes:

• Karen Greenberg: [08-04] Will election 2024 traumatize us? Drawing on her experience with the Guantanamo prison program, the author asks the question, is our political system designed to resign us to a state of "learned helplessness," where we give up all hope?

  The goal was simple: to reduce that prisoner to a profound state of complete paralysis and disempowerment in which, having no hope of relief or escape, he would do whatever his captors wanted. Detainees would see that there was no way out but to answer their captors' questions, which, it turned out, often led them, in desperation and a state of learned helplessness, to confess to things they hadn't done, to confess to whatever their captors wanted to hear.

  Having studied and written about the nightmare of those prisoners and Guantánamo for so many years now, it's been supremely jarring to see the term "learned helplessness" re-emerge in connection to the current unnerving state of American politics and the 2024 presidential election. Yet, in many ways, it seems a strangely appropriate lens through which to view the world of Donald Trump and the rest of us. It was true, as many commented, that a sense of learned helplessness indisputably crept into the mindset of so many of us in this country -- at least prior to Joe Biden's decision not to pursue a second term as president.

  But with Biden's exit, the election feels far less gloomy right now. No matter how improbable election of Kamala Harris may have seemed before Biden dropped out, it now feels like we finally have a fighting chance, and with that comes a sense of euophria that has been sadly lacking from our lives since, well, practically forever.

• Rebecca Jennings: [08-02] An influencer is running for Senate. Is she just the first of many? "Caroline Gleich's Utah Senate campaign is a sign of the blurring lines between digital creators and politicians." This doesn't strike me as so weird. She sounds like a good candidate.

• Ed Kilgore: [07-31] What ever happened to RFK Jr.?

  • Chas Danner: [08-05] RFK Jr. admits planting dead bear in Central Park. Getting desperate here, don't you think? How loud can a person scream, "Hey! I'm weird too!"

  • Clare Malone: [08-05] What does Robert F Kennedy, Jr. actually want? "The third-party presidential candidate has a troubled past, a shambolic campaign, and some surprisingly good poll numbers." Last time I checked, his poll numbers had dropped by half, so I have to wonder what the lead time on this piece was.

Trump:

• Moustafa Bayoumi: [07-31] Donald Trump sure makes a lot of 'jokes' about ruling as a dictator, doesn't he? "Trump's messaging draws from the strategies of the far right -- and Democrats usually end up playing into his hands." There's something here I don't understand. Aren't jokes supposed to be funny? Have you ever actually laughed at anything Trump has said? I can't think of any examples. Rather, his "jokes" are usually tagged after the fact, mostly to excuse taunts, boasts, and/or lies that missed their mark. With most people, a sense of humor, a shared joke, provides a human connection. But with Trump? I'm not saying you can't laugh at him, but laughing with him is very hard.

• Catherine Bennett: [08-04] We know Trump is weird -- it's time for the Democrats to get creative with the insults.

• Nandika Chatterjee: [08-02] Federal investigators suspected that Egypt may have bribed Trump with $10 million in cash. Draws on:

  • Aaron C Davis/Carol D Leonnig: [08-02] $10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt: "Political appointees rejected efforts to search for additional evidence investigators believed might provide answers, then closed the case."

• Chauncey DeVega: [07-31] "The savior of Israel": Antisemitism expert on what Trump's "good Jew and bad Jew sorting signals: With Sharon Nazarian.

• Griffin Eckstein: [07-31] Trump doubles down on "rude and nasty" label for Black journalists, after tense NABJ interview.

• Jim Geraghty: [08-05] Does Trump even want to win? "In a state Trump needs, he attacked a popular Republican governor and trotted out the usual grievances." The state is Georgia, where, well, you know.

• Susan B Glasser: [08-01] Trump's racist attack on Kamala Harris was no accident.

• Shane Goldmacher: [08-01] Trump escalates race attacks on Harris, worrying some Republicans. It takes a lot to embarrass Republicans on race.

• Benjamin Hart: [08-01] Trump keeps questioning Harris's blackness after train-wreck interview.

• Margaret Hartmann: [08-01] The real origin of Trump's Hannibal Lecter obsession: "The deeper you go, the less sense it makes."

• Colbert I King: [08-02] Trump is much worse than 'weird'. This is one trope you can play hundreds of ways. For instance:

  • Jennifer Rubin: [08-01] 'Weird does not begin to describe the Trump threat.

• Rachel Leingang: [04-06] Trump's bizarre, vindictive incoherence has to be heard in full to be believed: "Excerpts from his speeches do not do justice to Trump's smorgasbord of vendettas, non sequiturs and comparisons to famous people."

• Eric Levitz: [08-01] The Trump-Vance campaign would be great if not for Trump and Vance: "The Trump team's newfound professionalism can't conceal their candidate's longstanding flaws." Subheds: "Trump's attacks on Harris's ethnicity are dishonest (and probably counterproductive)"; "JD Vance is the most disliked vice presidential candidate on record." My question here is how many people realized how much they disliked Vance before Trump picked him? I didn't, and I figure I knew more about him than most people. Granted, much of what I knew took on greater import with Trump's "kiss of death," but still I'm impressed by how much more came out after his selection.

• Amanda Marcotte: [08-01] The dark truth behind Donald Trump's hatred of Kamala Harris' laugh: "It's not just Kamala Harris: When E. Jean Carroll laughed, Donald Trump sexually assaulted her."

• Paige Oamek: [08-05] Trump's new insane Mar-a-Lago fee fuels his election grift: "Here's even more proof that Donald Trump is planning to use the presidency just to enrich himself."

• Christian Paz: [07-31] Speaking to Black journalists, Trump reminded everyone how racist he can be: "Give Trump a platform and he'll remind people how unlikable he is."

• Rebecca Picciotto: [08-05] Trump blames Harris, Biden for stock market meltdown after taking credit for past upswing.

• Ishmael Reed: [08-02] Trump Sista Souljahs the NABJ.

• Stephen Reicher: [07-26] Donald Trump is a misogynistic, billionaire felon. Here's why Americans can't stop voting for him: "Outsiders can't fathom his success. But Trump's supporters believe his gaffes and misdemeanours prove he's 'one of them.'" I'm rather skeptical of this argument. I tend more towards "he hates the people I hate," but even that depends on a pretty cynical view of politics: that nothing positive is really possible, so let's settle for naked negativity. Very little that Trump says is credible, but the one thing he does convey is menace. Even his ineptness is menacing.

• Greg Sargent: [08-02] Trump's angry new attack on "dumb" Kamala gets wrecked by leaked data: "As Trump keeps blasting 'Border Czar Harris,' new data on plummeting border crossings badly undermines his lies and demagoguery -- in more ways than you might think."

• Hadas Thier: [08-01] Bitcoin goes all in with Trump: "With 10 senators and Trump in attendance at the national Bitcoin conference, the crypto currency moves from the fringes to the center of political life." I certainly didn't expect to have a whole section on crypto, but here it is. As Krugman explains below, the only practical use of crypto is crime. I've worried sometimes that Democats might be attracted to crypto, basically because they're desperate for donors, the crypto scammers are desperate for political influence, and (not unlike hedge funds) it seems kind of harmless -- I can even think of some examples, like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. But the recent break of crypto operators toward Republicans makes most sense, as Republicans have really cornered the market for fools with too much money and too few scruples. (Note that hedge fund and vulture capital operators are also leaning Republican these days.)

  • John Cassidy: [08-05] Trump's dangerous embrace of Bitcoin and the crypto bros: "Having suffered a series of legal and regulatory setbacks in recent years, the cryptocurrency industry is pouring millions of dollars into the upcoming election. To what end?"

  • Paul Krugman: [08-01] How 2024 became a crypto election.

  • Liliana Segura: Bitcoin bros and the MAGA faithful converge in Nashville -- and embrace an alternate reality.

  • Tyler Walicek: [08-03] Why are more tech leaders pivoting to Trump? Follow the crypto.

  • Luke Goldstein: [07-31] Crypto cash affecting both sides of the democratic divide: Looks like some crypto money is going to Democrats too, especially primary opponents of Democratic crypto critics.

  • Freddy Brewster: [07-31] The crypto industry's 2024 election spending spree.

  • Washington Post: [08-03] Republicans suddenly love crypto. Americans should beware. "The cryptocurrency lobby is lining up behind Donald Trump. Voters should see nothing good in this."

• Adam Wren/Natalie Allison/Olivia Beavers/Lisa Kashinsky: As Trump fumes, Republicans wince at 'public nervous breakdown'.

• Maya Yang: [08-04] Trump calls union leader who endorsed Kamala Harris 'a stupid person': "Ex-president says members of United Auto Workers, which endorsed Harris, will vote for him despite Shawn Fain."

Vance:

• Tim Balk: [08-05] Usha Vance defends JD Vance's 'childless cat ladies' claim as a 'quip': Evidently Trump isn't the only Republican who thinks it's really funny when they say things that most people recognize as plainly stupid and cruel.

• Nandika Chatterjee: [07-30] JD Vance said people without children are "more sociopathic" in newly unearthed interview.

• Rachel M Cohen: [07-30] The movement desperately trying to get people to have more babies: "It's not only JD Vance fixating on childlessness. The pronatalists, explained."

• Griffin Eckstein: [08-01] "Testament to Donald Trump's strength": JD Vance credits Trump in Biden's hostage deal: "Vance, in a stretch of imagination, explains how Trump was responsible for Biden's deal to free Russian hostages."

• Melissa Gira Grant: [07-31] JD Vance has a conspiracy theory about childless people: "The vice presidential candidate has said a 'childless cabal' wants to 'take out kids.'"

• Arwa Mahdawi: [07-30] .

• Amanda Marcotte: [07-31] Kamala Harris is wise to target JD "Cat Lady" Vance -- the GOP's "incel platform" repels voters: "Donald Trump's running mate once claimed people without children are 'more sociopathic.'"

• Jan-Werner Müller: [08-01] JD Vance is the baby of big tech and big oil. He's no 'working-class populist: "Trump's running mate is not a break from ruthless Republican capitalism -- just a shameless repackaging of it."

• Nathan J Robinson: [07-31] The horrifying fascist manifesto endorsed by JD Vance: "A disturbing book 0plans a ruthless total war against the 'unhuman' left." The book is by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec, and it is called Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them), with a foreword by "Stephen K Bannon," who also wrote introductions to: Rudy Giuliani, The Biden Crime Family: The Blueprint for Their Prosecution, Joel B Pollak: The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, and Naomi Wolf, ed: The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer's Crimes Against Humanity; as opposed to "Steve Bannon," who is credited with the foreword to Dan Fleuette: Rebels, Rogues, and Outlaws: A Pictorial History of WarRoom.

• Katherine Stewart: [08-01] The weird intellectual roots of JD Vance's hatred for "cat ladies": "In his worldview, there can only be one supreme power in America -- and it's between trad-male authoritarians like him or woke women of the left."

• Matt Stieb: [08-01] JD Vance is swallowing any pride he might have had.

• Margaret Talbot: [08-05] JD Vance and the right's call to have more babies: "Pronatalism has much in common with some of Vance's views: it typically combines concerns about falling birth rates with anti-immigration and anti-feminist ideas."

• David Austin Walsh: [07-29] JD Vance is summoning the John Birch Society.

And other Republicans:

• Anne Kim: [07-25] Project 2025 is even worse than you think: "The policy blueprint takes aim at the poor by imposing strict limits on Medicaid and housing assistance." Well, much more than that, as we've been pointing out for months now. But since journalists started to come back and question Trump on it, he's been backpedaling.

  • Nicholas Liu: [07-31] Project 2025 director quits as part of "ridiculous" effort to distance the far-right plan from Trump.

  • Shawn Musgrave:

    • Project 2025's mastermind personally thanked JD Vance in his new book.

    • Project 2025 contributors are abandoning ship as Trump turns against them: Maybe they're sheltering from the brand name, but their ideas are ubiquitous in Republican policy circles, and their careers in partisan hackdom are bullet-proof.

  • Heather Digby Parton: [07-31] Trump's attempted rebrand of Project 2025 is failing: "Don't be fooled by staffing shifts, Trump has every intention of implementing the Heritage Foundation's vision."

• Shefali Luthra: [08-03] 3 months into Florida's 6-week abortion ban, its impacts are already showing.

• ProPublica: [08-03] Inside Ziklag, the secret organization of wealthy Christians trying to sway the election and change the country.

• Prem Thakker: GOP platform doesn't mention the word "climate" once -- even after the hottest year on record.

Harris:

• Nandika Chatterjee: Let's start with the obvious big stories:

  • [08-02] "United as one party": Harris locks up Democratic nomination, securing a majority of DNC delegates: Well, so far, she's made it look easy.

  • [08-02] Kamala Harris raised $310 million in July, more than twice Trump's fundraising haul. And she did it without extraordinary promotional stunts like getting convicted for felonies.

• Paul Armentano: [08-01] Kamala is the first major presidential candidate to support marijuana legalization.

• Abdallah Fayyad: [07-31] Ruthless "cop" or "soft on crime"? Kamala Harris's record as prosecutor, explained.

• Constance Grady: [08-01] Legendary activist Kimberlé Crenshaw on why those white people Zooms give her hope: "The scholar who coined 'intersectionality' explains why those fundraisers from white Harris supporters really do matter."

• Timothy Noah: [08-02] Where to go from "weird": "Kamala Harris's campaign has stumbled onto something with its Trump dismissal."

• Christian Paz: [07-30] Gen Z loves making Kamala Harris memes. Will they vote?

• Michael Tomasky: [08-05] The crucial week is here. Can Kamala keep this crazy enthusiasm going?

• Li Zhou: [07-29] The ugly calculus behind MAGA's racist and sexist attacks on Harris.

• Vice-President: Not a serious concern for me, but some pieces (mostly anti-Shapiro) popped up:

  • Michael Crowley: [08-02] Senior US diplomat will lead Kamala Harris's running mate's team: "Elizabeth M Allen, who heads the State Department's public diplomacy office, served as a top aide to Ms. Harris in 2020 and in the Obama White House." No running mate yet, but clear indication that whoever it is will be kept on a tight leash. And while it's safe to assume that Allen will be as pro-Israel as she needs to be, she can't be unaware of the pitfalls the candidate will face.

  • Chris Lehman: [08-02] Josh Shapiro is a bad VP pick any way you look at it: "From Gaza to education to corporate welfare, the Pennsylvania governor would drag Kamala Harris in the wrong direction."

  • Eric Levitz: [07-31] Would picking Josh Shapiro actually help Harris in Pennsylvania? "Vice presidential candidates don't necessarily enjoy a home-state advantage." He's arguing against picking Shapiro, without putting much emphasis on what many of us regard as his worst liability, which is his Israel boosterism.

  • Mark Penn: [08-03] Why Josh Shapiro would make such a difference for Kamala Harris. You may remember Penn as Hillary Clinton's favorite pollster and campaign strategist (at least once Dick Morris moved on). No one in America has his finger more firmly on the pulse of stupid.

  • Rafael Shimunov: [08-02] Josh Shapiro's alarmist response to campus protests should disqualify him from being Harris' running mate: "Democrats need to unite a left divided over Israel. Shapiro's actions this spring will hurt that enterprise."

Biden:

• Phillip Longman: [07-26] Biden and Harris broke the suffocating "Washington consensus" on economics.

And other Democrats:

• Jessica Corbett: [08-03] Sanders unveils "moonshot" bill to fund research into long COVID: The bill would offer $1 billion per year top support studies, treatments and expansion of care for US patients."

• Timothy Noah: [08-01] How the Democrats finally took on Big Pharma: "Millions of jobs? Rising wages? Those are great, but the unsung economic achievement has come in making health care much more affordable. The victories, starting with insulin prices, are remarkable."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Liz Anderson: [07-02] Supreme Court rules Hitler immune from prosecution for burning down Reichstag, seizing absolute power. Apologies for reaching back a whole month, but I just found this. Even so, you probably instantly understood that this is not something the Supreme Court literally did, but is an analogy, perhaps ad absurdum, but not as absurd as the actual ruling.

• Adam Gopnik: [07-22] Should we abolish prisons? "Our carceral system is characterized by frequent brutality and ingrained indifference. Finding a better way requires that we freely imagine alternatives."

• Sean Illing: [08-03] Is the United States in self-destruct mode? "The crisis is in the Constitution." Interview with Erwin Chemerinsky, who wrote No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Thretens the United States, and is a frequent writer on constitutional law. Sounds like the current Supreme Court has soured him, at least relative to his 2018 book (which I've read), We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century. Danielle Allen offers similar insights in Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. I've long been partial to books that argued that the foundations of the American political system leaned left, like Staughton Lynd's Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism (1968), and Gordon S Wood's The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992); a more recent one I like is Ganesh Sitaraman: The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic (2017); also, one I own but haven't gotten to yet, is Joseph Fishkin/William E Forbath: The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (2022).

  On the other hand, while I could think of many ways to improve the Constitution -- a good start would be by consulting John Paul Stevens: Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution -- I tend to accept it as unamendable and therefore think we should build political coalitions that are large enough to overcome the system's inherent biases. While it is possible that the current Supreme Court could go completely off the rails with its arbitrary rulings, a strong Democratic majority in Congress could easily replace laws that the Court strikes down, especially when they do so on flimsy excuses (as we've seen a lot of lately).

• Ellen Ioanes: [08-01] Why the 9/11 plea agreements are such a big deal: "It's the end of a drawn-out legal process, haunted by the failure of the war on terror." But . . .

  • Abené Clayton: [08-02] Plea deal for accused 9/11 plotters revoked by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

  • John Kiriakou: [08-02] The CIA & the 9/11 plea deals: "If you don't like the outcome of this odyssey through uncharted legal territory before Lloyd Austin reversed it, blame the CIA, Mitch McConnell and almost every other member of Congress who served in 2009 and 2015."

• Ian Millhiser: [08-01] Chuck Schumer's ambitious plan to take the Supreme Court down a peg: "Schumer wants to engage in jurisdiction stripping, a rarely used tactic that can shrink the Supreme Court's authority."

• Jeffrey St Clair: [08-02] "I'll fucking shoot you in the face": the police murder of Sonya Massey.

Climate and environment:

• Washington Post: [08-05] Debby's most intense rainfall still ahead: The Category 1 hurricane made landfall in Florida's Big Bend, on a path that will dump heavy rain across Georgia and South Carolina. Live updates, including "Debby is the latest sign of an especially active hurricane season."

• Ayurella Horn-Muller: [08-03] 1 in 11 people went hungry in 2023. The climate crisis is partially to blame.

• Blaise Malley: [08-02] Diplomacy Watch: Ukrainian public opinion more divided than ever: "Also, reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan released in biggest prisoner swap to date."

• Eli Clifton: [07-29] WSJ omits major Pompeo conflict of interest in 'Trump peace plan': "Surprise! The former Secretary of State and his co-writer could financially gain from this pro-Ukraine proposal."

• Fred Kaplan: [08-01] It sure seems as if Vladimir Putin is recalculating the US elections:

• Anatol Lieven:

  • [08-02] Biden team blows off deadline for Ukraine war strategy: "Perhaps the administration can't admit it doesn't have one."

  • [07-31] Stop treating Georgia as a creature of the US and the West: "The narrative of 'Russification' risks a real electoral crisis in October, one which Washington and Brussels seem to be encouraging, at everyone's peril."

• Li Zhou: [08-01] The US-Russia prisoner swap that freed Evan Gershkovich, explained: "It's the largest exchange since the Cold War."

  • Chas Danner: [08-01] Who was exchanged in the big Russian prisoner swap?

  • Joshua Yaffa: [08-01] Evan Gershkovich is finally coming home: "In a multinational prisoner exchange, the Wall Street Journal reporter was freed, after being detained for more than a year in Russian jail."

America's empire and the world:

• Christian G Appy: [08-02] Blank checks for war: Congressional abdication from Tonkin to Gaza.

• Rachel Chason: [08-05] US troops withdraw from strategic African base as extremist threat grows: From Agadez, in Niger.

• Nick Cleveland-Stout: [07-30] Apparently, Azerbaijan's got plenty of agents in Washington: "Rodney Dixon produced and peddled a report for Baku absolving it of accusations of Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh."

• Ellen Ioanes: [07-29] Venezuela's Maduro just tightened his grip on power. What comes next?

  • Aida Chávez: US sanctions have devastated Venezuela. How does that help democracy? "In the chaotic aftermath of Maduro's contested reelection, the case that US policy worked in Venezuela is on shaky ground."

  • Gloria Guillo: [08-02] Maduro wins Venezuelan election despite US-organized coup attempt: "It was clear going into the vote, from Maduro's massively attended political rallies, that he remained their favorite."

  • James North: [07-30] The Maduro government is probably stealing the election in Venezuela: "But maintaining economic warfare by the US -- including sanctions -- only hurts the Venezuelan people." But wasn't the intention of the sanctions simply to hurt the Venezuelan people? And what right does the US have to complain about Maduro rigging the election after all the interference the US had committed?

    The Trump policy was not only cruel but also arguably cynical. The Washington Post just reported that Trump officials knew that imposing total sanctions would force a big jump in the number of Venezuelan refugees. But "chaos at the border" helps the MAGA movement politically, as we've just seen with Trump's sabotage of a bipartisan compromise in Congress that would have made asylum requests at the border more difficult. . . .

    The Venezuelan election took place amid an ongoing economic catastrophe, a disaster whose scale is not fully grasped outside the country. The Trump sanctions blocked most of the country's oil exports, and cut it off from international finance. The United States supposedly made exceptions for the import of food and medicines, but global companies steered clear, afraid to run afoul of the American boycott. Mark Weisbrot has the details; he told me that after Trump's 2017 decree, Venezuela's economy collapsed by nearly 38 percent, a worse drop than the 29 percent contraction that the US experienced in 1929-33, the first years of the Great Depression. Venezuelan imports dropped by 91 percent, and food imports by 78 percent. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization reported that undernourishment rose to 27 percent; it had been under 3 percent a decade earlier. Infant mortality jumped to 21 per 1,000 live births, the second highest in Latin America. Some 82 percent of the population ended up in poverty.

  • David Smilde: [07-31] Maduro's legitimacy plunges into crisis following election.

  • Julie Turkewitz: [08-01] US recognizes Maduro's rival as winner of Venezuelan election: "Secretary of State Anthony J Blinken said there was 'overwhelming evidence' that Edmundo González had won, despite President Nicolás Maduro's claim of victory."

• Joshua Keating: [07-31] Are we really in a "new Cold War" with China? Interview with US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.

• Mackenzie Knight: [08-01] Firing nuclear missiles from the pork barrel: "Money and political influence play an outsized role in US military force posture, like the $141 billion Sentinel.

• Dan Leaf: [07-31] Sue Mi Terry: Sometimes you get whacked by the revolving door: "Former CIA and White House Korea analyst -- and wife of columnist Max Boot -- was indicted for playing the influence game a bit too hard." Draws three "lessons":

  1. US policy on North Korea has failed. Time for a new vector.
  2. Think tanks and affiliated experts are vulnerable to financial pressure from foreign entities.
  3. Foreign intellience services, even friendlies, can present a threat to US interests.

• William M Leogrande/Peter Kornbluh: [08-02] Senator Robert Menendez and the corruption of Cuba policy.

• Azad Majumber/Rebecca Tan/Karishma Kehrotra/Anant Gupta: [08-05] Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns and flees country.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [08-05] Thailand may soon take another step backward.

• Adam Weinstein: [07-29] Attacks on US troops in Middle East resume: "Is anyone paying attention to this tinderbox, with our servicemen and women right in the middle?"

Other stories:

• Daniel Immerwahr: [07-15] Were pirates foes of the modern order -- or its secret sharers? "We've long viewed them as liberty-loving rebels. But it's time to take off the eye patch."

• Michael Luo: [07-28] How Christian fundamentalism was born again: "Nearly a century ago, a single trial seemed to shatter the movement's place in America. It's returned in a new form -- but for old reasons." Remembering the Scopes trial.

• Tom Valovic: [08-02] The great global computer outage is a warning we ignore at our peril: "Inherent fragility is always present."

• Richard Wolff: [08-03] Capitalism and democracy are opposites: "When you cross the threshold into a workplace, you leave whatever democracy might exist outside. You enter a workplace from which democracy is excluded." Author of several books along these lines, most recently Understanding Capitalism. I haven't read them, but similar arguments abound in left political tracts, at least as far back as Marx. No doubt most capitalists would like to take as role models feudal lords and despots, but it's clearly possible for workers to retain human and civil rights while working for private firms, and even substantial economic rights, while still retaining such key characteristics of capitalism as private ownership of capital. We do that all the time, and sure, we need to do more and better. The driving force there will no doubt be democracy. It sure won't be capitalism.

• The Olympics:

  • Will Leitch: [08-05] The best of the Paris Olympics: underdogs, an upset, and the spectacular Simone Biles: "Savoring the Games as they enter their final week."

  • Izzie Ramirez/Meredith Haggerty/Alex Abad-Santos: [08-02] 3 unexpected winners -- and 1 predictable loser -- from the Paris Olympics so far.

  • Li Zhou: [08-02] The misleading controversy over an Olympia women's boxing match, briefly explained: "Conservatives are capitalizing on the abandoned Khelif-Carini fight to levy anti-trans attacks."

Obituaries

• William Calley:

  • Seymour Hersh: [08-01] Tracking down Lieutenant Calley: "How I learned the story of the My Lai Massacre."

  • Nick Turse: [07-30] Lt. Calley, the only officer convicted for My Lai massacre, dead at 80: "His role in the 1968 slaughter of over 100 Vietnamese was a feature, not a bug, in the ill-fated US war in Southeast Asia." While Calley is the one we remember, Turse points out that the order that Turse took as the title of his book actually came from Calley's superior officer, Capt. Ernest Medina: Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.

Books

• Usman Butt: [2023-07-09] Avi Shlaim's memoir Three Worlds: Mossad, Mizrahim, and the loss of Iraqi Jewry: "Avi Shlaim's memoir is an elucidating account of split worlds under duress. Deeply researched, Shlaim reveals the factors behind his leaving Iraq for Israel, and how the Israeli secret services stoked tensions to facilitate this exodus."

• Louis Menand: [07-22] When yuppies ruled: "Defining a social type is a way of defining an era. What can the time of the young urban professionjal tell us about our own?" Refers to Tom McGrath: Triumph of the Yuppies: American the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation.

• Jordan Michael Smith: [08-02] The foreign policy mistake the US keeps repeating in the Middle East: "In 2024, the US faces some of the same challenges in the region that it did in 1954." Review of Fawaz A Gerges: What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East, a title which alludes to Bernard Lewis's 2002 book, What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. I read the latter back when I was desperate to read anything on the Middle East, but it mostly just showed me how idiotic western orientalists can be. I haven't read any of Gerges's many books -- most appear to be primers on jihadism for his UK readers -- but he's been working long enough for the imperialist ardor to wear thin. So expect some insights, but also some aggravation. For instance, consider this pull quote:

  The real lesson of America's Cold War policies is that interfering in other countries should only be done when our most vital interests are at stake, we have competent leaders, and we can do more good than ill.

  On the surface, that seems sensible, but every clause melts into goop the moment you reflect on it. Rather than dissect it, let me suggest instead:

  1. Never interfere in other countries. If they are friendly, be friendly. If they are hostile, be wary. If they stink, take your business elsewhere. But don't think that you can or should change them. Ever.
  2. Only domestic interests are vital. Governments are responsible for taking care of their own people, within their own territory, and nothing more. Anyone who thinks "we" have an interest outside the country is wrong, and up to no good.
  3. It's ok to conduct international relations, as long as it's done in a fair and open manner, with mutual respect, not clouded by the projection of power or avarice.
  4. Competent leaders are good. I wish we had some. But no one can judge the competency or fitness of other people's leaders. So don't.
  5. It's impossible to calculate the balance of good and ill: the terms are poorly defined, hard to quantify, and especially hard to anticipate well into the future. The best one can do is to avoid ill at every opportunity. That should leave room for good.

  From WWII on, US interaction with the Middle East has produced one blunder after another, each couched in the notion that we have material interests in the region that need to be advanced or at least defended through alliances with groups that had their own independent and sometimes conflicting interests, and deveoped through ideologies that have only served to further muddy the picture, and to totally befuddle the minds in Washington who think they are in charge. It wasn't always like that. Pre-WWII US interaction was relatively benign: American missionaries established great universities in Beirut and Cairo, tactfully enough that they didn't get tagged as Crusaders; the US refused to join the Great War against the Ottoman Empire, and refused a mandate over post-war Turkey.

  Things started to change in the 1930s when American oil companies came to Saudi Arabia, but even there they made much more equitable arrangements with Aramco than the British did with their Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The Eisenhower policies Gerges is so critical of were still rooted in past good will, even as it was rapidly being squandered to backstop British imperialism and the global oil monopoly, and ultimately to gratify Israel's every whim. One can imagine ways to unwind some of the worst effects, but there's little chance of that happening until you first realize that the entire project was rotten from the start.

• Alexander Sorondo: [07-31] The short shelf-life of the White House tell-all: "Fly-on-the-wall West Wing books age like milk. Why do journalists and publishers bother?" Maybe they like milk? So few books stand the tes to time, it's almost silly to think that they should. One may question the value of "insider" stories, as compared to broader-based studies and deeper histories, but there's no reason they can't contribute something.

  Franklin Foer's book on Biden, The Last Politician, gets a mention, especially because something very significant (October 7) happened just a month after it came out. I'll admit I bought a copy, then didn't read it in a timely fashion, and at this point probably never will. But when I bought it, I thought there was a deficit of information on how Biden was operating around lots of issues -- especially on the Afghanistan retreat, which I thought he got a bum rap for, but with Biden it's hard to tell what's art and what's just klutziness.

  While it's always possible to publish too soon, books do take long enough to write that authors can get beyond first impressions and instincts. I rather doubt that Thomas Ricks meant to call his Iraq War book Fiasco, but by the time he finished, the title was obvious. Similarly, I thought Rajiv Chandrasekaran's reporting from Iraq was really shallow, but by the time he turned it into a book (Imperial Life in the Emerald City) he had a real story. The author here seems to prefer memoirs over journalism, but his examples (Bill Barr, James Comey, Anthony Scaramucci) aren't very persuasive.

Music (and other arts?)

• Hanif Abdurraqib: [07-21] Mdou Moctar's guitar-bending cry for justice: "How the Tuareg band merges political anguish and musician transcendence."

• Kyle Chayka: [07-31] Why I finally quit Spotify: "The platform interface has gradually made it harder to find the music I want to listen to. With the latest app updates, I'd had enough." Tell me about it. Author has a recent book: Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, as well as the earlier (2020) The Longing for Less: Living With Minimalism.

• Anna Russell: [07-29] Make way for postpartum punk rock: "The London band Pushy Pushy Pushy refuges the notion that artists can't be mothers."

Chatter

Local tags (these can be linked to directly): music.

Original count: 254 links, 12958 words (17123 total)

Current count: 256 links, 12995 words (17190 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

July archive (finished).

Music: Current count 42729 [42703] rated (+26), 36 [23] unrated (+13).

My Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll threw me off the usual Sunday/Monday post schedule, although the sheer quantity of news I reaped for yesterday's Speaking of Which would have been excuse enough (249 links, 11258 words before today's additions).

ArtsFuse published my intro/overview essay, Diversity Brings Riches: A Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll, on Friday, at which time I enabled the totals and ballots on my archival website:

• New Albums (366).
• Rara Avis (109).
• Ballots by Voter: first of five batches, this one Ackermann-Dollar, chained links to the rest.
• Voting Critics (90).

There was a glitch early on where the points totals in the tables on ArtsFuse got mangled, so had to be fixed. I've received some feedback on the poll, but not very much. I sent a notice out to my "jazzpoll" mailing list, but as best I can figure, only about half of those messages get past the spam traps (gmail seems to be exceptionally harsh). I put out two announcements on X, but the first (link to essay) only has 164 views (1 retweet, 3 likes), and the second (link to updated Music Week) got 222 views (2 retweets, 5 likes). I also did two notices on Facebook, like this one, with 1 share and 5 likes.

A Google search reveals:

• Avant Music News: The results are in from the Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll.

Also, a couple critics published their ballots (which are all available through the link above). Chris Monsen wrote up his extended mid-year list. I also suspect that I provoked All About Jazz into polling their writers for this all-star break edition list. (As I understand it, their call went out a week after my invites, but they were first to press.)

I've scarcely touched my metacritic file, but should get back to it if/when demands on my time lighten up. Its main value is as a prospecting tool, which I haven't much needed while I had so many jazz albums to search out. I'm pretty sure I'll return to it when the year-end lists start coming in, but between now and then it's likely to only be an occasional hobby. I'm also not sure I'll continue updating my Best Jazz Albums of 2024 file, although it's pretty comprehensive for now. An even more vexing question is whether I'll make a serious effort at the download links I've been accumulating. More pressing is that I've fallen behind the queue of promo CDs (although much of that mail I just opened today).

I did manage to wrap up the July Streamnotes file, and to open a new one for August. Rated count is light this week, as I've had several days where I didn't want to multitask while writing, or didn't feel up to it. I also found myself tiring of looking for unheard albums that got poll votes, especially as many proved inaccessible. Still 189 left in the tracking file, so maybe I just need a break. It's tempting to just take August off. I have a lot of stuff to do around the house. Also a couple of web projects that need attention. I need to rethink my writing ambitions. There are also some health questions.

I've just finished reading Amy Kaplan's Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance. It's a pretty good general history of Israel since the 1940s, with its long drift from left to right, fought mostly on the level of myth, where the intertwined alliance brings out the worst in both. That focus often ignores real political issues -- like the American preoccupation with the Cold War and the postcolonial order of petrostates, and how Israel could somehow deny Arabs (especially Palestinians) any real agency in their fate. They are always treated as an irreconcilable other, to be fought and subdued, and there is nothing they can do about it, so they cycle endlessly between violence and conciliation, only to find that neither stance makes any difference. This fixed gaze saves Kaplan from having to give them any consideration.

The section on Lebanon is pivotal, as Israel shifted direction from justifiable defense to unconscionable offense. Of course, we now know that the latter was always part of the game plan, which is part of the reason we forget how brutal the shift appeared at the time. There is a passage here describing the devastation of West Beirut that will make you think of Gaza today. By that point the right-wing had taken charge in Israel, with Begin as PM, and Sharon running the war. And as the left in America (and to some ultimately fruitless extent in Israel as well) started to have misgivings, the American right embraced the Israeli right ever more firmly. The book's coverage of Christian Zionism is the most detailed I've read, and is truly scary -- in large part because it's really hard to grasp that people can actually believe such nonsense. The book then moves on to neocon militarism, and to the war on terror (with Israel as its guiding light, and "start up" profiteer).

Along the way, the focus on myth offers in-depth discussions of such cultural artifacts as the books/movies from Exodus to Schindler's List to The Late Great Planet Earth to Homeland to World War Z.

New records reviewed this week:

Daymé Arocena: Alkemi (2024, Brownswood): Afro-Cuban jazz singer, first appeared in Jane Bunnett's Cuban group Maqueque, fifth album since 2015, all on this British label. B+(*) [sp]

Carlos Bica: 11:11 (2024, Clean Feed): Bassist, from Portugal, wide range of albums from the late 1990s on (last one was Playing With Beethoven, and I didn't much care for it). This is a quartet which can run rough or refined, with José Soares (sax), Eduardo Cardinho (vibes), and Gonçalo Neto (guitar/banjo). Has a bit of vocal. B+(**) [sp]

Zach Bryan: The Great American Bar Scene (2024, Belting Bronco/Warner): Country singer-songwriter, one I've underrated in the past, and may well again, as he has a knack for making exceptional songs seem ordinary. Runs over an hour. B+(**) [sp]

Chick Corea & Béla Fleck: Remembrance (2024, Thirty Tigers): Piano and banjo duo, third album together, after The Enchantment (2007) and Two (2015). No recording date(s) given, but this "last project" (which includes audience applause) was obviously recorded before pianist's death in 2021. B [sp]

Jon De Lucia: The Brubeck Octet Project (2023 [2024], Musæum Clausum): Alto saxophonist, several albums, modeled on Dave Brubeck's early (1948-50) group, with trumpet, trombone, two more saxophones (Scott Robinson on tenor), piano (Glenn Zaleski), bass, and drums. Nice sense of group interplay. B+(***) [cd]

Divr: Is This Water (2022 [2024], We Jazz): Swiss piano-bass-drums trio (Philipp Eden, Raphael Walser, Jonas Ruther), first album. B+(*) [sp]

FUR [Hélène Duret/Benjamin Sauzereau/Maxime Rouayroux]: Bond (2023 [2024], Budapest Music Center): French-Belgian trio: clarinets, guitar, drums. Nice atmospherics B+(**) [sp]

Marshall Gilkes and WDR Big Band: Life Songs (2022 [2024], Alternate Side): Trombonist, debut 2004, often drawn to big bands (Maria Schneider, John Fedchock) and Latin (Brian Lynch), third album with the German radio orchestra. Vibrant and lush, the Sabeth Pérez vocal a plus. B+(***) [sp]

Ciara Grace: Write It Down (2024, self-released): Singer-songwriter, can't find much about her, had to look the album up by title as artist name didn't do the trick (found me a single, instead). First impression is I like her, though. [PS: Would have found out more had I gotten her name right, including a previous album from 2016.] B+(***) [sp]

The Gringo Pistoleros: The Rise and . . . Subsequent Fall of the Texas Alien (2024, self-released): Recorded in Austin, with Cory Grinder (presumably from somewhere else) just passing through, "named in homage to the great Tim Henderson" (who? Discogs lists 11 with that name, pictures 0). B+(**) [sp]

Christopher Hoffman: Vision Is the Identity (2024, Out of Your Head): Cellist, has a couple previous, core group here has keyboards (Frank LoCrasto) and drums (Bill Campbell), but four (of seven) tracks add guests: Henry Threadgill (alto sax), Ryan Scott (guitar), Anne Webber (flute), Alfredo Colón (EWI). Short (24:20). B+(*) [sp]

Johnny Blue Skies: Passage Du Desir (2024, High Top Mountain): "Metamodern" country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson, not sure if his name is on the cover or not but it appears everywhere the record is mentioned. B+(**) [sp]

Norah Jones: Visions (2024, Blue Note): Singer-songwriter, tends to be slotted as jazz given her record label, but little reason to read much into that. Her 2002 debut was a huge crossover hit, with US sales topping 11 million. Ninth studio album, co-wrote most songs with producer Leon Michels. B+(*) [sp]

Pat Metheny: MoonDial (2024, BMG): Popular jazz guitarist, mostly played fusion since 1975 but has occasionally ventured off the beaten path, which in recent years has included novel instruments. Here he plays baritone guitar, not technically novel, but going deep into "the instrument's nature," he finds "resonant contemplation." B+(*) [sp]

Kim Myhr & Kitchen Orchestra: Hereafter (2020 [2024], Sofa Music): Norwegian guitarist, various albums since 2005, also credited here with voice, organ, synthesizer, drum machine, and piano, with a fairly large postclassical ensemble (but no real string section). B+(*) [sp]

O.: WeirdOs (2024, Speedy Wunderground): "O. (15)" at Discogs, "jazz-fusion duo from London, UK," Joe Henwood (baritone sax) and Tash Keary (drums), first album after a single and an EP, instrumental, sort of a funk-grunge synthesis. B+(*) [sp]

Revival Season: Golden Age of Self Snitching (2024, Heavenly): Atlanta producer Jonah Swilley and rapper Brandon Evans, first album. B+(***) [sp]

Splitter Orchester: Splitter Musik (2024, Hyperdelia, 3CD): Berlin-based composer-performer collective, founded 2010, with members of ten different nationalities, fourth album, each disc a single piece (51:47, 41:36, 78:00). Sort of an ambient industrial feel. Hard to nail down much on an album this long because it's impossible to concentrate like that, but just let it go, and you may wind up suspecting there's something to it. B+(**) [sp]

Stemeseder Lillinger Quartet: Umbra II (2023 [2024], Intakt): Austrian pianist Elias Stemeseder, with German drummer Christian Lillinger, cover adds "feat. Peter Evans & Russell Hall" -- trumpet and bass. They've done this before -- not just Umbra but Penumbra and Antumbra. B+(***) [sp]

Kevin Sun: The Fate of the Tenor (2022 [2024]. Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, impressive Trio debut in 2018, has been on a roll ever since, knows his history and lore. Live set here, another trio, with Walter Stinson (bass) and Matt Honor (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Kenny Warren: Sweet World (2023 [2024], Out of Your Head): Trumpet player, based in Brooklyn, played in Slavic Soul Party, has several albums on his own, this one with cello (Christopher Hoffman) and drums (Nathan Ellman-Bell). B+(**) [sp]

Stian Westerhus & Maja S.K. Ratkje: All Losses Are Restored (2024, Crispin Glover): Norwegian guitarist and vocalist, at least established as such in careers established in the early 2000s, but credits aren't clear here, and two voices intertwine. Hard to tell how deep the story line is, as despite considerable skill I never care enough to follow. B [sp]

Wimps: City Lights (2023, Youth Riot): Punk rock trio from Seattle, fourth album since 2013, 13 songs, 26:43. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Fingers: The Complete Fingers Remember Mingus (1979-93 [2024], Jazz in Britain, 3CD): British quintet -- Lol Coxhill (soprano/tenor sax), Bruce Turner (alto sax/clarinet), Michael Garrick (piano), Dave Green (bass), and Alan Jackson (drums) -- recorded Remember Mingus in 1979, the five tracks (plus "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise") there doubled here for two CDs, and supplemented with later BBC shots for a third. B+(***) [bc]

Pat Smythe Quartet: New Dawn: Live 1973 (1973 [2024], British Progressive Jazz): British pianist (1923-83), probably best known for his 1960s work with Joe Harriott; quartet here features fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth (1946-2017), with Daryl Runswick (bass) and Soft Machine drummer John Marshall. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Mike Cooley/Patterson Hood/Jason Isbell: Live at the Shoals Theatre (2014 [2020], Southeastern): Three singer-songwriters, all started out in the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell went solo circa 2007, Hood has a couple solos albums, Cooley just one from 2012 but gets lead billing here because the theatre seems to have been his childhood dream. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• John Alvey: Loft Glow (Jazz Music City) [08-25]
• Charlie Apicella & Iron City Meet the Griots Speak: Call to Action/Call to Prayer (OA2) [08-16]
• Welf Dorr/Elias Meister/Dmitry Ishenko/Kenny Wollesen: So Far So Good (self-released)
• Morten Duun: Code Breaker (Cmntx) [07-19]
• Russell Haight: Go Forth (OA2) [08-16]
• Eric Jacobson: Heading Home (Origin) [08-16]
• Omer Leshem: Play Space (Ubuntu Music) [09-27]
• David Liebman & the CNY Jazz Orchestra: If a White Horse From Jerusalem . . . (CNY Jazz Arts Foundation) [08-10]
• Rosemary Loar: Vagabond Heart/Curação Vagabundo (Atlor Music) [07-18]
• Matt Mitchell: Zealous Angles (Pi) [08-16]
• Planet D Nonet: Echoes of Harlem: A Salute to Duke Ellington Vol. 2 (Eastlawn) [07-19]
• Dred Scott/Moses Patrou/Tom Beckham/Matt Pavolka: Cali Mambo (Ropeadope) [09-20]
• Piet Verbist: Flamenco Jazz Summit: El Mar Empieza Aquí (Origin) [08-16]
• Philip Weberndoerfer: Tides (Shifting Paradigm) [08-23]
• Miguel Zenón: Golden City (Miel Music) [08-30]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Opened this file on Friday, July 26, early evening. Thought I might wrap this up Monday evening, but I had a very stressful day, got bummed out, and accomplished little. Hence, this week's piece has lapsed into Tuesday, but coverage of [07-30] will be spotty, at best.

One thing I did accomplish on Monday was to write a bit of code that I'm using here, and should save me a lot of trouble in the future. As I've been writing these posts, I've often wondered how much I had written. It then occurred to me that I could measure the post using two Linux shell commands:

fgrep 'href' FILENAME | wc -l
wc -w FILENAME

The former counts links (assuming there is no more than one link per line). The latter counts words. I usually omitted the wc options, since it's easy to visually pick out the number I wanted: the default counts lines, words, and characters. My first thought was to wrap those two commands into a shell script, then run it and append the answer to the web page. Then it occurred to me that I'm already reading the file to find a few directive lines (mostly used for the title and date), so I could count links and words as I go, then add a directive to print them out at (or near) the end. (Which gives me a bit of flexible control, as opposed to just automatically appending the stats to every page -- something I still may decide to do.)

At present, the link counts match the program output, but the word counts vary somewhat. Obviously, word counts depend on how you delimit words (e.g., is a "hyphenated-word" 1 or 2 words?). I used wc just because it was easy and close enough for my purposes. The new code also takes the easy route, using the PHP str_word_count() function, which at least initially produced larger word counts (e.g., 11616 vs. 8674, so in this case +25.6%). But rather than try to tune the PHP code to better match the wc results, I thought maybe I should aim for more useful results. I knew that a lot of the text in these particular files appeared in HTML tags and comments, which never appears as words on the web page, so I tried removing them -- using a regular expression replace:

preg_replace('/<[^>]*>/', ' ', LINE)

I then called the word count function both on the edited line and on the original one -- I was curious what the effect was, and wound up printing out both totals. I also eliminated the directive lines from the word count, since like markup they do not appear in the page, and I was already separating those lines out. For the page cited above, the word counts wound up at 7996 (tags stripped) and 11616 (total). I can imagine refining this further. The most obvious thing is I'm not checking for HTML entities right now, which are few (so have little practical effect), and are rather complicated (so would require much more complex code).

I don't doubt that my programming skills have atrophied over the score-plus years since my last full-time job, but it's always a good feeling to see that I still have some.

One more new formatting tic this week. I thought I'd like to have some way to draw extra attention to articles that seem especially important. What seemed like the simplest, most intuitive way was to change the • bullet to something that would stand out more, like this -- a bright red star.

I've applied this in a few places, and probably should in a few more. (This was a very late addition to the file.) I figured I could do this with CSS, but ran across the problem that once an element was selected for the star, any child elements also inherited the star. (There's a Sarah Jones example below, which is actually pretty unusual.) I haven't found a way in CSS to prevent or stop such inheritance, so resorted to another hack to undo it.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [07-25] Day 293: Palestinians slam Netanyahu speech to Congress as US officials say a ceasefire deal is close: "Palestinian political leaders slammed U.S. politicians' response to Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress as Israel continued its Khan Younis offensive for the fifth day, killing dozens of civilians there and across Gaza."

  • [07-29] Day 297: Israel and Lebanon brace for new escalation after 12 Syrian residents of the Golan Heights were killed by a strike: "Israeli officials say that Netanyahu is behind Israel's hardened position preventing a ceasefire deal as a new round of talks in Rome concludes without a breakthrough."

• Yasmin Abusayma: [07-24] What it's like for Palestinian women living through the Gaza genocide: "Palestinian women have been forced to demonstrate remarkable resilience while navigating the harsh realities of Israel's genocidal war for themselves and their families."

• Eman Alhaj Ali: [07-27] Living in a nightmare: "In Gaza, night is not peaceful. Going to sleep means not knowing if you'll wake up in the morning."

• Jan Altaner: [07-26] An investigation shows how the IDF killed Hind Rajab: A six-year-old Palestinian girl, one of the few names and faces recognized as such among the thousands Israelis have killed.

• M Reza Behnam: [07-25] The politics of water under occupation: Israel in Palestine.

• Shatha Hanaysha: [07-24] Israel kills 11 Palestinians in 24 hours in the West Bank: "Israeli forces carried out a drone strike on a crowded refugee camp, killing five people including a paramedic and her daughter. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces desecrated the bodies with a bulldozer before taking four bodies into custody."

• Heidi Levine, et al.: [07-28] Israel strikes deep in Lebanon after rocket attack, stoking fear of wider war: "Israel had promised revenge for a rocket strike from Lebanon that killed 12 in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams. Hezbollah denied responsibility."

• Gideon Levy: [07-24] In Gaza, Israel lost what remained of its humanity.

• Ibtisam Mahdi: [07-26] The decimation of Gaza's academia is 'impossible to quantify': "With thousands of faculty and students likely killed and campuses destroyed, Palestinian universities in the Strip are barely surviving Israel's scholasticide."

• Qassam Muaddi: [07-26] Palestinian factions strike a reconciliation deal -- will this time be any different? That all depends on Israel, because it's always Israel, and only Israel, that determines what is allowed. If Israel has a deal that is broadly acceptable, unified Palestinian leadership can help sell it. Otherwise, it's just a phase in the never-ending cycle of powerless people trying to find a strategy when none is allowed.

• Abed Abou Shhadeh: [07-25] Israel's crackdown on Palestinian citizens could lead to return of military rule.

• Djaouida Siaci: [07-28] How Israel is stripping Palestinian women of their dignity.

• Eric Sype: [07-24] Big tech terror: for Palestinians, AI apocalypse is already here.

• Sharon Zhang:

  • [07-30] Israeli militants riot over investigation into torture of Palestinian prisoner: "The group of protesters, which included Israeli lawmakers, demanded release of soldiers suspected of rape."

  • [07-30] Israel bombs Beirut in escalation of attacks.

America's Israel (and Israel's America):

Netanyahu wangled an invitation to speak to a joint session of Congress, first lining up his right-wing allies to float the invite, then giving the Democratic leadership little choice but to join in. He may be massively unpopular in Israel, but when he appears in Washington, he can preen like he owns the place, as he essentially does. And his exhibition of power over Washington helps maintain his perch in Israel, where regardless of his many faults, he is widely seen as the one guy who can force presidents to kowtow. The whole spectacle was deeply embarrassing for all concerned. So while he got the ovations he expected, his message just underscores how deeply out of touch Israel is with world opinion. Mustafa Barghouti was absolutely right: "a disgusting speech in a session of shame to the U.S. Congress."

• Nathan J Robinson: [07-26] One of the most shameful moments in American history: "Applauding Benjamin Netanyahu exposes the dark moral depravity of America's political class." I promoted this piece to the head of this section because what it says is exactly right.

• Michael Arria: [07-24] Wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress: "Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress to bolster support for Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. About half of the Democrats in Congress skipped the speech where he vowed to continue the attack until 'total victory' is met."

• Seraj Assi: [07-25] Netanyahu's speech is a gift to future genocide historians.

• Jonathan Cook: [07-26] Only a failing US empire would be so blind as to cheer Netanyahu and his genocide.

• Abigail Houslohner/Louisa Loveluck: [07-27] Netanyahu's US visit revealed 'no workable plan' for peace, critics say. Not just critics. Netanyahu couldn't have been clearer that he will do everything in his power to his wars going.

• Fred Kaplan:

  • [07-23] Netanyahu's visit to Washington is already a debacle.

  • [07-24] Netanyahu's shameful speech was nothing but theater.

• Danaka Katovich: [07-26] A standing ovation for genocide.

• Joshua Keating: [07-24] Has Netanyahu finally lost America? "After his address to Congress, the Israeli prime minister has never looked more isolated."

• Blaise Malley: [07-24] Netanyahu lectures Americans, makes case for 'total victory'.

• Souzan Naser: [07-23] Netanyahu's speech to Congress is a desperate ploy to rally support for genocide.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [07-28] Congress applauded the genocide in Gaza, but Netanyahu's speech showed the political consensus on Israel is over: "Benjamin Netanyahu's call for continued support for the Gaza genocide may have received rapturous applause from Congress, but the speech revealed uncertain political terrain for Israel among both Democrats and Republicans.

• Nia Prater: [07-24] Rashida Tlaib holds 'war criminal' sign during Netanyahu speech.

• Richard Rubenstein: [07-26] Netanyahu in Congress: the crime boss fulminates, while his accomplices cheer.

• Annelle Sheline/Adam Weinstein: [07-23] Bibi's bullying visits to Congress never end well: "Washington will give Israel's Netanyahu whatever he wants, whether it's in America's interest or not. Who will say no?"

• Richard Silverstein: [02-27] Netanyahu's tissue of lies: "Congressional speech falls flat." While we're at it, catch up with his articles, plus an interview:

  • [07-25] Netanyahu's Congress speeech shows America who's the real boss: "Netanyahu's speech to Congress was met with a hysterical display of bootlicking."

  • [06-30] Gaza and Lebanon: Bibi's once and future wars.

  • [07-09] Bibi wants war without end, the IDF says no . . . or does it? "IDF contradicts Netanyahu, calls for ceasefire, acknowledges Hamas cannot be defeated."

  • [07-12] UK medical study finds 186,000 Gaza dead: "Netanyahu sabotages ceasefire deal, Haaretz confirms IDF invoked Hannibal Directive on 10/7."

  • Robert Scheer: [07-26] Netanyahu's speech betrays historic Jewish values: Interview with Richard Silverstein. Also, note this ("Unacceptable, -- Mr. Fish):

    Benjamin Netanyahu working out the argument he hopes will shame and silence those critical of his relentless slaughter of Palestinians since October 7th by saying that the percentage of Israelis killed on that day by Hamas would be the equivalent of 20 September 11ths in America when measured proportionally against the US population, while hoping nobody does similar math regarding the percentage of Palestinians he's killed since October 7th because that would translate to be just over six million in the US and there's something about that particular number some people might find unacceptable."

• Emily Tamkin: [07-25] The very people Netanyahu claims to represent rejected him: "Neither Americans nor Israelis are buying the prime minister's version of events."

• Ishaan Tharoor: [07-24] At Netanyahu addresses Congress, agony in Gaza endures.

• Jonah Valdez: Netanyahu insulted and smeared the pro-Palestine protest movement. Congress clapped.

Other stories in this nexus:

• Michael Arria: [07-25] The Shift: Biden's legacy is genocide. Biden's withdrawal elicited "sentimental tributes," but not from those who focused on his defense and support of genocide by Israel.

  • Ammiel Alcalay: [07-22] Even the US propaganda machine can't whitewash Biden's sordid record.

• Dexter Filkins: [07-22] Will Hezbollah and Israel go to war? That's really up to Netanyahu, who is fully able to push Hezbollah's buttons to get whatever level of back-and-forth he wants -- thus far, enough to provide cover for the real wars against Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank, and to keep the Americans in line with their depiction of Iran the puppet master on many fronts. As last week showed, escalating the bombing of Lebanon is easy within those parameters. Launching a real ground war isn't so easy, with little to gain and a fair amount to lose.

• Nicole Narea: [07-25] What Kamala Harris really thinks about Israel and Gaza: "Biden's approach to the war in Gaza has been divisive. Would Haris chart a new path?" I have a whole section for Harris, where I'll slot pieces on every other aspect of her campaign and politics, but for now I'd rather compartmentalize and keep her Israel stuff here, as a subset of the Washington-based group-think that lets American politicians and their cronies avoid having to think or care about the issue. I don't think anyone really knows what she thinks here, because the position she's in doesn't allow thinking, or doing for that matter.

  Maybe when she is president, she will be in a position to do, and therefore will need to think. But right now, all she really has to do is to avoid the pitfalls being laid out for her. (Having to meet with Netanyahu is just one such pitfall.) I'm not unsympathetic to people who regard Israel (or at least Gaza) as the biggest political issue of the moment, but through the election, I think they/we should give her a pass. I'm pretty sure that she's no worse than Biden, and undoubtedly a lot better than Trump. You don't have to endorse her (at least for this). You can even rag on Genocide Joe if you want. But this is just speculation, and probably not helpful at all. Of course, once she's elected, the gloves can come off. My hope, and that's really all it is, is that she'll listen better than Biden, and act more decisively. The time to talk specifically to her is when she's ready to listen and act.

  • Michael Arria: [07-22] Looking at Kamala Harris's record on Israel.

  • Michael F Brown: [07-22] Kamala Harris won't stand up to Netanyahu in Washington.

  • Nandika Chatterjee: [07-26] Israeli official criticizes Kamala Harris for speaking out about "dead children" in Gaza.

  • Liza Featherstone: [07-27] The right is hoping to defeat Cori Bush next.

  • Daniel Larison: [07-23] If there is a Harris foreign policy do we call it Biden-lite? "The VP is largely stuck with the president's agenda but there are a few glimmers of hope." He mentions Philip Gordon, as does:

  • Robert Wright: [06-26] Kamala's very good foreign policy guy: Philip Gordon.

• Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: {07-24] Peter Thiel: 'I defer to Israel': "Video surfaces showing the Palantir tech giant strugglig to answer questions about client's use of AI-generated kill lists."

• Brett Wilkins: [07-24] Ben-Gvir endorses Trump, says he's more likely to back war on Iran: "The Israeli security minister, who leads the far-right Jewish Power party, accused the Biden administration of thwarting Israel's victory against Hamas."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Ramzy Baroud: [07-26] 'Terrorist organization'? What's behind the Israeli war on UNRWA.

• Magdalena Berger: [07-23] How Israeli media helps the war effort: Interview with Haggai Matar, executive director of +972 Magazine (which I've often cited in these posts).

• Avik Jain Chatlani: [07-17] A brief history of 'human animals': From the ruins of Peru to the Gaza genocide.

• Jessica Corbett: [07-24] Groups demand probe of Israeli influence operations targeting Americans.

• Yves Engler: [07-26] Canada set to revoke Jewish National Fund's charitable status: "Score a significant victory against apartheid, genocide and Palestinian dispossession. The powerful Jewish National Fund of Canada has reportedly had its charitable status revoked."

• Dan Owen: [07-24] How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza: "The Israeli army uses the veneer of internal accountability to fend off external criticism. But its record reveals how few perpetrators are punished."

  The scale of horror that Israel has inflicted upon Gaza over the last nine months is almost impossible to comprehend. The Israeli army's decision from the start of the war to significantly expand its authorization for bombing non-military targets and causing harm to civilians has resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and has left the Gaza Strip unrecognizable. The surviving population faces mass hunger and displacement as a result of intentional Israeli policies, which are in violation of international laws of war.

  Every day, more and more horrifying evidence emerges, revealing what many Israelis seek to repress. . . . As these accusations pile up, Israel is beginning to launch another large-scale operation alongside its ongoing military campaign: the biggest crime cover-up in the country's history.

• Philip Weiss:

  • [07-23] Biden staffers who resigned over Gaza say US has destroyed international law and endangered Americans: "The Biden administration is suppressing dissent over its Gaza policy within its ranks, enforcing a 'culture of silence,' say some who resigned."

  • [07-28] Weekly Briefing: The difference between Biden and Harris on Israel? "Zippo, zilch, zero!"

Election notes:

• Current Affairs: [07-27] Kat Abughazaleh on how right-wing propaganda works: "An expert in Fox News' brainwashing techniques explains how the right-wing propaganda apparatus convinces viewers to believe lies and nonsense." She was an analyst for Media Matters, has moved on to produce videos, including her weekly Fox roundups.

• Frank Giustra: [07-24] Why American war and election news coverage is so rotten: "It's not 'conspiratorial' to wonder about corporate control and the lack of options."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-27] Harris vs. Trump polls: It's a new race.

Trump:

• Zack Beauchamp: [07-29] Trump proposed bombing Mexico and it somehow wasn't a big story: "Trump's extremist policy agenda is flying under the radar -- and that's a problem."

• Jamelle Bouie:

  • [07-02] Mr. President, your get-out-of-jail-free card is ready: "The Nixonian theory of presidential power is now enshrined as constitutional law."

  • [07-09] Trump's lust for expulsion, explained: "It is no accident that he is talking about immigrants 'poison in the blood of our country.'"

• Charles R Davis: [07-29] "Old and quite weird": Democrats finally discover new effective attack -- and Republicans hate it: "After nearly a decade of being forced to take Trump seriously, Democrats increasingly call BS on the whole charade."

• Dan Froomkin:

  • [07-22] Trump was winning. Now maybe he's not That's the news.

  • [07-24] Don't treat Trump like he has no agency. Calls out a New York Times article for its passive construction -- Trump's new rival may bring out his harshest instincts -- as if he can't help himself.

  • [07-26] How to investigate Kamala Harris without repeating the mistakes of 2016.

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [07-27] The real origin of Trump's Hannibal Lecter obsession: "The deeper you go, the less sense it makes."

  • [07-25] Melania Trump book may be more money grab than memoir: "For the past two years, Melania has barely said anything about her husband's reelection effort; . . . but during this time, she regularly churned out overpriced merch, from NFTs to Christmas ornaments to an ugly Mother's Day necklace."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-29] Would Trump really dump J.D. Vance? Well, it would be a real loser move.

• Dylan Matthews: [07-24] The billionaire tax proposal that's driving Silicon Valley to support Trump: "No, it isn't a devious Democratic plan to destroy startups." The actual Biden proposal is a minimum tax, which is a fairly weak attempt to reduce the incentives rich people have for tax evasion through various dodgy scams. But as the article points out, the Silicon Valley billionaires don't need Trump to keep laws like that from passing: they and their lobbyists have lots of clout in both parties, as they've already shown, on this and many other issues. What bothers these rich folk isn't really the threat to their bottom line, which they have contained, but how their feelings are hurt by the suggestion they should be paying more in taxes. Related here:

  • David Dayen: [07-26] The corporate wishcasting attack on Lina Khan: "Billionaires are hopeful that Kamala Harris will break from the FTC chair."

  • Jake Johnson: [07-25] Billionaire megadonor draws backlash for urging Kamala Harris to fire Lina Khan.

• Liz Theoharis/Shaily Gupta Barnes: [07-28] The Christian nationalist vision for America: "Project 2025: A new Pax Romana."

Vance:

Trump's running mate, a Republican Senator from Ohio, one thing you can say for him is that he's gotten more press attention than any VP candidate since Sarah Palin, and probably more, since he's not just a turbocharged gaffe machine but has a more philosophical side that is also easy to chew over. I'm pretty sure that had Trump picked Doug Burgum or Elise Stefanik, this phase would be done by now.

• Karyn Amira: [07-29] JD Vance's selection as Trump's running mate marks the end of Republican conservatism. Problem here is the author's definition of conservatism: "a philosophy that supports smaller and less-centralized government because consolidated power could be used to silence political competition and deny citizens their liberties." That's almost exactly wrong: conservatives believe in order defined by their preferred hierarchy, which is necessarily enforced by power in a state that they seek to control. That's precisely what Trump and Vance believe in.

  On the other hand, Amira's definition actually describes an obsolete version of liberalism, which has been cynically used by conservatives to oppose the modern democratic state. From the progressives in the early 1900s through the New Deal and Great Society, liberals came to realize that laissez-faire capitalism had ceased to expand "liberty and justice for all," and if left unchecked would revert to a new version of feudal aristocracy. So they came up with a very successful alternative, where the state, embodying the will of the popular majority, would organize and regulate countervailing institutions, their powers limited and regulated in the public interest.

  Needless to say, the would-be lords of neofeudal capitalism hated this, and fought to preserve and extend their superiority with every trick they could muster -- including adopting the time-tested rhetoric of classical liberalism, but redirected against the democratic state -- which they characterized not just as a revival of pharoahs and czars but as something more impersonal and nefarious, as totalitarianism -- and really against the people it represented.

  But while "small government" may have been useful rhetoric when the government was held by people conservatives reviled, have you ever seen conservatives once they control the state reduce its size and power? You might point to deregulation, but that's effectively a transfer of power from public to private hands. Similarly, tax cuts and credits are transfers of money from public to private hands. By debilitating public interest functions, conservatives seek to discredit the state as a means by which the people can help themselves. Conservatives may see the state, in the wrong hands, as a repressive force, but given power, they eagerly use that force for their own ends, especially against the people they see as enemies, which is most of us.

  Trump and Vance aren't the end of Republican conservatism. They're more like its apotheosis, grown powerful and arrogant enough they can quit pretending they're doing anyone any favors but themselves. Maybe they mark some kind of denouement for conservative naïveté, but few real world conservatives were ever so deluded.

• Maureen Dowd: [07-27] JD Vance, purr-fectly dreadful.

• Elizabeth Dwoskin/Cat Zakrzewski/Nitasha Tiku/Josh Dawsey: [07-28] Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance: "A small influential network of right-wing techies orchestrated Vance's rise in Silicon Valley -- and then the GOP. Now the industry stands to gain if he wins the White House." There hasn't been a VP pick this explicitly tied to donor choice since the Koch Network (uh, Mitt Romney) picked Paul Ryan in 2012. And while Republicans are more likely to brag about their corruption, what are the odds that Harris's VP pick will be traceable to another megadonor? (I mean, beyond the default conspiracist pick: George Soros?)

• Paul Elie: [07-24] J.D. Vance's radical religion.

• Rebecca Jennings: [07-25] J.D. Vance didn't have sex with a couch. But he's still extremely weird. "The rumors were easy to believe, especially when the potential VP has such terrible ideas about sex."

• Sarah Jones: [07-26] Dear J.D. Vance, childless cat ladies are people too. Emphasis added:

  "Normal people" see this bleak prospect for what it is, and they have rejected it repeatedly in the voting booth. That probably won't change. Vance's comments are weird, cruel, and, yes, creepy. They don't reflect the way most people think or live, even if they do have biological children. By attacking childlessness, the right cheapens parenthood, too. The act of having children is no longer about joy but conquest. I can't imagine anything sadder, though I am but a childless cat lady. Vance's worldview is poisonous to parents and children, too: Babies should be loved and wanted for their own sake, not because they're future nationalists or tradwives. The right offers a small and selfish vision that is authoritarian to its core. Their America belongs only to the righteous few, but my America belongs to everyone. I may never give birth, but I too have a stake in this country. We're all responsible for creating a future worth living in. It will belong to somebody's children, if not to ours.

  By the way, Jones also wrote:

  • [07-23] A woman can win, which probably belongs with the Harris articles, but is more about how Hillary Clinton's didn't win, and the precedent that doesn't really set.

  • [07-30] American freak show. I've thought of myself as weird much of my life, so I've learned to flip the insult and see weirdness as a more interesting attribute. And that's just one of many pejoratives that I've been prodded into reconsidering based on my experiences with the people they are and are not applied to. For instance, people who call themselves "patriots" because they support wars and who call people who don't support those wars "traitors" not only have a very shabby vocabulary, they're also, in my mind at least, making "patriots" appear to be horrible people, and "traitors" to be fundamentally decent ones. So I was initially reluctant to jump on the bandwagon that labels Trump, Vance, et al. as "weird." (I see Tim Walz getting credit here, but Seth Myers has been leaning in to this line of attack for several years now.) It just feels to me like we need some qualification, like in the song: "well I hear he's bad/ hmm, he's good-bad, but he's not evil." Surely, lots of people are simply "good-weird," but Trump and Vance are venturing into real "weird-evil" territory.

    Any formerly weird child can attest to how difficult it is to shrug off this label. What are you going to do, put your fingers in your ears and chant "I'm not weird, you're weird" until somebody eventually believes you? I was a little awkward in my day, and I know that's not how things work. You can refute the attack only by not being weird -- an idea that seems to elude many conservatives. They've left themselves few options. To address the attack, the bizarre right would have to reconstitute an entire movement, and that will take time and political will. Both are in short supply. Go on, then, and call the right weird, as long as it's part of a bigger argument. Progress ought to be normal, and it's worth fighting for, too.

    But I'm starting to appreciate the advantages of flipping scripts like this. And when you think about it, there's a lot of not just weird but very bizarre thought going on with the far-right these days. I mean, I'm 73, and my thinking has evolved a lot over the years, but I can still remember things that I learned as norms and rules when I was a child, like the 10 Commandments, the 7 Deadly Sins, the Boy Scouts' 12 laws, the Golden Rule, the maxim that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," and strategic bits of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and much more that I never really rejected even though I eventually disposed of most of the dross and cant they were wrapped up in. And because I can remember, and still largely respect, those norms and rules, it's really easy to see just how far many right-wingers have strayed from principles they claim as exclusively their own, and how ridiculous they look when they do. In some ways, calling them "weird" is the kindest way you can point that out. Their weirdness may even be their one saving grace. It certainly won't be in their Project 2025.

• Ezra Klein: [07-17] The economic theory behind J.D. Vance's populism: Interview with Oren Cass, who was Mitt Romney's domestic policy director in 2012, who since "evolved" and founded American Compass, a think tank catering to "populist" Republicans.

• Paul Krugman:

  • [07-25] JD Vance's 'cat ladies' riff has serious 'Handmaid's Tale' vibes.

  • [07-22] Trump's cynical attempt to pit recent immigrants against black Americans.

• Bradley Onishi: [07-27] J.D. Vance will be a more extremist Christian VP than Mike Pence: "The vice presidential pick's Catholicism hasn't received a lot of attention, but it's the key to the populist radicalism he wants to impose on America."

• Andrew Prokop: [07-25] J.D. Vance has made it impossible for Trump to run away from Project 2025: "He wrote the forward for a new book by Project 2025's architect -- and has backed some of its most extreme ideas." The book is Kevin D Roberts: Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America, coming out on Sept. 24.

  • Alex Shephard: [07-30] Read J.D. Vance's violent foreword to Project 2025 leader's new book: "Trump's running mate writes that 'it's time to circle the wagons and load the muskets.'" Also relevant here:

  • Hafiz Rashid: [07-30] Project 2025 head resigns after backlash from Trump: "Paul Dans of the Heritage Foundation has announced he is resigning from his role."

• Corey Robin: [07-26] Like a diary, only far more masculine: Reading J.D. Vance's, from his blog days.

• Robert Schlesinger: [07-29] J.D. Vance proves it: Trump hires the very worst people: Trump's new running mate will haunt him just like all of the fools and weasels from his first administration."

• Alex Shephard: [07-26] Is J.D. Vance the worst vice presidential pick ever? Fair question, unless you know much about American history, in which case it's way too early to tell. It also depends on what you mean by "worst." John Tyler and Andrew Johnson probably helped their tickets win, but were really terrible presidents. Some others that didn't become president were also pretty notoriously bad, like Aaron Burr and John Calhoun (two terms, under two presidents who were polar opposites in every aspect except for their loathing of Calhoun). Then there was Spiro Agnew, the only VP ever forced to resign. And what about Dick Cheney? If memory serves, the only VP ever to finish his term with a single-digit approval index. Then there are the ones who never won anything. They tend to be easily forgotten, but tag reads "Palin Lite," in case you want a hint. So with competition like that, Vance hardly has a chance. But it's early days, and at least he's in the running.

• Ed Simon: [07-17] J.D. Vance keeps selling his soul. He's got plenty of buyers.

  Mr. Vance is more a product of the Upper West Side and New Haven, Capitol Hill and Cambridge, than of the Appalachian hollers. "Hillbilly Elegy" owed much of its critical and commercial success to how it flattered its audience about their own meritocratic superiority over the people whom Mr. Vance was supposedly championing, and reaffirming some of the most pernicious stereotypes about the residents of Appalachia. "What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they had for their own lives," Mr. Vance wrote. In his telling, those who fell into poverty, unemployment or substance abuse hadn't dreamed big enough.

  He points to whole books written about Vance's book, like:

  • Elizabeth Catte: What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia.

  • Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, eds: Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to "Hillbilly Elegy". Also see this essay:

  • Meredith McCarroll: Hillbillies need no elegy.

• Matt Stieb: [07-27] J.D. Vance can't stop saying the dumbest things imaginable.

And other Republicans:

• Emily Bazelon: [07-27] The right-wing dream of 'self-deportation': "Some conservatives have a grim proposal to make undocumented immigrants leave: exclude their children from schools." I hadn't heard of "self-deportation" until Mitt Romney adopted it as his anti-immigration platform in 2012. It is quite the euphemism. It basically means systematically treating immigrants (and, to be sure, anyone who looks or sounds like an immigrant) so cruelly they resign themselves to leaving on their own. Or it could just as well drive them to turn to crime, which expedites the regular deportation process.

• Jenny Brown: [07-27] Project 2025's anti-union game plan.

  From there, the plan is to bulldoze the protections US workers have built up over one hundred years of determination, sacrifice, and unity.

  It's ugly: abolish overtime pay laws, outlaw public sector unions entirely, get rid of health and safety protections, eliminate the federal minimum wage, make it harder to receive unemployment, and put children back to work like in the 1920s.

  Hitting building trades workers, they would get rid of requirements for prevailing wage pay and project labor agreements in federal projects.

  There's more. They want to get rid of the Department of Education. Ban teaching women's history and African American history in schools -- lest we get ideas about how to change things! Ban abortion nationwide. (The AFL-CIO details the whole alarming list here.)

• Patrick T Brown: [07-19] Pro-lifers helped bring Trump to power. Why has he abandoned us? Because you're losers? You don't think he ever actually cared about you, did you?

• Thomas B Edsall: [07-24] What the Trump-Vance alliance means for the Republican Party. One thing that occurs to me here is that the more Republicans like Vance talk about supporting American workers, the more ground that opens up for Democrats to appeal to same, only with more realistic programs and greater credibility. It encourages them to lean left, rather than crawl scared toward the right (like so many have been doing since Reagan).

• Jack Herrera: [07-28] Trump says he wants to deport millions. He'll have a hard time removing more people than Biden has. "Even as Trump slams the president for open borders, the Biden-Harris administration has kicked out far more immigrants than Trump ever managed."

• Hassan Alu Kanu: [07-29] DEI and the GOP: "Hey Republicans, your racism is showing."

• Julius Krein: [07-23] Republican populists are responding to something real. One could argue that -- although Krein isn't very clear here -- but not that they're offering realistic responses to real problems.

• Robert Kuttner: [07-30] The left's fragile foundations: "Could a weaponized Trump IRS wreck the progressive infrastructure by attacking the entire nonprofit ecosystem?" This is a big and important article. "Defund the left" has long been a major Republican goal. One small bit:

  These vulnerabilities remain in place today. It has long galled the right that Planned Parenthood is a major recipient of government funds; of its budget of over $2 billion, about $700 million comes from government health service reimbursements and grants. While the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of abortion, 17 states allow Medicaid funding of abortion through their state contributions to the mixed federal-state program. In addition, Planned Parenthood is a major recipient of federal Title X family-planning support of its clinics. As right-wing groups keep complaining, money is fungible and federal family-planning funds free other money to pay for abortions. Under Trump, the government did bar Planned Parenthood from the Title X program in 2019, but this was restored by Biden in 2021.

  The battle to defund the left would be far more sophisticated under a second Trump administration. The Heritage Foundation's detailed blueprint, Project 2025, systematically targets the entire range of agencies, and one of its tactics is to undermine agencies that help progressive organizations such as the NLRB and numerous others. With a second Trump presidency, the right's war against Planned Parenthood will only intensify.

• Michael Lind: [07-20] Trump's transformation of the Republican Party is complete.

• Calder McHugh: [07-27] Republicans keep trying to copy Trump's humor -- and voters keep cringing. Perhaps the material never was funny in the first place -- just the buffoon delivering it?

• Pamela Paul: [07-25] The Republican Party's elite conundrum: Let me condense this a bit (all her words, but with less wandering):

  Donald Trump loves to show off how smart he is. [But] Trump is shrewd enough to know that Americans don't like a guy who acts smart. So if his fumbles are strategic, it's not entirely dumb. In MAGA world, glorified ignorance actually serves as a qualification for higher office, empowering more effective rage against 'the liberal elite' and 'the ruling class.' This puts those Republican politicians saddled with inconvenient Ivy League degrees in an awkward position, like the guy who shows up in a tux for a rodeo wedding. In order to say in office and on message, they must reject the very thing that propelled their own careers. After all, the Republican Party has turned ignorance into a point of pride.

  Of course, this is ultimately about Ron DeSantis (Yale, Harvard Law), Ted Cruz (Princeton, Harvard Law), Josh Hawley (Stanford, Yale Law), Tom Cotton (Harvard, Harvard), and now J.D. Vance (Ohio State, but finally Yale Law).

• Charles P Pierce:

  • [07-23] The most unnerving thing about the RNC was all that talk of miracles: "I am not ready for a quasi-religious cult springing up around the most thoroughgoing heathen ever to sit in the White House."

  • [07-23] J.D. Vance is already stepping in it, just one week out of the gate: "You have to admit, after the RNC, it's fun watching the Republicans fumble like this."

  • [07-24] Get to know the Oversight Project, the Heritage Foundation's legal ratf*cking operation: "They seem to be plowing a whole lot of money into questionable investigations."

  • [07-29] J.D. Vance may be the worst politician I've ever seen: "This is before even taking the couch into consideration."

• Tessa Stuart: [07-25] Trump allies sure are talking a lot about civil war: "The former president's supporters keep raising the idea there's violent conflict in America's future." When lies don't suffice, Republicans will try extortion: vote for us, or we'll [insert threat here, ranging from shut down the government to killing you].

Harris:

• Maggie Astor: [07-28] Harris campaign says it raised $200 million since Biden dropped out: "The one-week total is more than President Biden's haul in the first quarter of the year. About two-thirds came from first-time donors, according to the vice president's campaign."

• Brian Beutler: [07-26] The perils of backseat driving Kamala Harris: When I saw this title, I was hoping for a lesson on said perils, and not just that when she veers off in some other direction you're bound to look useless and/or stupid, but instead we get this: "She can try to bring the anti-Trump coalition back together, or she can chase the unicorns of 2008. It's still not clear which approach will make the most sense."

• Jonathan Blitzer: [07-28] The real story of Kamala Harris's record on immigration: "Republicans have attacked the Vice-President as the Biden Administration's "border czar," but her remit was always to address the root causes farther south."

• John Cassidy: [07-29] Kamala Harris and the legacy of Bidenomics.

• David Dayen: [07-29] The only member of Congress who has worked for Kamala Harris: "'What I saw is someone who is not for sale,' Katie Porter told the Prospect."

• Moira Donegan: [07-25] Unlike Joe Biden, Kamala Harris will be a genuine champion for abortion rights.

• Ellen Ioanes: [07-24] Could a short campaign be exactly what Kamala Harris needs? "Dozens of other democracies have short election cycles. Can the Democrats learn something from them?" As far as I'm concerned, the long campaigns of the recent era have been insanely wasteful, a weird prism that has reduced everything else to refraction. No evidence that we've learned any lessons here, as this one seems to have just been dumb luck, but we should figure out how to do better. (Hint: the one thing that could help would be to curtail the big money influence.)

• George Hammond/James Fontanelle-Khan/James Politti: Kamala Harris campaign seeks 'reset' with crypto companies: Well, this is bad news, plain money-grubbing with one of the worst "industries" on the planet. As Dean Baker noted: "Crypto is the lowest of the low, there is no reason to do anything with these clowns but tax them."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-25] How Kamala Harris can fight the 'too liberal' label: But does she have to? Should she even want to? As Kilgore points out, Kerry may have hurt himself more by running away from his liberal record than had he stood firm, and explained why he was right to do so. Most "moderate" Americans are actually closet liberals, not least because liberalism is deeply imbued in American political lore. Moreover, Republican charges against "liberals" are so widely flung about that hardly anyone knows what they're talking about. Why not just take them to task? Stand firm in your beliefs, and show some leadership in fighting back. Nothing hurts Democrats more than cowardice. Even people with very little understanding of the issues can sense fear. If undecided, they tend to turn to the more forceful, more resolute candidate. (That is, after all, how Republicans win while taking positions few people actually support.)

• Lydia Polgreen: [07-27] I was a Kamala Harris skeptic. Here's how I got coconut-pilled.

• Greg Sargent: [07-26] Trump's repulsive new "laughing Kamala" smear reveals a MAGA weakness: "As Trump and his allies ramp up the vile attacks on Kamala Harris's personality, a progressive strategist explains why Harris's joyful disposition might be perfectly suited to taking on MAGA."

• Michael Scherer/Tyler Pager: [07-28] How Kamala Harris took control of the Democratic Party: "Party officials and campaign aides raced to flip an entire brand from facing hope to salute emojis."

• Alex Shephard: [07-26] Kamala Harris has plenty of time to win the election: "Three months isn't as short as it sounds. In Europe, campaigns are often even shorter."

• Matt Stieb: [07-29] White dudes for Harris was a 'rainbow of beige' that raised $4 million.

• Zoya Teirstein: [07-22] What Kamala Harris's track record on climate change makes clear.

• Michael Tomasky: [07-21] Kamala Harris has two superpowers, and that's all she needs: "She may have run a bad presidential race before, and had a rocky vice presidency. But she's not 81, and she's not Donald Trump." This was written just 9 days ago. You think maybe Tomasky would have found some positives since then?

• Matthew Yglesias: Make the VP selection on the merits! "The political impact of the Veep is overrated; the substantive stakes are underrated." Problem is nobody seems to know what the merits needed will be, let alone which candidates have them. The office has been a disaster as far back as John Adams, even with ones who were reasonably competent to become president, and it's been a little more than a gamble for all concerned.

  • Li Zhou: [07-24] Who could be Kamala Harris's VP? The potential list, briefly explained. The only thing we can really be sure of is that the decision will be made for us, without any input or airing, and rubber-stamped because Democrats don't really trust themselves with democracy any more. And whoever they pick, it will probably be ok. It is, as one says, "above my pay grade." [PS: I wrote this bit before I moved it under Yglesias, and added the rest. My intention was not to talk about any individuals. Adding the item on Sanders didn't really violate that, but eventually it made sense to add a couple more pieces. I have no endorsements here. My wife is anti-Shapiro, so that article is a nod to her.]

  • Ben Burgis: [07-24] Bernie Sanders should be Kamala Harris's vice president: This isn't going to happen, for lots of reasons, some of which actually make sense. Even if he could help Harris win -- doubtful, given that he scares donors otherwise sympathetic to Harris, and would seem to validate Republican charges that Harris is the most leftist Democratic candidate ever -- he'd give up his seniority in Congress, and his independence, which we'll need to guard against Harris triangulating right.

  • Ryan Cooper: [07-25] Tim Walz would make a great running mate.

  • David Klion: [07-24] The only vice presidential pick who could ruin Democratic unity: "Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is a leading candidate to be Kamala Harris's running mate. Selecting him would fracture the party." This is mostly over Israel. Harris needs to figure out some way to finesse the issue. Shapiro's dedication to Israel is complete, with no hint of ambiguity or conflict, allowing for no independent initiative by America.

  • Robert Kuttner: [07-29] Kamala Harris's Eric Holder problem: "Her choice to vet candidates for vice-president needed more vetting himself."

• Li Zhou: [07-21] Kamala Harris's strengths -- and vulnerabilities -- explained.

• Jason Zinoman: [07-28] Kamala Harris's laugh is a campaign issue. Our comedy critic weighs in.

Biden:

• Dean Baker:

  • [07-22] A tribute to President Biden.

  • [07-18] Adjusting the Washington Post's Biden-Trump scorecard.

  • [07-26] Bloomberg says things are almost as bad as 2019, when Trump was in the White House: "Seriously, they probably don't want readers to walk away with that impression, but that is the implication of the piece they did complaining about people working multiple jobs."

  • [07-29] The biggest success story the country doesn't know about: "Yes, inflation has been punishing. But there is a mountain of good news that media have barely reported. Here's the real record the Democrats can run on."

    Under Biden, the United States made a remarkable recovery from the pandemic recession. We have seen the longest run of below 4.0 percent unemployment in more than 70 years, even surpassing the long stretch during the 1960s boom. This period of low unemployment has led to rapid real wage growth at the lower end of the wage distribution, reversing much of the rise in wage inequality we have seen in the last four decades. It has been especially beneficial to the most disadvantaged groups in the labor market.

    The burst of inflation that accompanied this growth was mostly an outcome of the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. All other wealthy countries saw comparable rises in inflation. As of summer 2024, the rate of inflation in the United States has fallen back almost to the Fed's 2.0 percent target. Meanwhile, our growth has far surpassed that of our peers.

    Furthermore, the Biden administration really does deserve credit for this extraordinary boom. Much of what happens under a president's watch is beyond their control. However, the economic turnaround following the pandemic can be directly traced to Biden's recovery package, along with his infrastructure bill, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, all of which have sustained growth even as the impact of the initial recovery package faded. While the CARES Act, pushed through when Trump was in office, provided essential support during the shutdown period, it was not sufficient to push through the recovery.

    One should also use every opportunity to stress that the CARES Act, at least everything that was good in it, was the result of leverage Democrats in Congress had. With the economy in free fall, Trump wanted something to save the stock market. That the act also helped unemployed workers, collapsing small businesses, and helped many stave off debt collection, was because Trump had to deal with Pelosi and Schumer. Without their help, Trump's own dismal record would have been that much worse.

• Zachary D Carter: [07-24] You have no idea what Joe Biden for employment.

• Elie Honig: [07-26] Let's knock off the 25th amendment talk.

• Kerry Howley: [07-27] Exit ghost: "Watching Joe Biden say good-bye."

• Umair Irfan: [07-23] Joe Biden's enormous, contradictory, and fragile climate legacy: "If elected, Trump could slow down Biden's progress, but the shift to clean energy is unstoppable."

• Branko Marcetic:

  • [07-22] Joe Biden wanted this. This is a left view, but seems fair:

    There is a tendency, even among the Left, to overstate the extent of Biden's populism. This is, after all, a president who nickel-and-dimed Georgia voters on the $2,000 checks he had pledged, quickly abandoned his promise of a $15 minimum-wage increase that might have helped voters weather inflation, and refused to fight to keep transformative pandemic-era policies like Medicaid expansion and expanded unemployment insurance. However ambitious his Build Back Better legislation was, we sometimes talk about it as if it had actually become law, when the reality is it died -- and did so in large part because Biden considered getting a handshake with Republicans a higher priority.

    That his presidency became the unlikely vehicle for progressive economic populism tells us less about Biden himself than the state of the Left: a Left that, however disorganized and defeated, succeeded in dragging someone like Biden into adopting even a watered-down version of its political program. It did so not just through political pressure, but by changing the political landscape to such an extent that a man who had spent his life tacking right in the chase for political power came to realize there was a popular constituency for a left-populist agenda, and that it was worth his while politically, crucial to his legacy even, to give pursuing such a thing an honest-to-God shot.

  • [07-25] How Joe Biden became a steadfast Israel defender.

• Nicole Narea: [07-24] So what does Joe Biden do now? "In an Oval Office speech, Biden said his farewells. But his job isn't done yet."

• Noah Rawlings: [07-29] Build no small things: "A sampling of innovative projects made possible by the Biden legislative wins."

And other Democrats:

• Lee Drutman: [07-28] The Democratic Party is (still) broken: "The sudden ascendance of Kamala Harris doesn't change the fact that the party suffers from deep, possibly fatal problems." I'm not sure how useful this analysis is. I don't doubt that the Democratic Party has structural problems, tied mostly to the need to raise huge amounts of money from interest groups that want favors not solutions, and the double standards that blame Democrats for all problems while excusing Republicans. But the Democrats do have one big advantage: in a two-party system, they're the only ones who are sane and conscientious and actually care about people, which should give them some advantages, wouldn't you think? However, the author seems to be wedded to a fantasy idea, explained in his book Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America.

• Lulu Garcia-Navarro: [07-27] The Interview: Pete Buttigieg thinks the Trump fever could break.

• Michael Podhorzer: [07-24] Democrats are poised to win. But only if they make the election about Trump. As I've been saying, all along.

• Michael Tomasky: [07-25] The race the Democrats need to run now: "How the party can reshape this election so it isn't about Donald Trump's martyrdom." I dunno. I mean, there's something to be said for martyring Donald Trump. It's not that I don't think this has a place:

  That's all the more reason for Harris to make the race a contest between not only two people but two ideas of America, two extremely different visions of what the federal government can and will do to protect the rights of all Americans, especially vulnerable ones. That means talking about Trump's plans. But just as importantly, it means trying to make voters understand that the presidency is much larger than one person. It's an army of people with a set of beliefs who either will or will not protect abortion rights, defend workers' interests, insist upon the basic human dignity of migrants, fight for the human and civil rights of LGBTQ people, continue the fight against the effects of climate change, uphold civil liberties, and respect the principles of democracy.

  But anything that gets people to turn on Trump is fine with me.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Shirin Ali: Three ways that Jack Smith could resurrect the classified documents case.

• Jamelle Bouie: [07-12] John Roberts makes his bid for infamy: "The chief justice and his allies have rewritten the Constitution to make it say what they want it to say."

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [07-24] Republicans ask the Supreme Court to gut student loan relief a second time: "The Court's first decision blocking student loan forgiveness was a lawless mess."

  • [07-26] A new Supreme Court case threatens to gut the Court's one good trans rights decision: "Republican Justice Neil Gorsuch surprised most Court watchers by supporting trans rights in Bostock v. Clayton County. We're about to find out if he actually meant it."

  • [07-29] Biden's new Supreme Court reform proposals are mostly useless: "The president is finally going after the high court, but his ideas are pretty weak."

• Shawn Musgrave: How Clarence Thomas cleared Trump's path in classified docs case.

• Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: [07-27] Texas sues Biden administration over teenage access to birth control.

• Sara Ruberg: [07-28] 3 men with white supremacist ties sentenced in plan to attack power station: "Two of the men met through a neo-Nazi online forum and recruited other people to join their scheme.

• Paul Starr: [07-17] The Supreme Court's license for presidential vengeance: "The Court's ruling on presidential immunity makes us all vulnerable."

• Li Zhou: [07-26] What we know about the police killing of Sonya Massey: "It adds to a long and disturbing pattern of police violence toward Black Americans."

  • Farrah Anderson/Sam Stecklow:

    • Deputy accused of killing Sonya Massey was discharged from Army for serious misconduct.

    • Past employers questioned integrity and conduct of deputy who killed Sonya Massey.

  • Tahir Duckett: [07-27] The police killing of Sonya Masssey argues for alternatives to reform.

  • Tatyana Tandanpolie: [07-27] Sonya Massey killing underscores disproportionate police violence against Black and disabled people.

Climate and environment:

In some ways, just another mid-summer week, but one with four days topping all-time heat records, and 104 (at least that's one count) active wildfires in the US.

• Kelsey Ables/Brianna Sacks/Nick Parker/Marisa Iati: [07-27] Park Fire's rapid growth puts it among larges in California history: More on this and other fires:

  • Matthew Cappucci: [07-26] California's Park Fire probably spawned freak fire tornadoes. Here's how.

  • Scott Dance: [07-25] A map of Oregon's Durkee Fire, the largest in the US.

  • Diana Leonard/Brianna Sacks: [07-28] Why the Park Fire exploded so quickly.

  • Joshua Partlow: [07-28] When all of the West is on fire at once, this is who deals with it.

  • Charles P Pierce: [07-24] Spare a thought for Canada, which is on fire (again): "Thousands of people have been evacuated from around Jasper, Alberta."

• Kate Aronoff: [07-19] What does military readiness mean in a warming world? "NATO seems worried about climate change. But stopping climate change probably means cutting defense spending."

• Dino Grandoni: [07-26] Extreme heat is wilting and burning forests, making it harder to curb climate change: "High temperatures, droughts and wildfire last year caused some forests to wilt and burn enough to degrade the ability of the land to lock away carbon dioxide."

• Sarah Kaplan: [07-27] 4 hottest days ever observed raise fears of a planet nearing 'tipping points'.

• Amy Westervelt: [07-29] Oil companies sold the public on a fake climate solution -- and swindled taxpayers out of billions: "The fossil fuel industry's carbon capture bamboozle, explained."

Economic matters:

• Jake Johnson: [07-25] Global 1% captured $42 trillion in new wealth over past decade.

• Jean Yi: [07-24] The great telemarketing scam behind pro-police PACs. Before we got a phone system that announces caller IDs, we were plagued with 2-5 phone calls per week trying to shake us down for donations to help out our poor police. We probably still are, but simply don't answer any calls we don't recognize and welcome. We always figured these calls as scams, but this article makes it all much more clear. If any politicians wanted to do something that would immediately better the lives of most Americans, they would come up with a legal framework to destroy the entire telemarketing industry (and hopefully take junk texts and emails with it -- for now at least, I'm ok with advertisers buying stamps, which at least helps fund the post office, even though most of our mail goes straight to recycle).

Ukraine War and Russia:

• Blaise Malley: [07-26] Diplomacy Watch: Ukraine turns to China as potential mediator: "This, days after Beijing brokers agreement on the Palestinian front."

• Jessica Corbett: [07-26] Amnesty urges war crimes probe of landmines in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

• William Hartung: [07-26] DoD finds another $2B accounting 'error' to boost Ukraine aid.

• Anatol Lieven: [07-19] What I saw and heard about the Ukraine war in Moscow: "Russian elites appear resigned to accepting that the conflict will carry on indefinitely."

• Eldar Mamedov: [07-22] Europe doubles down on protracted war in Ukraine: "The European Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen as president of the Commission, cementing the EU's maximalist aims."

America's empire and the world:

• Ben Armbuster: [07-26] What it means when someone calls you an 'isolationist': "When war-boosters like Max Boot don't have a comeback, they turn to smears."

• Dan Grazier: [07-25] Time to retire the phrase 'military industrial complex': "Sorry Ike: it's a bit too dated and no longer the right moniker to describe what we're up against."

• Samantha Schmidt/Ana Vanessa Herrero/Maria Luisa Paúl: [07-28] Venezuelans vote in election that could oust an autocrat: Or a democratically-elected leftist, depending on your perspective. I don't have much insight into or opinion on the Maduro government, but that they're allowing an election that could go either way, and that they've run elections in the past that have gone against their druthers, suggests that the "autocrat" charge is overblown.

  At this point, it might be best for the embattled left to give way to the American-backed right-wingers. Presumably that would satisfy American efforts to strangle the revolution, ending the isolation US sanctions have imposed. The right will then be free to resume the crony capitalism they profit from, fixing none of the problems that have plagued Venezuela from the early Standard Oil days, but giving the left a clear and present local enemy to organize against (as well as the spectre of American imperialism). Reagan and his Contras bullied Nicaraguans into voting against the Sandinistas, but eventually the voters returned them to power. More on Venezuela:

  • Samantha Schmidt/Ana Vanessa Herrero: [07-27] If Maduro loses, will he cede power? Venezuela's election, explained.

  • Ishaan Tharoor: [07-26] Is this the beginning of the end for the Maduro regime in Venezuela?

  • Anatoly Kurmanaev/Frances Robles/Julie Turkewitz: [07-28] Venezuela awaits result in pivotal election that could oust autocrat: After the previous stories, I only mention this to show that the New York Times is also stuck on the "autocrat" bandwagon.

  • Associated Press: [07-29] Entrenched incumbent Maduro declared winner of Venezuela's disputed presidential election: And then this happened. Maduro's opponents are whining and whinging like Trump. More on this next week.

• Nick Turse:

  • [07-25] Osama Bin Laden's enduring triumph: Alt-title: "Suicide Squad: US troops are losing a war with their deadliest enemy." He means suicides among soldiers and ex-soldiers.

  • US has never apologized to Somali drone strike victims -- even when it admitted to killing civilians.

  • Cheap and lethal: The Pentagon's plan for the next drone war.

• Joby Warrick/Souad Mekhennet: [07-25] Sanctions crushed Syria's elite. So they built a zombie economy fueled by drugs. For more on US sanctions, see:

  • Jeff Stein/Federica Cocco: [07-25] How four U.S. presidents unleashed economic warfare across the globe. More than four of them: even if you skip over the Cold War blockades and restrictions and start with Clinton, Biden makes five, and while each president has done more than the previous one, Biden's sanctions are really off the charts.

  • Jeff Stein/Ellen Nakashima/Samantha Schmidt: [07-26] Trump White House was warned sanctions on Venezuela could fuel migration: "The internal debate over the policy underscores how U.S. financial measures can sometimes lead to unintended consequences."

Other stories:

• Alex Abad-Santos/Bryan Walsh: [07-26] The good, the bad, and weird of the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony: I don't anticipate having any interest in the Olympics, but if anything catches my fancy, here I have a slot to file it.

  • Peter Coy: [07-22] Which country will win the Paris Olympics? Don't just count medals. This one's for statistics nerds, something I find far more interesting than the javelin toss.

  • Kelly McClure: [07-27] Speaker Mike Johnson and Elon Musk blast Olympics for being offensive to Christians.

  • Dave Zirin/Jujles Boykoff: [07-29] Israel's olympic presence helps legitimize war crimes: The IOC is sanctioning Russia, so clearly they have some political principles. Why they don't realize that Israel is as bad (or worse) isn't clear, but sure does look hypocritical.

• Adam Clark Estes: [07-24] The worst internet outage still hasn't happened yet: "How a bit of bad code could bring down the whole world."

• Kelsey Piper: [07-26] Warren Buffett's breakup with the Gates Foundation will hurt the world: "Buffett's decision to put his money into a foundation controlled by his kids is a mistake."

• Jeffrey St Clair: [07-26] The spirit of Jezebel: Photo of Harris, but more on Biden, before making the usual rounds.

Obituaries

• Trip Gabriel: [07-28] James C Scott, iconoclastic social scientist, dies at 87: "In influential books, he questioned top-down government programs and extolled the power of the powerless, embracing a form of anarchism." I've noted a couple of his books in my Roundups -- Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1999), and Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play (2012) -- but have never read him. I'm certainly sympathetic to the notion that power isn't all it's cracked up to be, even for those who seem to possess it. I also know enough about anarchism to be able to see it as a model for acting in situations where no effective power is possible, like international relations.

  • Corey Robin: [07-25] James Scott, 1936-2024.

• Martin Landler: [07-25] Martin S Indyk, diplomat who sought Middle East peace, dies at 73: "As ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration and as a special envoy under Barack Obama, he was skeptical of Israeli settlements." Instead of skeptical, he should have been flat-out opposed, as the settlements he allowed to propagate destroyed the "two-state solution" he was an apostle of. Like many US diplomats, he was so in thrall to Israel that he could never be an honest broker, even when he realized that Israel had no intention or desire for peace, which he did reckon more often than most.

• Nicholas Levis: [07-26] A non-conformist of the power elite: Lewis Lapham, 1935-2014.

  • Kelly Burdick: [07-26] Lewis Lapham salvaged from history what was useful, beautiful, and true.

  • Chris Lorentzen: [07-26] Lewis Lapham knew that a great editor was an artful thief: "Lapham, who died this week at 89, was an eloquent skeptic of power and a great nurterer of talent."

• New York Times: Obituaries: I scrolled through ten pages and, aside from the above, recognized a few names I hadn't noted, but wanted to at least mention:

  • William L Calley Jr (war criminal)
  • Orlando Cepeda (baseball player)
  • Michael Cuscuna (jazz archivist, founded Mosaic Records)
  • Yael Dayan (daughter of Israeli war director Moshe Dayan; a distinguish writer and something of a peace activist)
  • Lou Dobbs (CNN/Fox hack and bigot)
  • Maurice El Medioni (Sephardic-Algerian pianist)
  • Duke Fakir (Four Tops)
  • Kinky Friedman (satirist and singer)
  • Bill Holman (jazz arranger)
  • James M Inhofe (R-OK Senator, major climate change denier)
  • Parnelli Jones (Indy 500 driver)
  • Bob Newhart (comedian)
  • Bernice Johnson Reagan (Sweet Honey in the Rock)

Books

• Rachel Connolly: [07-25] Porn shows what people still won't say about sex: "A book of intimate interviews reveals how reluctant people are to speak about their true desires." Long review of Polly Barton: Porn: An Oral History.

• Richard J Evans: [07-01] Can the museum survive? "From looted artifacts to rogue employees, a series of crises have beset some of the world's most visited collections." Review of Adam Kuper: The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions.

• David Klion: [07-29] After histgory ended: "How the chaos and excesses of the 1990s led to the politics of today." Review of John Ganz: When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

• Carlos Lozada: [07-02] Is America a City on a Hill or a Nation on the Precipice? "Ours is a nation obsessed with depicting and interpreting itself, usually with the boldest of brushstrokes." Sounds, well, to use a word I first encountered in 8th grade, when it suddenly became everyone's favorite put-down for virtually everyone else, "conceited." Reminds me that "nationalism" is the word for projecting narcissism on a, well, national scale. Lozada reads a lot of books, which gives him lots of examples for essays like this one. But for every example, you can just as easily find an exception. Which makes me wonder, why bother?

• Samuel McIlhagga: [07-26] Anne Applebaum's dystopia of rules: A review of the Ukraine hawk's new book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. I always assumed that her 2018 book, Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, was a credible if somewhat jaundiced historical account of Stalin's tragic efforts to collectivize agriculture in Ukraine in the 1930s, much like Timothy Snyder's 2010 book, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. But both authors have moved beyond their research into political polemics, where they pose as defenders of democracy but act as advocates of conflict and aggression, including war, against Russia. At least Snyder seems to have had some left leanings -- he started out as a student and protégé of Tony Judt -- before the 1989-90 revolts in Eastern Europe turned him against Russia, but her earlier books suggest that Applebaum was an ardent cold warrior from the start. She honed her political agenda in her 2020 book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (the paperback changed the subtitle to: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends). Here she broadens her attack to encompass the entire neocon shit list, from its Russia-China-Iran axis to peripheral irritants like Venezuela and North Korea.

• Manuel Roig-Franzia: [07-24] Donald Trump's nephew asks questions about racism in new memoir: "Fred C. Trump III cast aside decades of silence to delve into the roots of the Trump family's dysfunction at a critical moment in American political history." The book is All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.

• Michael Tatum: Books read (and not read): July 2024.

• Also, just happened to notice this:

  • Jason Stanley: Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future [09-10]: author of How Propaganda Works (2015); and How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (2018).

Music (and other arts?)

• Ethan Iverson: [07-26] In search of the backbeat: The Rolling Stones are on the road again, with a new drummer (Steve Jordan).

• Ryan Maffei: [07-28] My vanished friend: Remembering Martin Phillipps of the Chills.

• Phil Overeem: [07-31] The best newish releases I lived to listen to this month.

Chatter

• Dean Baker: [07-30] [in response to: X has SUSPENDED the White Dudes for Harris account (@dudes4harris) after it raised more than $4M for Kamala Harris.] Musk is using his control of X to make in-kind contributions to Trump in lieu of his pledge to contribute $45 million a month to a Trump super Pac

• Ramesh Ponnuru: [07-31] Trump policing who's really black and who's a good Jew in the same week.

Local tags (these can be linked to directly): Netanyahu's speech, music.

Original count: 259 links, 11258 words (15482 total)

Current count: 264 links, 11362 words (15656 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42703 [42668] rated (+35), 23 [15] unrated (+8).

I'm slowly decompressing after deep burial in the work of running my Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll. The website is up, but the results won't be public until ArtsFuse publishes my introductory essay -- which I turned in on Tuesday, so it shouldn't be much longer. After some initial panic, I finally counted 90 ballots, which is a bit more than half of the 159 ballots we received for the 2023 Poll. A couple dozen more invitees wrote back with apologies, mostly due to the very limited voting period I allowed and other demands on their time, but several just didn't like the idea (while expressing an interest in year-end voting -- I know of other critics who just don't like the idea of polls and lists in general, but they had taken themselves off my mailing list).

Voters were asked to vote for up to 10 "new releases" (first releases of new music recorded no earlier than 2014) and up to 5 "rara avis" (reissues or newly released music from 2013 or earlier). The 90 critics voted for 366 "new releases" and 109 "rara avis" albums. If memory serves, 3 albums got votes in both, and 3 more received one vote in the wrong time frame, so the total number of albums that received votes was 472, which is 5.24 per voter. I'd hazard a guess that about half of those records got 1 vote each. Also, at least half of them weren't in my tracking file before the poll, so were new to me. I've added them all now, and over the last 3-4 weeks I've listened to a lot of jazz I wasn't previously aware of (including all 5 A- records this week, and most of the high B+ records too).

As I've probably mentioned, I find lists most useful as a means for checking what I do and do not know. Donald Rumsfeld once made the distinction between "known-unknowns" and "unknown-unknowns." Well, I keep the former are on a list as such, leaving only the latter as still unaccounted-for unknowns. So, thanks to the last few weeks, I now know much more about what I don't know. When the results are published, so can you.

As part of this exercise, I went ahead and prematurely compiled a Best Jazz Albums of 2024 file. (I didn't bother compiling the companion Best Non-Jazz list, because I didn't need it, and didn't want to bite off the extra work, least of all in maintenance -- indeed, I may not maintain the Jazz file until the need arises come November.) The most notable thing here is that the A-list has already reached 60 albums, whereas for recent full years, it has never grown beyond 87 albums. I can imagine three possible explanations for this bounty: this is a really great year for new jazz; I'm much better informed this year than ever before; and/or I'm growing soft and addled in my old age. Still, I've retained enough wits to discriminate between these 60 A/A- albums and 108 with B+(***) grades, and another 193 with lower grades. (Let's see: in 2023, that split was 85 A/A-, 225 B+(***), 532 lower, so comparing this year so far to last gives us: 70.5%, 48.0%, 36.2%.) So, sure, that's skewed pretty significantly. But I can't think of anything to do about it. The grading scale was never conceived of as a curve, and it's too late to change much now.

While working on the essay, I slowly pieced together a Speaking of Which, which wound up straddling the Republican Convention, Biden's withdrawal, and Kamala Harris's clinching of the Democratic nomination. The domestic politics did at least take my mind away from the international situation, which as far as I can tell is still very much out there -- especially the atrocities in and around Israel. One story I avoided was Netanyahu's speech to Congress. I thought the most telling moment there was when Biden praised and gave thanks to Joe Biden, and Republicans stood and applauded. Of course, it wasn't Biden they were applauding. Nor were they really showing how supplicant they are to Netanyahu (although they clearly are). They mostly relished how Netanyahu's embrace disgraced Biden and his administration. As I've noted many times before, the only time Republicans are up for a "bipartisan" deal is when they see it as a wedge between the Democratic leaders and their base. All of Washington may be in thrall to Israel, but it's not a good look for the self-anointed leaders of the free world.

Of course, I didn't really finish with last week, so next week's Speaking of Which will start as soon as this Music Week posts. And as I'm unlikely to be done on Sunday, next Music Week should again be delayed -- perhaps enough to give me most of a week (as long as I wrap up before the end of July, I'll be happy.) After that, I hope to slow down a bit, and take stock. I have lots of projects to work on around the house. I have some doctor stuff on tap. I also have a new website to think about. And I need to rethink the whole writing life. Besides, August is usually pretty miserable here in Wichita.

Meanwhile, a couple mid-year lists to check out:

• All About Jazz: [07-15] Best jazz albums of 2024: all-star break edition.

• Chris Monsen: Mid-year picks: 30 + 10 favorite album releases from January through June, 20024.

New records reviewed this week:

أحمد [Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (2022 [2024], Fönstret, 5CD): Five more shows, each on its own disc each a single piece 44:15-49:40 long, from five consecutive nights in Stockholm (August 10-14, so after the April 2 Glasgow date on Wood Blues). Too intense to play straight through, possibly redundant if you're satisfied with Wood Blues, but something where you can just pick a disc at random when the mood strikes. A- [sp]

Alliance [Sharel Cassity/Colleen Clark]: Alliance (2024, Shifting Paradigm): Supposedly a group name, but two of the four women pictured on the cover are named in smaller print at the bottom: Cassity plays flute and alto/soprano sax, Clark drums, along with Hannah Meyer (piano) and Carmani Edwards (bass). A very sprightly hard bop outing. B+(**) [sp]

Beholder Quartet: Suspension of Disbelief (2024, Sachimay): Streaming sources list this as Beholder Trio, but cover says Quartet, as does a previous album -- a still earlier trio is simply credited to Beholder. Group of Dan DeChellis (piano), John Philip Tomasic (guitar), Jeffrey Slater (electric bass), and Zach Martin (drums). DeChellis has albums back to 1998, including a 1999 trio with Tomasic, and a later series of albums with avant saxophonist Gary Hassay. Very interesting album, even in the slow spots. A- [sp]

Oddgeir Berg Trio: A Place Called Home (2024, Ozella): Norwegian pianist, home is the island of Rolla, which is pretty far north, fifth trio album since 2018, with Audun Ramo (bass) and Lars Berntsen (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few: The Almighty (2023 [2024], Division 81): Saxophonist, from Chicago, group is a quartet with piano-bass-drums, but aims higher, starting off with a gospelized Dee Alexander vocal, then a spiritual spot for Ari Brown. Three more tracks: more yearning, more vocals, more rafters-raising saxophone. B+(**) [sp]

Nick Dunston: Colla Voce (2022 [2024], Out of Your Head): Bassist, fifth album since 2019, also credit for "post-processing," on what is billed as "a warped narrative of sorts, hurtling from acoustic universe to electric universe, string to scream, raw to produced, New York to Berlin, and real to surreal." The strings and voices give it an air of opera, but very warped indeed, and I'd add, saved by the drums. B+(**) [cd]

Isabelle Duthoit & Franz Hautzinger: Dans le Morvan (2021 [2024], Relative Pitch): French clarinetist, also credited for voice (which is more like audible breathing), in a duo with the Austrian playing quarter tone trumpet. Second duo album, very sketchy. B+(*) [sp]

Nick Finzer: Legacy: A Centennial Celebration of JJ Johnson (2024, Outside In Music): Trombonist, eighth album since 2012, quartet with Renee Rosnes (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums), all veterans of Johnson's 1980-90s groups. B+(***) [sp]

Gregory Groover Jr.: Lovabye (2023 [2024], Criss Cross): Tenor saxophonist, from Boston, name sounds like a smooth jazz alias (well, maybe not as much as Euge Groove), but he studied and teaches at Berklee, has his debut on a mainstream label, and lined up a batch of stars for backing: Joel Ross (vibes), Aaron Parks (piano), Vicente Archer (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums) and Matthew Stevens (guitar on 3 tracks). B+(**) [sp]

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day (2023 [2024], ECM): Italian pianist, about a dozen albums since 2007, quartet here with James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax), Thomas Morgan (bass), and João Lobo (drums). He plays nicely, nowhere close to challenging his guest star, who nonetheless reveals that he'll probably make a great ballad album some day. B+(**) [sp]

Jo Harrop: The Path of a Tear (2024, Lateralize): British singer-songwriter, slotted jazz but not necessarily so, third album, has a nice feel and touch, and songs. B+(***) [sp]

Xaver Hellmeier: X-Man in New York (2022 [2023], Cellar Music): German drummer, based in Munich, but went to New York to study with Joe Farnsworth, which set him up for a first album recorded in Van Gelder Studios with what must be his dream band: Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Eric Alexander (tenor sax), David Hazeltine (piano), and Peter Washington (bass). I've long admired that group (and Farnsworth), but it's been a while since they've put their skills to such inspired use. A- [sp]

اسم ISM [Pat Thomas/Joel Grip/Antonin Gerbal]: Maua (2022 [2024], 577): London-based piano-bass-drums trio, at least one previous album, they also form the core of the quartet known as [Ahmed]. Two pieces, the 41:15 title track, plus a 6:22 extra, with a very nice Bösendorfer grand that may have slowed the group down a bit, just to relish the sound. Title means "flowers" in Swahili. Not as dramatic as the [Ahmed] albums, but this should help Thomas get recognition as one of jazz's top-tier pianists. A- [dl]

Tobias Klein/Frank Rosaly/Maria Warelis: Tendresse (2022 [2024], Relative Pitch): Bass/contrabass clarinetist, originally from Germany (Saarbrücken), based in Netherlands, not much as leader but side credits since 1997 (most often in the group Spinifex). Backed here with drums and piano. B+(**) [sp]

Christian McBride/Edgar Meyer: But Who's Gonna Play the Melody? (2024, Mack Avenue): Bass duo, with each musician switching to piano for two tracks. McBride is probably the most famous jazz bassist of his generation, but I had to look Meyer up: 12 years older, from Tennessee, has a distinguished career in classical music, but also ventures into bluegrass with Mark O'Connor, Béla Fleck, and Chris Thile. Often engaging, but kind of self-limiting. B+(*) [sp]

The New Wonders: Steppin' Out (2024, Turtle Bay): Trad jazz septet, led by Mike Davis, who plays cornet, sings, and composed or arranged everything. Second album. B+(***) [sp]

Carlos Niño & Friends: Placenta (2022-23 [2024], |International Anthem): Based in Los Angeles, "an internationally celebrated producer, arranger, composer, musician, radio host, DJ, music consultant, writer, poet, and event organizer," "involved in the production of more than 100 records," although the only groups I recognize are Build an Ark and Hu Vibrational, and they're both a tad obscure. Fourth group album on this label -- Discogs shows earlier ones back to 2009 -- a sprawling (77:07) jumble of synths, flute (André 3000), horns, rhythm, voices. B [sp]

Omawi [Marta Warelis/Onno Govaert/Wilbert De Joode]: Waive (2023, Relative Pitch): Piano-drums-bass trio, fairly abstract in an intimate framework. B+(**) [sp]

Hery Paz: River Creatures (2023 [2024], Porta Jazz): Tenor saxophonist, from Cuba, second album, trio with Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Tom Rainey (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Frank Paul Schubert/Michel Pilz/Stefan Scheib/Klaus Kugel: Live at FreeJazz Saar 2019 (2019 [2024], Nemu): German free jazz saxophonist (alto/soprano), a couple dozen albums since 2005, here in a group with bass clarinet, bass, and drums, joint improv on a piece called "Where Is Charles?" -- no answer or further explanation offered, not that any is needed. B+(***) [cd]

SML: Small Medium Large (2022-23 [2024], International Anthem): Quintet of Anna Butterss (electric bass), Jeremiah Chiu (synths), Josh Johnson (sax/electronics), Booker Stardrum (drums), and Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), pieced this together from four sets of improv, with an ear toward finding an irresistible groove. B+(***) [sp]

Space: Embrace the Space (2024, Relative Pitch): Swedish piano-bass-drums trio, Lisa Ullén, Elsa Bergman, and Anna Lund. Second album, improv pieces, pretty tight. B+(***) [sp]

Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii: Aloft (2023 [2024], Libra): Trumpet and piano duo, husband and wife, many records together (mostly in larger groups, all the way to big bands), but this is the basic mix, and very striking when they grab your attention. B+(***) [cd]

Terton [Louie Belogenis/Trevor Dunn/Ryan Sawyer]: Outer, Inner, Secret (2023 [2024], Tzadik): Tenor/soprano sax, bass, drums trio. B+(***) [sp]

Marta Warelis/Andy Moor: Escape (2022 [2024], Relative Pitch): Polish pianist, has been making the rounds since 2017, here a duo with one of the Ex guitarists. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Cannonball Adderley: Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 (1969 [2024], Elemental Music): Alto saxophonist, a hard bopper who actually scored some crossover r&b hits, probably did his best work in the late 1950s, but had a strong series of albums with Riverside in the early 1960s, more mixed results later on with Capitol, before he died at 46 in 1975. So this is rather late in his career, a quintet with his brother Nate Adderley on trumpet, Joe Zawinul on keyboards, Victor Gaskin on bass, and Roy McCurdy on drums. A solid but not exceptional set, in a very nice package. B+(**) [cd]

Cannonball Adderley: Poppin' in Paris: Live at L'Olympia 1972 (1972 [2024], Elemental Music): A bit later, after Joe Zawinul left for Weather Report, with George Duke adding some funk on keyboads, Walter Booker the new bassist, Ray McCurdy back on drums, and brother Nat the stand out on cornet. B+(***) [cd]

Atrás del Cosmos: Cold Drinks, Hot Dreams (1980 [2024], Blank Forms Editions): Reportedly the first free jazz group to come out of Mexico, but not much known about they: this reissue is their only album in Discogs (which doesn't have the original), nor is there much evidence of members Ana Ruíz (piano), Henry West (sax), Evry Mann (drums), or Claudio Enriquez (bass). Opens with heavy piano (think Cecil Taylor), adds in the sax, then evolves into their own milieu. A- [sp]

Charlie Mariano: Boppin' in Boston 1947-1953 (1947-53 [2024], Fresh Sound, 2CD): Alto saxophonist (1923-2009) from Boston, a remarkably fluid player, was very quick to jump on the bebop bandwagon -- much quicker than the bands he played in early, judging from the opening tracks here. Digital breaks this into two volumes, the first ending with a Jan. 27, 1953 session, the second from later that year, a bit more consistent. B+(**) [sp]

Gerry Mulligan: Night Lights (1962 [2024], Philip): Baritone saxophonist, in a laid back mood with Art Farmer (flugelhorn), Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone), Jim Hall (guitar), bass, and drums. B+(*) [sp]

The Oscar Pettiford Memorial Concert (1960 [2024], SteepleChase): A concert organized in Copenhagen shortly after the bassist's death at 37, features a number of local acts -- Erik Mosenholm Trio, Max BrÜel Quartet, Bengt Hallberg Trio (plus Alice Babs), Jazz Quintet '60 (with Svend Asmussen on violin), Louis Hjulmand Quartet -- finishing with Stan Getz (backed by Hallberg's Trio). Nice evening. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Beholder: Claim No Native Land (2017, Sachimay): Trio of Dan DeChellis (piano), Philip Tomasic (guitar/loops/effects), and Zack Martin (drums/electronics), seems to be their first album, nothing in Discogs on any of the group albums, although DeChellis and Tomasic had a trio album with a different drummer in 1999, and Tomasic had a solo guitar album the same year. B+(*) [sp]

Beholder: The Cicada Sessions (2022, Sachimay): Again, no doc here, other than same trio lineup, more varied, ends a bit ambient. B+(**) [sp]

Beholder Quartet: Omni Present (2023, Sachimay, EP): The piano-guitar-drums trio expands a bit, adding Jeffrey Slater on electric bass. Just a proof-of-concept 15:52 single. B+(*) [sp]

اسم ISM [Pat Thomas/Joel Grip/Antonin Gerbal]: Nature in Its Inscrutability Strikes Back (2014 [2015], Café Oto): British piano-bass-drums trio, the full significance of its iconography way beyond me. Three pieces, 62:47. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Cannonball Adderley: Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 (Elemental Music) [04-26]
• Cannonball Adderley: Poppin' in Paris: Live at L'Olympia 1972 (Elemental Music) [04-26]
• Livia Almeida: The Brasilia Sessions (Zoho) [07-19]
• Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk a Mile in My Shoe (Imani) * [08-12]
• Richard Guba: Songs for Stuffed Animals (self-released) [06-06]
• Joel Harrison & Alternative Guitar Summit: The Middle of Everywhere: Guitar Solos Vol. I (AGS) [07-24]
• Jason Kao Hwang: Soliloquies: Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations (True Sound) (09-15]
• Lux Quartet: Tomorrowland (Enja/Yellowbird) [08-09[
• Rose Mallett: Dreams Realized (Carrie-On Productions) [09-01]
• Shelly Manne & His Men: Jazz From the Pacific Northwest (1958-66, Reel to Real) [04-20]
• Brother Jack McDuff: Ain't No Sunshine: Live in Seattle (1972, Reel to Real) [05-17]
• Terence McManus: Music for Chamber Trio (Rowhouse Music) [09-24]
• Jason Stein: Anchors (Tao Forms) [09-13]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Big breaking news this week was the end of Joe Biden's campaign for a second term as president. This became public on Sunday, July 20. I started collecting bits for this post back on Thursday, July 18, and in the intervening days I collected a fair number of pieces on the arguments for Biden to withdraw. I've kept those pieces below (and may even add to them), while splitting the section on Biden, and adding one on Kamala Harris, who as Vice-President and as Biden's running mate is the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Biden won all of the primaries, so an overwhelming majority of DNC voters were selected and pledged to Biden (and implicitly to Harris). Biden has endorsed Harris. And most of the people who put pressure on Biden to withdraw did so realizing that Harris would be his most obvious replacement. Opposition to Biden was almost never rooted in rejection of his policies or legacy. (Critics of Biden's deaf, blind and dumb support for Netanyahu's genocide may beg to differ, but they had little if any clout within the party powers who turned on Biden. Nor do Israel's supporters have any real reason to fear that Harris will turn on them.)

I originally meant to start this post with a bit from a letter I wrote back on Thursday [07-18], which summed up my views on Biden's candidacy at the time:

For what little it's worth, here's my nutshell take on Biden:

1. If he can't get control of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza by early October, he's going to lose, no matter what else happens. For people who don't understand them, they're bad vibes, so why not blame the guy who was in position to do something about them. That may be unfair, but that's what uninformed voters do. And if you do understand them (which I think I do), Biden doesn't look so good either. He sees Ukraine as a test of resolve, and Israel as a test of loyalty, and those views are not just wrong, they kick in his most primitive instincts.

2. Otherwise, the election will go to whichever side is most effective at making the election into a referendum on the other side. That should be easy when the other side is Trump, but it gets real hard when most media cycles focus on your age and/or decrepitude. That story is locked in, and isn't going away. When your "good news" is "Biden reads from teleprompter and doesn't fumble," you've lost.

3. Even if Trump's negatives are so overwhelming that even Biden, incapacitated as he is, beats him (and surely it wouldn't be by enough to shut Trump up), do we really want four more years of this?

As of early Tuesday evening, I'm still preoccupied with trying to wrap up my jazz critics poll. I expect to mail that I will get that mailed in tonight, and hope that I may wrap this up as well, with the by-now-usual proviso that I may add more the next day, but certainly will have lots to return to next week.

As of late Wednesday evening, I figure I should call it a week. I still haven't gotten to everything, but I've deliberately skipped anything on the Netanyahu speech to Congress, and various other pieces of late-breaking news (including recent campaign rallies by Trump, which I overheard some of, and by Harris, which I gather was much more fun. If I do grab something more while working on Music Week, I'll flag it as usual. Otherwise, there's always next week.

One half-baked thought I will go ahead and throw out there is this: maybe this was the plan all along? I know it's hard to credit the Democratic Party insiders with devising much less executing such a clever plan. But if you wanted to get to where we are now, it's not that hard to imagine. If Biden hadn't run, Harris would have been his probable successor, but not without a bruising and potentially divisive primary fight. Biden's reelection campaign kept that from happening -- and to make extra sure, scotching the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary eliminated the two best opportunities potential opponents might gamble on. Biden wound up with an overwhelming majority of delegates locked in, and predisposed to Harris as his successor.

Biden's presumptive nomination also gave cover to Trump, who never had to face the age questions that dogged the slightly older Biden. Then Biden tanks the debate, which gives Trump a huge psychological boost, but drags out his withdrawal until after Trump's nomination becomes official. By the time he does announce, all the ducks are lined up for Harris, cemented by the record-breaking cash haul. No one will run against her, and all Democrats will unite behind her. It's not a very good example of democracy in action, but it's clean and final, and she enters the campaign against Trump with few wounds and very little baggage.

On the other hand, Trump, despite all the optimism he brought into the RNC just last week, has tons of debilitating baggage -- to which he's already added his "best people" VP pick, J.D. Vance. I've said all along that the winner will be the one who does the best job of making the election into an opportunity for the people to rid themselves of the other candidate. The odds of Trump being the one we most want to dispose of just went way up.

Make no mistake, there is something profoundly wrong with our democracy, and it goes way beyond gerrymanders and registration scheming. It mostly has to do with the obscene influence of money not just on who can run in elections and what they can campaign on, but also on what whoever manages to get elected can or cannot do with their post. This influence goes way back, and runs very deep, but it's pretty clear that it's gotten significantly worse over the last several decades, as income and wealth have become much more unequally distributed.

We are, of course, fortunate that not everyone with great sums of money wishes to harm most of us. It's mostly just Republicans who want to drive us to ruin, and who surely will if we allow them the power to do so. (The Supreme Court is one place where they already have that power, and it is already providing us with a steady stream of examples of how "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.") Rich Democrats may be every bit as self-interested and egocentric as rich Republicans, but at least they can see that government needs to work reasonably well for everyone, and not just for the rich at everyone else's expense. They understand things that Republicans have turned against: that life is not a zero-sum game (so you don't have to inflict losses in order to gain); that security is only possible if people sense that justice prevails; and that no matter how much wealth and power you gain, you still depend on other people who need to be able to trust you.

Perhaps you can and should trust rich Democrats in times of severe crisis, such as in this election. Today's Republican Party, with or without Trump, is threat enough. But know that those same rich Democrats don't trust you to make decisions they can support, which is why they hijacked the 2020 primaries to stop Sanders with Biden, and why they've micromanaged the 2024 process to give your nomination to Harris. And actually, I'm strangely OK with that.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [07-18] Day 286: Netanyahu accused of obstructing prisoner talks while Israel and PA negotiate future of Rafah crossing: "UNRWA reports Israel has bombed eight schools in 10 days. The Red Cross warns of 'total collapse' of health care in Gaza."

  • [07-22] Day 290: Israel launches a new offensive on Khan Younis forcing thousands to again flee: "At least 40 Palestinians have been killed by air strikes on Khan Younis as Israel launched a surprise offensive on the city. Meanwhile, West Bank settlers renewed attacks on Palestinians following the ICJ ruling that the occupation is illegal."

• Seraj Assi: [07-21] Israeli soldiers flaunt war crimes on social media. Why aren't they held accountable? "In video after video, soldiers document their atrocities, marking a new era of impunity."

• Julia Conley: [07-22] UNICEF reports Israel is killing kids at shocking rates amid West Bank assault: "Since Israel began its bombardment nearly 10 months ago, 143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank."

• Awdah Hathaleen: [07-22] In Umm al-Khair, the occupation is damning us to multigenerational trauma: "I saw the first bulldozers arrive in my village 17 years ago. Now, after the most brutal weeks in our history, my son will carry similarly painful memories."

• Shir Hver: [07-19] The end of Israel's economy: "As Israel's genocidal war against Gaza continues unabated, the Israeli economy is facing a catastrophe. The physical destruction in Israel from the war has been minimal, but one thing has been destroyed: its future."

• Edo Konrad: [07-20] Israeli settlers believe their moment has come. "Never have settlers had this kind of influence over Israeli politics, and Netanyahu is afraid of them bringing down the government, which gives them enormous influence and power to keep the war going."

• Ibtisam Mahdi: [07-18] Searching for Gaza's missing children: "Buried under rubble, lost in the chaos, decomposed beyond recognition: the desperate struggle to find thousands amid Israel's ongoing war."

• Maziar Motamedi: [07-21] Everything to know about Israeli and Houthi attacks amid war on Gaza: "The Yemeni group remains undeterred in its support for Palestine despite the massive Israeli attack on a key port."

  • Vivian Nereim/Shuaib Almosawa: [07-21] Israeli strike on Yemeni port will harm civilians, not Houthis, experts say: "Israel's counterattack on the Houthis, which set a vital Yemeni port ablaze, will do little to deter the militia, Yemeni and international experts said."

• Qassam Muaddi: [07-16] Israel's legalization of settlements in the northern West Bank, explained: "Israel is launching a political and military assault on the West Bank. Its legalization of settlements in the north is a crucial part of the story."

• Mouin Rabbani: [07-21] Polio and the destruction of Gaza's health infrastructure: "Polio had been eradicated in the Gaza Strip but was detected this past week. While it is unclear how it has suddenly reappeared it is beyond doubt how it's spreading: Israel's systematic destruction of Gaza's health infrastructure."

America's Israel (and Israel's America):

• Michael Arria:

  • [07-18] The Shift: The most surreal election of your lifetime.

  • [07-19] GOP takes aim at Palestine at Republican National Convention: "Donald Trump's closing speech to the Republican National Convention threatening Gaza ended a week of speeches featuring full-throated support for Israel, false allegations of campus antisemitism, and condemnations of pro-Palestine protests."

• Daniel Denvir: [07-20] Why is the US still backing Israeli genocide?: An interview with Waleed Shahid and Dylan Saba.

• Lev Grinberg: [07-16] Deceive, defy, and defer: Netanyahu's time-tested strategy to outmaneuver Biden: "For 15 years, the Israeli prime minister has proven his ability to scuttle political agreements -- while never losing the United States' backing."

• David Hearst: [07-22] Israelis should abandon Netanyahu's sinking ship. He's lost.

• Sophie Hurwitz: [7-16] The Gaza pier is a $320 million symbol of the Biden administration's "ineffectiveness": "On July 11, US officials announced that the pier would be shut down. It never delivered enough aid to make a difference."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [07-20] Netanyahu's speech to Congress will seek to maintain support for genocide: "Benjamin Netanyahu will use his upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress to consolidate political support for the genocide in Gaza from both Republicans and Democrats. The leadership of both parties appear happy to oblige."

• Philip Weiss: [07-21] Weekly Briefing: The exquisite choreography of hosting a war criminal at the White House: "Netanyahu ought to be persona non grata in Washington, for his war crimes and nullification of U.S. policy, but the Biden administration is welcoming him with open arms."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Arash Azizi: The left's self-defeating Israel obsession: "Taking an extreme position, then demanding total orthodoxy, does no favors for democratic socialism in America." I'm out of "free articles" at The Atlantic, so I can only imagine what this person is complaining about and/or purports to believe in and/or thinks the alternatives are.

• Ghousoon Bisharat: [07-23] 'Israel always sold the occupation as legal. The ICJ now terrifies them': "Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu unpacks the ICJ opinion on Israel's military regime, and the lessons of turning international law into action."

• Mark Braverman: [07-21] Palestinian Christians challenge the World Council of Churches on Gaza: "Palestinian Christians are criticizing a World Council of Churches statement for ignoring the context of the October 7 attacks and refusing to call out the unfolding Gaza genocide."

• Jonathan Cook:

  • [07-19] Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza -- one given blessing by the West.

  • [07-23] The World Court has just cleared the fog hiding western support for Israel's crimes.

• Emilio Dabed: [07-16] By failing to stop the Gaza genocide, the ICJ is working exactly as intended: "The international legal order was built to administer colonial violence, not to end wars -- and that poses serious questions for the Palestinian struggle."

• Richard Falk: [07-24] Why the world must stand behind ICJ decision on Israeli occupation: "While this was only an 'advisory opinion,' it carries significant weight through the level of judicial consensus on such a politically polarising topic."

• Masha Gessen: [07-20] What we know about the weaponization of sexual violence on October 7th: "Rape is a shocking and sadly predictable feature of war. But the nature of the crime makes it difficult to document and, consequently, to prosecute."

• Hanno Hauenstein: Gideon Lelvy: Getting rid of Netanyahu is not enough: An interview with "one of the most articulate critics of Israeli war and apartheid." Asked whether there was any discussion in Israel about a recent massacre in Gaza:

  I can guarantee you, if it wouldn't have been two hundred killed in Nuseirat but two thousand, it would still be justified by most of Israel. To them, Israel has the right to do whatever it wants after October 7. And it's not up to the world to put up limits for us. That's the mindset. Obviously, there are those who see things differently, but they are a minority and quite scared to raise their voices. Most Israelis would justify any aggression against Palestinians right now, on any scale.

• Jake Johnson: [07-15] World 'cannot remain silent in the face of this endless massacre,' says Lula: "The Israeli government continues to sabotage the peace process and the cease-fire in the Middle East," said the Brazilian president after a deadly weekend of bombings."

• David Kattenburg: [07-19] In a historic ruling, ICJ declares Israeli occupation unlawful, calls for settlements to be evacuated, and for Palestinian reparations: "The International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful, the settlements must be evacuated, and Palestinians must be compensated and allowed to return to their lands."

• Yoav Litvin: [07-19] Israel: where genocide meets real estate.

• Harold Meyerson: [07-22] A modest suggestion for an American Jewish response to Bibi: excommunicate him. "At the Republicans' behest, Netanyahu will speak to Congress on Wednesday. What better time to figuratively cast him out?"

• Ralph Nader: [07-15] The Gaza genocide deepens: the reckoning begins for the perpetrators.

• Dan Owen: [07-24] How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza: "The Israeli army uses the veneer of internal accountability to fend off external criticism. But its record reveals how few perpetrators are punished."

• Richard E Rubenstein: [07-19] Zionism: the end of an illusion.

• Raja Shehadeh: [07-23] The world's highest court has confirmed what we Palestinians always knew: Israel's settlements are illegal.

Election notes:

• Jeffrey St Clair: [07-19] Politics on the verge of nervous breakdown. This starts with the most detailed and credible account of the Trump rally shooting I've bothered to read, ranges wide enough to include a picture of Mussolini with a nose bandage after a 1926 assassination attempt, then moves on to Biden (pre-withdrawal), compares his tenure to that of Stalin and Brezhnev, doubles back to J.D. Vance, and winds up with a potpourri of scattered points, like:

  • As if to emphasize their indifference to the victims of the shooting, they're having an AR-15 giveaway at the GOP convention . . .

  • Days after a 20-year-old tried to nail Trump with an AR-15, a federal appeals court ruled that Minnesota's law requiring people to be at least 21 to carry a handgun in public is unconstitutional.

  • While the Democrats -- for some reason comprehensible only to Democrats -- have "paused" fundraising after the failed assassination attempt, a Trump-owned company is selling sneakers for $299 a pair with an image of his bloodied face after the rally shooting . . .

Republican National Convention:

Focus on the Convention here. Articles that focus on Trump and Vance, even at the convention, follow in their own sections.

• Intelligencer Staff:

  • [07-15] RNC day 1: A VP, Trump's big bandage, and a lot of Biden bashing.

  • [07-19] Trump's record-length speech, Hulk Hogan's tearaway, and there's Melania: RNC recap.

  • [07-19] The triumphalist Republican convention in photos.

• Jonathan Alter: [07-19] Good news for Democrats: Trump's bad speech wrecked the Republican convention.

• Zack Beauchamp: [07-15] How the Republican convention and Project 2025 work together.

• Ben Burgis: [07-19] So much for a newly reborn Republican Party.

• David Freedlander:

  • [07-15] Trump and the Republicans have found their ideal reality.

  • [07-17] Republicans try to explain why they were wrong about Trump.

  • [07-18] Republicans have bed-wetters, too: At the RNC, some Trump-campaign officials and allies think their good luck will run out."

• Mel Gurtov: [07-22] Gathering of the clan: The Trump criminal enterprise at the RNC.

• Antonia Hitchens:

  • [07-16] Trump, unity, and MAGA miracles at the R.N.C. "The former President's campaign has always been inflected with a bit of martyrdom. When he walked onto the convention floor on Monday night, his right ear bandaged, it was the most profound and unexpected culmination of all the messianic talk."

  • [07-19] The spectacle of Donald Trump's R.N.C.: "An inside look at the Republican Party's weeklong celebration of the former President."

• Ben Jacobs: [07-17] It was losers night at the RNC: "One by one, Trump's former rivals kissed the ring." Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, etc.

• Fred Kaplan:

  • [07-18] One of the most disturbing moments at the RNC so far.

  • [07-19] Trump's view of the world is a delusional fantasy.

• Branko Marcetic:

  • [07-16] Donald Trump's near death has reenergized his movement.

  • [07-17] Republicans' message of unity didn't last long.

  • [07-19] The GOP presented a racially diverse party at the RNC.

• Amanda Marcotte: [07-17] MAGA energy takes over the RNC: Republicans are riled up over Donald Trump's shooting: "Republicans at the convention aren't upset over Donald Trump's shooting -- they're giddy."

• Harold Meyerson: American Prospect writer attending the RNC:

  • [07-15] This week's Republican challenge: "How can their convention, and nominee, call for both calming de-escalation and furious retribution?"

  • [07-16] Republican make-believe: playing nice and loving workers: "That was the implausible message of their convention's opening night." Republican elites are so used to the gullibility of their base, they assume they can just say anything, and no one will bat an eye.

  • [07-17] The RNC, night two: the party as cult.

  • [07-18] Would J.D. Vance join a UAW picket line outside a Tesla factory? Quotes Vance: "We're done catering to Wall Street. We'll commit to the working man!" Laughs.

  • [07-19] A party of precarious manhood, led by a blithering idiot: "Trump's acceptance speech was a mishmash of self-love, protestations of toughness, and prefabricated lies." Opening line: "The problem with Joe Biden, sometimes, is that you can't hear him. The problem with Donald Trump is that you can." Trump's speech reminded Meyerson of an article he wrote back in June:

  • [06-10] How the Republicans became the party of precarious manhood: "On Donald Trump's genius at exploiting working-class male displacement and anxiety."

• Rick Perlstein: [07-24] Seeds of a conservative crack-up: "My conversation with them [a group of progressive anti-abortion activists protesting the RNC with signs like 'GOP murders babies'] was the only interesting thing I absorbed at the Republican convention last week."

• Chris Walker: [07-16] Hundreds march against GOP in Milwaukee during first day of RNC.

• Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [07-18] The rise of the new right at the Republican National Convention: "In Milwaukee, Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance as Vice-President was seen as a breakthrough for the young conservative movement, which blames elite institutions for the destruction of the American working class." Not that they care one whit about the working class, but they claim whatever they can, knowing that it gets under the skin of Democrats, who at least feel guilty for their own betrayals.

Trump:

• New York Times Opinion: Donald Trump's first term is a warning. This looks like they finally went back and reviewed their own reporting, and belatedly realized, oh my God, how could we just let all this happen?

  This week, Republicans have tried to rewrite the four years of Trump's presidency as a time of unparalleled peace, prosperity and tranquility: "the strongest economy in history," as Senator Katie Britt of Alabama put it. The difference between Trump and Biden? "President Trump honored the Constitution," said Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota. Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia offered Mr. Trump's first term as an example of "common-sense conservative leadership."

  The record of what Mr. Trump actually did in office bears little resemblance to that description. Under his leadership, the country lurched from one crisis to the next, from the migrant families separated at the border to the sudden spike in prices caused by his trade war with China to the reckless mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. And he showed, over and over, how little respect he has for the Constitution and those who take an oath to defend it.

  For Americans who may have forgotten that time, or pushed it from memory, we offer this timeline of his presidency. Mr. Trump's first term was a warning about what he will do with the power of his office -- unless American voters reject him.

  The timeline is mostly told through pictures, which are often shocking, and tweets, which are mostly stupid. One thing I was especially struck by was the prominence given to Trump's catering to the whims and desires of the right-wing in Israel, while still neglecting to point out their direct bearing on increasing hostilities and the ongoing genocide. Also seems to me like there's too much focus on Trump's national security lapses, which caters to the worst instincts of the so-called Security Democrats, when the real problem with Trump is not lack of vigilance but a general disinterest and even contempt for peace and real democracy.

  I expect this timeline will be recut into campaign commercials, fast and furious, driving home the point that Trump is nothing but trouble.

• Anna Betts: [07-25] FBI director questions whether Trump was hit by bullet or shrapnel in shooting.

• Jonathan Blitzer: [07-15] Inside the Trump plan for 2025: "A network of well-funded far-right activists is preparing for the former President's return to the White House."

• Jonathan Chait:

  • [07-17] Trump invites China to invade Taiwan if he returns to office. Given all the credible charges you could lay at Trump, why bother with this bullshit? Trump has this dangerously stupid idea that if he can scare Taiwan, they'll pony up for more US arms and bribes for security. China's just the bogeyman in this scam. Chait has his own dangerously stupid idea here, which is that American deterrence is the only thing keeping China out of Taiwan. I'm not saying that Taiwan has nothing to worry about, but they do have more control over their own predicament than the ridiculous whims of presidents and pundits.

  • [07-19] Donald Trump cannot even pretend to change who he is.

• John Ganz: [06-05] The shadow of the mob: "Trump's gangster Gemeinschaft."

• Jay Caspian Kang: [07-19] Are we already moving on from the assassination attempt on Trump? "When an act of violence doesn't lend itself to a clear argument or a tidy story, we often choose not to think about it."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-19] The old, ranting, rambling Trump was back at the Republican convention.

• Eric Levitz: [07-19] The RNC clarified Trump's 2024 persona: Moderate authoritarian weirdo: "The Trump campaign is at once a savvy, disciplined operation and an illiberal narcissist's personality cult." Weirdo, sure, but considered in light of the whole package, weirdo loses all of its affectionate and amusing traits. "Moderate" is the word that hurts here, like a toenail cut into the quick. On some political policy scales, Trump may rate as more moderate than many other prominent Republicans (off the top of my head: Abbott, DeSantis, Cruz, Rubio, Cotton, Hawley, Vance, Gosar, Gaetz, Mike Lee, Nikki Haley, Liz Cheney), but every bit of his persona screams extremism -- he sees himself as a real fighter, as one real bad dude, and that's how he wants you to see him. That's the act he puts on, and that's what most of his fans are lapping up. Once you see that, the weirdo stuff falls into place, and should be viewed much more harshly: he's showing you that he doesn't care what others think, that he can be as weird as he wants, and there's nothing they can do about it.

• Chris Lewis: [07-15] The dangerous authoritarian gunning to serve as Trump's grand vizier: "Russell Vought is rumored to be under consideration for chief of staff in a second Trump administration. This would be a disaster."

• Nicole Narea: [07-17] Why tech titans are turning toward Trump: "Silicon Valley isn't right-wing, but its Trump supporters are getting louder."

• Tom Nichols: A searing reminder that Trump is unwell: "His bizarre diatribe at the RNC shows why the pro-democracy coalition is so worried about beating him."

• Matt Stieb:

  • [07-16] How security went so wrong at Trump's rally: Interview with former agent and criminal justice processor Robert McDonald.

  • [07-22] Joe Biden's departure sends Trump into a conspiracy-theory meltdown.

  • [07-23] It looks like Trump may actually suck at golf.

• Robert Tait: [07-25] Trump monetizes assassination attempt by using photo as book cover.

• Maureen Tkacik: [07-18] The assassin amid the undesirables: "On the abiding despair of the failed Trump assassin's post-COVID, private equity-looted nursing home."

• Li Zhou: [07-16] The Trump shooting points to shocking Secret Service security lapses.

Vance:

Trump picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate and potential vice-president, confirmed by the RNC, so he's very much in the news, and for this week at least, elicited quite a bit of response: much more than I suspect any of his competition would have generated.

• Alex Abad-Santos: [07-19] The damsel-ification of Usha Vance: "What people project onto the would-be second lady fits a pattern of benevolent sexism about GOP wives."

• Michael Arria: [07-16] The Shift: J.D. Vance's anti-Palestine record: "J.D. Vance is a strong supporter of Israel, and, like many U.S. Zionists, he attributes the allegiance to his Christianity."

• Aaron Blake: [07-24] Could Republicans get buyer's remorse with J.D. Vance? "New polls show him to be unusually unpopular for a new VP pick. Here's how that compares historically, and what it could mean."

• Ben Burgis: [07-16] On stochastic terrorism and speech as violence: Responding to Vance's tweet blaming Biden for the attempted shooting of Trump:

  In effect, conservatives like Vance are appropriating the idea, long put forward by some liberals, that overheated political rhetoric is itself a form of violence. The theory of "stochastic terrorism" holds that over-the-top rhetoric about a targeted individual or group has the effect of encouraging "lone-wolf" political violence -- that is to say, political violence carried out by individuals on their own initiative rather than terrorist organizations -- and that this makes the purveyors of the rhetoric responsible for the violence.

  Actually, the right is far more likely to employ verbal threats and agitation toward violence than the left is, largely because they're much more into violence as a tool of political power. It's hard not to believe that the atmosphere of malice they create has no relationship to occasional violent outbursts, but causality or even responsibility is hard to pin down. Burgis concludes, "let's not go down that road." But Vance is so imbued with the culture of violence that his own charge can just as easily be taken as encouragement for his "2nd amendment people" to take a shot at Biden. When Democrats criticize Trump, their obvious even if just implcit remedy is the ballot. But when Trump rails against "vermin," just what is he imploring his followers to do? And given that a couple of his follows have actually committed acts of criminal violence against his designated enemies, shouldn't we be alarmed at such speech?

• Kevin T Dugan: [07-18] Why J.D. Vance wants a weak dollar. Is that a good idea? I'm not so sure it isn't. I've been bothered by trade deficits since the 1970s, when they mostly started to cover up the drop in domestic oil production. Since then, they've mostly worked to increase inequality both here and abroad.

• Gil Duran: Where J.D. Vance gets his weird, terrifying techo-authoritarian ideas: "Yes, Peter Thiel was the senator's benefactor. But they're both inspired by an obscure software developer who has some truly frightening thoughts about reordering society."

• Thom Hartmann:

  • J.D. Vance is a grifter -- just like his new boss.

  • J.D. Vance wants Kamala Harris to be "grateful" for white male power: "Trump's running mate has an ugly history of attacking the vice president, and he added a new chapter on Monday."

• John Ganz: [07-16] The meaning of JD Vance: "The politics of national despair incarnate."

  Vance himself, of course, is a winner in the cultural sweepstakes: his Hillbilly Elegy became a massive success, explaining the failures of the white poor. He made it okay to look down on them. After all, one of them said it was okay. Conservatives who reviled Trump's base turned to Vance as well as liberals who condescendingly wanted to "understand" them. It was really the same old conservative nonsense about "cultural pathology" applied to whites now instead of blacks -- a way to blame the poor for being poor, to "racialize" the white poor as the blacks had been; to find in them intrinsic moral weaknesses rather than just a lack of money and resources.

  But Vance always wanted to run with hares and hunt with the hounds. He wants to hold fast to the his wounded Scots-Irish machismo while simultaneously rising to heights of both American capitalism and cultural success. He took his background to be both an advantage and a handicap, a counter-snobbery that served him well as he entered the halls of power and wealth. Look back at the famous American Conservative interview that turned him into a sensation: ". . . the deeper I get into elite culture, the more I see value in this reverse snobbery. It's the great privilege of my life that I'm deep enough into the American elite that I can indulge a little anti-elitism. Like I said, it keeps you grounded, if nothing else! But it would have been incredibly destructive to indulge too much of it when I was 18." . . . Reverse snobbery, like all snobbery, comes from comparison, of a feeling of not living up, of wanting to best others. As Peter Thiel acolyte, he's familiar with René Girard's theories of envy and knows how that emotion gives rise to hate. Vance once said that Trump might be "America's Hitler" to a law school buddy. This is what that friend says now: "The through line between former J.D. and current J.D. is anger . . . The Trump turn can be understood as a lock-in on contempt as the answer to anger . . ." To people like that, Hitler, so to speak, has a point.

• Jacob Heilbrunn: [07-17] With Vance selection, Trump doubles down on America first. One can readily fault Vance for lots of things, but calling him an "isolationist" -- "the heir to Charles Lindbergh, Pat Buchanan, and other GOP isolationists" -- is pretty flimsy.

• Sarah Jones: [07-16] The billionaire and the bootlicker.

• Ed Kilgore: [07-18] Who is J.D. Vance? His muddled RNC speech didn't tell us.

• Paul Krugman: [07-18] J.D. Vance puts the con in conservatism. Well, it's always been there, but he takes it to especially extravagant lengths.

• Eric Levitz: [07-17] J.D. Vance's GOP is for bosses, not workers: "Trump's 'populist' running mate won't change his party's class allegiances."

• Nicholas Liu: [07-18] JD Vance wants to abandon Ukraine but bomb Mexico and Iran.

• Ryan Mac/Theodore Schleifer: [07-17] How a network of tech billionaires helped J.D. Vance leap into power: "Mr. Vance spent less than five years in Silicon Valley's tech industry, but the connections he made with Peter Thiel and others became crucial to his political ascent."

• Arwa Mahdawi: [07-20] Sorry, JD Vance, but being a 'childless cat lady' is actually not a bad thing.

• Andrew Prokop: [07-17] J.D. Vance's radical plan to build a government of Trump loyalists: "Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people." Obviously, this isn't original with Vance. Republicans have been dreaming of this for years, and Trump did a fair amount of it during his first term -- especially in purging employees who think there might be something to fossil fuel-based climate change. It was part of Rick Scott's Senate plan, and is part of Project 2025.

• Max Read: [2020-07-21] Peter Thiel's latest venture is the American government: This old article popped up, but should by now have spawned many updates. My view all along was that Trump was putting the VP slot up for bids -- in effect, he was shopping for the best dowry. Burgum made the short list because he has his own money. The rehabilitation of "Little Marco" also suggested that he brought some serious money into play -- every serious Republican candidate in 2016 had some kind of billionaire in the wings. (In 2012, Newt Gingrich griped that he couldn't compete, because he only had one billionaire, whereas Romney had four.) I don't know who was backing Rubio, but J.D. Vance was always a front for this guy, Peter Thiel.

• Veronica Riccobene/Helen Santoro/Joel Warner: [07-16] J.D. Vance wants to crack down harder on abortion access.

• Becca Rothfeld: [07-23] Hillbilly Elegy and J.D. Vance's art of having it both ways.

• Martin Scotten: [07-22] JD Vance owes almost everything to Peter Thiel, a pro-Trump billionaire and "New Right" ideologue.

• Ishaan Tharoor:

  • [07-17] J.D. Vance's vocal admiration for Orban's Hungary tells its own story.

  • [07-19] The Trump-Vance ticket aligns the GOP with Europe's far right.

• Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [07-15] Why Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance for Vice-President: "The Ohio senator is an attack dog for the former President, but he is also something more emergent and interesting: he is the fuse that Trump lit."

• Robert Wright: [07-19] J.D. Vance, the tech oligarch's populist.

• Simon van Zuylen-Wood: [07-24] Democrats might want to take J.D. Vance seriously: But isn't it so much more fun to take him as a joke? Does he really deserve anything else?

And other Republicans:

• Dean Baker: [07-17] Decision 2024: Would people be willing to pay higher taxes to make Elon Musk richer?

  That is a question that should occur to people who read through the Republican Party's platform. Not only does the platform promise to extend the 2017 tax cuts, which will potentially put tens of billions of dollars in Elon Musk's pocket over the next decade, it also promises to "modernize the military."

  "Republicans will ensure our Military is the most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World. We will invest in cutting-edge research and advanced technologies, including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, support our Troops with higher pay, and get woke Leftwing Democrats fired as soon as possible."

  This looks to be hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars in additional spending over the next decade. Elon Musk, among others, is likely to be well-situated to get some of the contracts that will be involved in modernizing the military. . . .

  As far as how much Musk and other military contractors are likely to get out of an increase in spending, it is worth noting that excessive payments and outright fraud are already big problems with military contracting. However, the problem is likely to get considerably worse in a second Trump administration.

  There are a number of potential checks on fraud and abuse in place at present. These include the Defense Department's Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Justice Department, which can investigate allegations of fraud.

  Donald Trump has said that he wants to remove these sorts of checks on his presidential power. They would all fit into his category of the "deep state." These people are likely the "woke Leftwing Democrats" who the platform promises to fire as soon as possible.

• Zack Beauchamp: [07-19] It's Trump's party now. Mostly. "How the Trumpified GOP resembles Frankenstein's monster."

• Tim Dickinson: [06-09] Meet Trump's new Christian kingpin: "Oil-rich Tim Dunn has changed Texas politics with fanatical zeal -- the national stage is next."

• Abdallah Fayyad: [07-16] The crime wave is over but Republicans can't let go: "The GOP is still pretending that crime is spiraling out of control."

• David Frum: This crew is totally beatable: "Democrats just need to believe they can do it."

• Sarah Jones: [07-18] The GOP is still the party of the boss.

• Christian Paz: [07-16] The clever politics of Republicans' anti-immigrant pitch: "The Republican National Convention featured plenty of angry rhetoric about immigration. It might find a receptive audience."

• Nikki McCann Ramirez/Ryan Bort: [07-10] A guide to Project 2025, the right's terrifying plan to remake America.

Biden:

He announced he was withdrawing as the Democratic candidate for president in 2024 on Sunday, July 21, so the following links can be easily divided into before and after sections. More recent links first:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [07-23] The give groups of Democrats that ended Biden's candidacy: "How the party decided."

  1. Opponents of Biden's Israel-Gaza policies: They may not have had any power over the decision, but they were the first to smell smoke, and to demonstrate Biden's weakness.
  2. Six middle-aged white guys: Biden-friendly pundits who sensed that Biden could lose. I can think of many more than six, but Bacon cites Ezra Klein, Nate Silver, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor (the "Pod Save America" guys).
  3. Donors: No names provided here, which is the way they like it.
  4. A weird coalition on Capitol Hill: The first to stick their necks out were Lloyd Doggett and Peter Welch, their numbers eventually swelling to an almost random 38 Democrats (out of 263).
  5. The big four: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Barack Obama.

  Bacon also wrote on Harris:

  • [07-22] Harris has not been a great politician. But hopefully she's good enough. "Busting the myths against replacing Biden with his vice president as the Democratic nominee."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-24] No, the Biden-Harris switch is not a 'coup'.

• Natasha Lennard: Biden is no hero for stepping aside: Unfortunate when people say he is, but rubbing dirt into his wounds won't help much either. Sometimes you have to humor people in power to get them to do the right things, especially when the right thing is giving up some of their power. History can always be rewritten later.

• Nicole Narea: [07-24] So what does Joe Biden do now? "In an Oval Office speech, Biden said his farewells. But his job isn't done yet."

• Heather Digby Parton: [07-22] Joe Biden's brilliant exit: Democrats get a boost, Republicans left bewildered.

• Sean Rameswaram/Bryan Walsh: [07-23] "What was not a race yesterday is a race today": David Axelrod on Biden dropping out: "What a fresh face might mean for the November election." An interview.

I had already collected a bunch of links before the withdrawal. While this should be a moot issue going forward, we shouldn't forget too readily what happened and why.

• Intelligencer: [07-19] Pressure builds as more Democrats call on Biden to step aside: "Here are the latest developments on the efforts to get Joe to go." Following some earlier reports scattered about this section, he's getting the "live updates" treatment.

• Russell Berman: 'I think it's happening': "The lone senator who has called on Biden to withdraw is growing confident that the president will leave the race."

• Jonathan Chait: [07-18] The presidential nomination is becoming worthless for Joe Biden: "A devastating polling nugget shows what happens if he stays in."

• David A Graham: [07-18] The end of Biden's candidacy approaches: "At the start of the day yesterday, it was conceivable that Joe Biden might manage to hold on to the Democratic nomination for president. But this morning, things seem to be slipping out of his grasp." He cites a number of reports of people who are close enough to Biden to have leverage but who still don't want to be seen with blood on their hands. There's also the all-important fear of "money drying up." The big selling point is fear of a Trump presidency, but if you're rich enough to splurge on politics, you don't have that much to fear. It's more a matter of hedging your bets.

• Elie Honig: [07-19] The secret Biden tape that we shouldn't hear. That's special counsel Robert Hur's interview of Biden in conjunction with the "top secret" documents Biden found in his garage. At the time it was first disclosed, it was reported that the tape made Biden out like a doddering fool, so naturally Republicans in Congress set out to subpoena it.

• Dhruv Khullar: [07-18] Doctors are increasingly worried about Biden: "Nine physicians weighed in on the President's health. Almost all were concerned that Biden's symptoms might go beyond a gradual, aging-related decline."

• Eric Levitz: [07-18] Democrats are finally taking on Biden -- and giving the party a chance to win: "Pelosi, Schumer, and Obama have all signaled to Joe that it's time to go."

• Nicole Narea: [07-18] Biden is betting on impossible promises to progressives: "Biden is trying to reinvigorate his candidacy by pushing progressive priorities." That might work better if the left had any real power in the Democratic Party, if Biden had the power to deliver, and if the promise didn't panic the corporate faction into dumping him.

• Nia Prater: [07-18] The push to replace Biden is rapidly gaining momentum.

Harris:

• Intelligencer Staff: [07-22] Kamala Harris is now the presumptive nominee: live updates: She cleared 2,579 delegates less than 36 hours after Biden dropped out and endorsed her.

• Mariana Alfaro/Marianna Sotomayor: [07-24] House GOP leaders ask member to stop making racial attacks against Harris. Probably more where this came from:

  • Nia Prater: [07-24] GOP lawmakers can't help making racist remarks about Harris.

• Michael Arria: [07-22] Looking at Kamala Harris's record on Israel: "If elected president, many believe that Kamala Harris will continue Joe Biden's doomed policy in Gaza."

• Karen Attiah: [07-24] The first clean-up job for Harris is Biden's horrible Gaza policy. I sympathize with the sentiment, but I don't see the political angle. The Biden administration needs to quietly shut the Gaza war down, with a stable ceasefire, with no Israeli troop presence in Gaza, and with some kind of international salvage/reconstruction effort, probably under the UN with some contingent of Arab volunteers. Harris should (and hopefully can) work behind the scenes to firm up the administration's resolve to do this, but also shouldn't be seen as getting her hands too dirty in the effort. She needs this, because if the war/genocide is still continuing in October, that's going to reflect very badly on Biden, and therefore (but probably somewhat less) on her. So yes, this is important. But advice like this -- Indigo Olivier: Kamala, denounce Netanyahu. Do it now. -- is neither likely to work on Israel, nor is it likely to gain her any voters.

• Ryan Cooper: [07-23] What would President Harris do with Gaza?: "There are tentative signs that she would not indulge Israel's war as President Biden has done." This is pretty speculative. No one expects Harris to break with Israel, or even to rethink the fundamentals of the alliance, but it's possible to love Israel and still exercise some restraint to steer Israelis away from embarrassing themselves, as they have done ever since their defense against Hamas attacks turned into a campaign of genocide. Indeed, many Israelis -- not Netanyahu and his allies, who will take every atrocity they can get away with, but many of his wholeheartedly Zionist opponents -- expect the US to act as a brake on their own worst impulses. It is worth noting that when the Biden administration briefly held up supply of 2000 lb. bombs, Harris was disciplined enough to keep her messaging in line with the policy, while Biden waffled and gave up any pretense.

• David Dayen: [07-23] Who is Kamala Harris? "The vice president has been a cautious political operator. Her vision for the future points in several directions."

• Benjamin Hart: [07-24] Kamala Harris's biographer says she's always been underestimated. Interview with Dan Morain, author of Kamala's Way: An American Life.

• Susan Milligan: [07-24] Sexism and racism only make Kamala Harris stronger.

• Christian Paz: [07-18] Kamala Harris and the border: The myth and the facts.

• Greg Sargent: [07-23] Fox News's awful new Kamala Harris smears hit nuclear levels of idiocy: "As right-wing media scramble for an effective attack on the vice president, a reporter who has closely examined Harris's career explains why her political identity is so hard to pin down."

• Michael Scherer/Gerrit De Vynck/Maeve Reston: [07-23] Historic flood of cash pours into Harris campaign and allied groups: "Democrats reported raising more than $250 million since Biden announced he was leaving the presidential race and endorsed Harris."

• Marc A Thiessen: [07-24] Harris is a gaffe-prone leftist. Why didn't anyone challenge her? "That would-be rivals are waiting for 2028 suggests they know our democracy will survive Trump." When I saw this title, I had to click on it, just to see who could be that dumb (although in retrospect I should have guessed). If you do bother to read this, you'll get a prevue of all the angles Republicans will use against Harris. If I knew nothing else, I'd take them as reason aplenty to vote for her. Still, I have to wonder whether the rest of the Republicans will even rise to Thiessen's level of sophistry. Consider this recent run of advice-giving columns:

  • [07-08] How Trump can make NATO great again.

  • [07-11] Trump needs swing voters. Here's how he can win them at the RNC.

  • [07-17] Now is Trump's chance to unite the country. Here's what he should say.

• Rebecca Traister: [07-24] The thrill of taking a huge risk on Kamala Harris: "The actual case for being unburdened by what has been." I think the author is really onto something here:

  None of us knows if we can do this. And we are about to do it anyway. And the combination of those truths helped me, in those vertiginous few minutes, to not feel panic but excitement. I felt excited about the future for the first time in years.

  More than that: I felt excited not in spite of my uncertainty, but because of it. I felt that our national political narrative was finally accurately mirroring our national reality: Everything is scary, we have never been here before, we don't know if we can do this, and precisely because these stakes are so high, we are at last going to act like it, by taking unprecedented, untested, underpolled, creative measures to change, grow, and fight at a pitch that meets the gravity of the urgent, existentially important task in front of us. No more clinging to the walls of the past for safety, no more adhering to models or traditions or assumptions that the autocratic opposition has shown itself willing to explode over the past two decades in its own efforts to win.

  Our aversion to uncertainty is part of how we got to this precipice. Too unwilling to take risks -- on people, ideas, and platforms, on the next generation of leadership -- Democrats have remained chained to the past.

  In some ways, Harris is the safe choice right now, but after Biden and Clinton, she doesn't feel like such a stale, stodgy compromise. She feels like a candidate who can fight back, who won't spend the next four months backpedaling and disclaiming. And why can't she win? Who really believes racist, sexist, red-baiting Republicans theses days? Just cowards who take their clues from the fear and shame of those being maligned? Traister addresses this here:

  There are certainly terrible things in store: the racism and sexism Harris will face, the monstrous and vengeful resistance to her rise, in which she will be accused of incompetence and radicalism and being an affirmative-action token and a barren cat lady and a welfare queen who has slept her way to the top, all according to the right's overfamiliar playbooks for how to discredit people they would rather not participate fully in this democracy and helped by a media happy to engage in double standards. We know there will be bad polls and gaffes. And those who feel scared about what is on the line, including possibly me, will be tempted to say, "I told you this would happen!" because in our moments of direst discomfort we take slim consolation in certainty, even when the certainty is about how awful we knew everything was going to be.

  But if we permitted that dismal comfort to guide us, we would not have any space to be shocked and inspired by how good some things can be: the giddy memes emerging from an improbably enthused online left, the cheerily halved "BIDEN/HARRIS" yard signs now reading simply "HARRIS." The $81 million in donations raised in 24 hours. The 58,000 volunteers who stepped up in less than two days to work phones and knock doors. The Sunday-night zoom call hosted by Win With Black Women and Jotaka Eaddy, which was scheduled to accommodate 1,000 women, that eventually had to make room for 44,000 participants, all within hours of Harris becoming the unofficial candidate. The next night, a call organized by Win With Black Men drew 53,000 registrants, well above its capacity, of whom 21,000 were ultimately able to attend.

And other Democrats:

Included here are pieces about the upcoming procedure for replacing Biden as presidential nominee, any candidates beyond Harris, and the upcoming convention.

• Isaac Chotiner: [07-17] The paralysis of the Democratic Party: "Its leaders have clear moral and political incentives. Why have they not come out against Joe Biden?"

• Rachel M Cohen: [07-16] Why is the DNC accelerating Joe Biden's nomination? "An upcoming virtual roll call is deepening Democrats' fight over Biden's spot on the ticket."

• Ed Kilgore: [07-24] Is Kamala Harris the nominee? How the DNC will work.

• Nikki McGann Ramirez: [07-23] Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following guilty verdict.

• Norman Solomon: [07-23] Putting the Biden crisis in perspective: "The Democratic Party's culture of loyalty: How an ethos of compliance made the Biden debacle possible."

Climate and environment:

• Umair Irfan: [07-17] The lessons Houston didn't learn from Hurricane Harvey.

Economic matters:

• Rick Baum: [07-19] The astonishing success of the wealthy at accumulating more wealth.

• Kevin T Dugan: [07-24] Tesla is down $90 billion on Elon Musk's delayed Robotaxi.

John Quiggin:

• [07-23] The era of privatisation is nearly over. But cleaning up the mess left behind will take years: "From the 1980s until recently, politicians saw privatisation as a way to get a big bucket of money to spend on popular projects."

• [07-10] Why neither growth nor degrowth make sense as long-term objectives for Australia's economy: "What we need to reduce is the 'throughput' of the residual industrial economy."

• Richard Wilkinson/Kate Pickett: [07-23] Our landmark book revealed the cost of inequality. Fifteen years later, things have only got worse.

Ukraine War and Russia:

• Blaise Malley: [07-19] Diplomacy Watch: Europe turns attention to GOP ticket: "Moscow, Kyiv, also react to eventuality of Trump returning to White House." This was written post-Vance, pre-Harris, so maybe the panic has subsided a bit. What hasn't changed is the war's stalemate, or more accurately, spiraling self-destruction.

America's empire and the world:

• Wesley K Clark: [06-23] America is already great again: "Don't let doomsayers like Donald Trump fool you. On every meaningful metric of national strength, the United States under Joe Biden is a rising power -- and we have the economic means and necessary alliances to meet our gravest challenges." He's fighting bullshit with bullshit, which he wouldn't have to if he could just escape the "metric of national strength" Trump characterizes as greatness. I remember how Bill Moyers tried to convince LBJ to call his programs "the good society," but Johnson, ever the bullshit artist, insisted on "great" -- and got neither. Clark actually does a fair job of pointing out how the reforms Biden started, and further reforms that are broadly supported by the democratic wing of the Democratic Party, can make our lives better, can help the rest of the world, and put us in better alignment with peace and justice everywhere -- an analysis that could be much sharper with a bit less ego and arms hawking.

• Tom Engelhardt: [07-18] Where did the American Century go? "The decline and fall of presidential America: are we now living in a defeat culture?"

• Mike Lofgren: [06-23] Why can't America build enough weapons? That's really not the question we should be asking, but that anyone can bring it up should expose the hopeless trap we've locked ourselves into. "The debasement of the U.S. defense industrial base began, ironically, under Ronald Reagan, and won't be reversed until we abandon the free-market fundamentalism he introduced." This is a subject that merits a long screed, one I have no time or patience for now.

Other stories:

Adam Clark Estes: [07-11] Why I quit Spotify: Some things to think about, especially as "Spotify raised its prices in July for the second time in as many years." As I recall, in the announcement letter they touted all the extra podcast content the extra money will help them develop. (They develop things? I've never listened to a podcast there, so the all money they spent on Joe Rogan -- and on pissing off Neil Young and Joni Mitchell -- was wasted, as far as I'm concerned).

Bryan Walsh: [07-16] It's time to stop arguing over the population slowdown and start adapting to it: "The world population could peak in your lifetime."

Li Zhou: [07-19] The "largest IT outage in history," briefly explained: "Airlines, banks, and hospitals saw computer systems go down because of a CrowdStrike software glitch." Note that only Microsoft Windows users were affected ("Mac and Linux users were not affected").

Obituaries

John Otis: [07-24] Lewis Lapham, editor who revived Harper's magazine, dies at 89: "He turned Harper's into what he called a 'theater of ideas,' promoting emerging voices including David Foster Wallace, Christopher Hitchens and Fareed Zakaria." I only occasionally read Harper's (and later Lapham's Quarterly), but I've read a couple of his books, and thought he was a superb political essayist: Theater of War: In Which the Republican Beocmes an Empire (2003), and Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration (2006). I should do a complete book rundown, but for now I just ordered a copy of his 2017 book, Age of Folly: America Abandons Its Democracy.

• Robert D McFadden: [07-24] Lewis H Lapham, longtime editor of Harper's, dies at 89.

• Also take a look at Lapham's essays for TomDispatch (2010-2014).

Giovanni Russonello: [07-24] Toumain Diabaté, Malian master of the kora, is dead at 58: "He believed that music could transcend national borders set by colonialism and restore ancient ties, even as it embraced the changes of a globalizing society."

Alex Williams: [07-19] Happy Traum, mainstay of the folk music world, dies at 86: "A noted guitarist and banjo player, he emerged from the same Greenwich Village folk-revival scene as his friend and sometime collaborator Bob Dylan."

• Jorma Kaukonen: [07-17] A heartfelt goodby to Happy Traum.

• Ed Sanders: [07-19] A tribute to Happy Traum.

Books

Zack Beauchamp: [07-17] Why the far right is surging all over the world: "The 'reactionary spirit' and the roots of the US authoritarian moment." Excerpt from a book the author has been working on: The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World.

Doug Storm: [2022-09-16] A crash course in the works of H Bruce Franklin . . . with H Bruce Franklin. I just read the late cultural historian's memoir, Crash Course: From the Good War to the Forever War, which does a good job of recounting the path of post-WWII militarism from the red scare into Vietnam, as he discovered it in real time, and also recounted a much more militant anti-war movement than I was ever involved in. The book ends rather abruptly after Vietnam, making me wonder whether he planned a second one, or just figured his later life just wasn't that interesting. The interview covers the book, as well as other works, like

Music (and other arts?)

Ian Bogost: The mid-year best-of list is a travesty: "The worst idea of 2024 so far." And here I was thinking that the worst idea of 2024 was using AI to select bombing targets on Gaza. Or using drones for terror bombing around nuclear power plants in Ukraine. Or major political parties picking two doddering idiots to debate the very serious issues facing America and the world. The author seems to have reconciled himself to end-of-year lists: "These annual rundowns arrive during a period of reflection, when a full year's worth of human art and industry is about to recede into history." That's an odd turn of phrase: don't things turn into history the moment they happen? Whether they recede or not depends on whether they still have continuing import, or have (like most things) turned into passing fancies. Even so, one suspects that passing fancies are precisely what end-of-year lists are meant to recognize.

But it end-of-year lists are ok, what's so bad about mid-year lists? The time chunks are arbitrary. Smaller ones give us less material to cover, but you don't have to think back so far, and when it comes to music albums, it's not like we have a scarcity problem. My mid-year jazz critics poll (89 voters) identified 468 albums, vs. the full-year 2023 total of 760 (159 votes). It sounds like he's complaining about the novelty, but I've been tracking mid-year lists for a decade or more. They're still not nearly as common as end-of-year lists, but I've tracked about 35 so far this year, which includes a majority of the music publications that Album of the Year follows. As far as I know, nobody's taking the 6-month time chunk seriously enough to run a second-half list at end-of-year time, but I have seen movement toward shorter time periods, with quarterly and even monthly retrospectives.

Paul Schwartzman: [07-11] Who killed the Kennedys? The Rolling Stones won't tell you anymore. Songs evolve, sometimes as historical references slip from memory -- "On the Sunny Side of the Street" lives on, but increasingly likely to substitute for "rich as Rockefeller" -- and sometimes when casual terms fell out of fashion, as when Louis Armstrong changed "darkies" to "the folks."

Mid-year best-of lists:

• All About Jazz: [07-15] Best jazz albums of 2024: all-star break edition.

• NME: [06-24] The best albums of 2024 . . . so far!

• Northern Transmissions: Our 24 favourite albums of 2024, so far. "Capitalism is sucking the life out of independent music." Sucking, for sure, but life goes on.

• Paste: [06-24] The 25 best albums of 2024 so far.

• PopMatters: [06-27] The 50 best albums of 2024 so far.

• Rough Trade [UK]: [07-01] Albums of the year so far 2024.

• Shatter the Standards: [06-30] The 40 best albums of 2024 (so far).

• Slant: [06-26] The best albums of 2024 . . . so far: "The album is still the most coherent way for us to understand where music culture is in any particular moment."

• Spectrum Culture: Best albums of 2024 (so far).

• Still Listening [Eliot Odgers]: [07-02] The best albums of 2024 (so far).

• The Times [Chris Pearson]: [07-10] The best jazz albums of 2024 so far.

• WRTI [Greg Bryant]: [06-20] The best jazz albums released in 2024 (so far).

• Chris Monsen: [07-24] Mid-year picks: 30 + 10 favorite albums releases from January through June, 2024.

Initial count: 209 links, 10413 words. Updated count [07-25]: 228 links, 11635 words.

Local tags (these can be linked to directly): music.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42668 [42624] rated (+44), 15 [20] unrated (-5).

I put out the call for a Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll back on June 30, offering a July 14 deadline for ballots, which would give me a few days to wrap things up before ArtsFuse returns from vacation on July 17. Sure, I expected a light turnout: mid-year lists, while increasingly common as click-bait, don't have the same gravitas as year-end wrap-ups, so fewer voters would be prepared let alone interested; there are vacations and other distractions; the voting period was much shorter than for the year-end poll; and I didn't want to work as hard at rounding up voters. (Last year's 159 voters took a lot of hustle on my part, but in taking the poll over from Francis Davis, I really wanted to prove that I could do it, and it was very wearing.) I didn't do any prospecting for new voters, and hoped that sending a single message to my Jazzpoll mailing list would do the trick.

It didn't: by last Wednesday, I had only about two dozen ballots counted, with another dozen promises to vote later, and a half-dozen polite declines, out of approx. 200 invitees. I had figured that 50% (let's say 80) ballots would still be a good showing, and would generate a lot of information. But 25% struck me as way too low. I had reason to suspect that a big part of the problem was that many messages from my server were being flagged and sequestered as "spam," especially by the gmail servers. So I rebooted, and sent a second round of invitations out to a subset of the list -- the ones I hadn't heard from, skipping a few who hadn't voted in recent years -- in MailMerge-customized letters from my regular email account (which has been dicey enough of late). That took many hours I had wanted to avoid, but got an almost immediate response. I streamlined the invitation a bit, and extended the deadline to July 17 (tonight, or effectively tomorrow morning). As of last night, I had 78 ballots counted, and as I'm writing this I have 2 more in my inbox, so I'm happy with my 50%. [PS: By posting time, the count increased to 86.]

I'll need to move on from this to write an essay (intro, overview, whatever), as well as footnotes on various oddities and discrepancies in the voting. I've struggled with the essay the last couple years, so fear I may again. On the other hand, the data is really extraordinary, so just dive into that. And every time I do this, I come away even more impressed with the extraordinary knowledge and exemplary judgment of the fine people who participate in this Poll. There's nothing we need more in this increasingly complex and scatter-brained world than smart people who develop and share their expertise so that we all may benefit. I'm proud to do my bit, and to help them do theirs.

I might as well start here and disclose my own ballot:

NEW RELEASES

1. Fay Victor, Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms)
2. Emmeluth's Amoeba, Nonsense (Moserobie)
3. Luke Stewart Silt Trio, Unknown Rivers (Pi)
4. Ballister, Smash and Grab (Aerophonic)
5. Dave Douglas, Gifts (Greenleaf Music)
6. The Core, Roots (Moserobie)
7. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Transfiguration (Intakt)
8. Roby Glod-Christian Ramond-Klaus Kugel, No Toxic (Nemu)
9. Ivo Perelman Quartet, Water Music (RogueArt)
10. Mike Monford, The Cloth I'm Cut From (self-released)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

1. Sonny Rollins, Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)
2. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
3. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
4. Karen Borca Trio Quartet & Quintet, Good News Blues: Live at the Vision Festival 1998 & 2005 (NoBusiness)
5. Mars Williams & Hamid Drake, I Know You Are but What Am I (1996, Corbett vs. Dempsey)

As lists go, this feels pretty haphazard and tentative. I keep an ongoing ranked list, but don't put much effort into maintaining it. What usually happens is that once I decide an album is A-, I scan the list from the top or bottom (depending on whether it's a real solid A- or a somewhat iffy one), find something that is roughly comparable, and insert the new record above or below that reference point. I fiddled with these a bit, but didn't do much rechecking. Fact is, I never do much rechecking.

This week's batch of reviews are mostly albums that popped up on ballots. I wasn't previously aware that the Kenny Barron, Ivanna Cuesta, Welf Dorr, and [Ahmed] albums existed. Tomeka Reid was one of those download links I've been sitting on -- I probably have nearly 100 stashed away, but I'm loathe to do the extra work when it's so easy to play a promo or stream something -- but it did well enough I felt obligated to listen to it. (Same for Braxton, with all 8 hours + 10:36, available on Bandcamp.) Beger, Borca, and Brötzmann were promo CDs, but they too can be found complete on Bandcamp. I learned about the Armstrong from hype mail the day it became available to stream.

I started to prepare a file with all of my 2024 jazz reviews, similar to my 2023 best jazz, but it isn't ready to be presented yet. I'll clean it up if I decide I want to mention it in my poll essay, or just discard it until end-of-year. (Once I've started it, it's just another thing to try to keep updated.) One thing I can note here is that when I divvied the 2024 file up into jazz and non-jazz sections, the split among new A/A- records was 52-to-25, with old music 12-to-5. That seems like a lot, given that I wound up with only 84 for all of 2023 (and 75 for 2022, 77 for 2021, 86 for 2020, 77 for 2019, 67 for 2018, 84 for 2017, 75 for 2016, 81 for 2015, 69 for 2014, 87 for 2014 -- that's as far as the file series goes back, and the record as far as I can easily tell. Makes me wonder if I'm going soft in my old age, but other explanations are possible, including that the Mid-Year Poll has made me aware of 237 albums I didn't previously have in my tracking file. Most I haven't played yet, but the dozens I have gotten to contributed to this skew.

Given all the extra work on the Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll, I didn't get around to Speaking of Which until Saturday, when I started with a long section on why Biden should withdraw from the Democratic presidential nomination. This all seems so obvious that it's hard to fathom the negligence and nonsense of whoever's conspiring to keep Biden in the race. On the other hand, much else that popped up in the week's news is hard to fathom. I certainly haven't had the time to figure it out.

The Trump shooting remains a story I know very little about, and have very little interest in pursuing, unless it turns out that my suspicion, as yet purely based on cynicism, that it was a staged PR ploy, turns out to be valid. (By the way, we've been watching the old Jane Marple mysteries. In one of them, the killer creates a blackout, kills someone else, then shoots herself, nicking the ear, so that when the lights come back on, she appears to have been the target (and very lucky). The ear was chosen because it bleeds readily but not seriously. It also emphasizes the luck involved, because it's generally very hard to shoot someone's ear without hitting their head. Of course, there are other ways to fake it, at little risk to Trump. The whole thing would take skill and timing, which seems beyond Trump and his cronies, the chances of such a scheme getting exposed are high, and it's hard to imagine that even Trump could lie his way out of it. On the other hand, how gullible is just about everyone involved so far? So it can't possibly be true, but they're playing it just like it was scripted. And everyone else seems to be falling for it.

Hardly any adds to Speaking of Which today: fixed a couple broken links, some typos. I'll open a file for next week after Music Week goes up. It'll be lower priority than the Poll, but good for the occasional break from thrashing on the Poll essay. I haven't been following the RNC, but I'm sure the people who have will be able to explain in its all its true horror.

There's also this story: Inae Oh: [07-16] The DNC's plan to force Biden's nomination is everything people hate about the DNC. If they go through with this, it won't have been the first time they gamed the rules to help Biden escape normal Democratic procedures: derailing the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, where Biden had performed poorly in 2016, while making South Carolina the first primary, eliminated the most likely path for someone more credible than Dean Phillips to challenge Biden, so no one risked it. This would be shabby in any case, but is especially galling from the people who sell themselves as the guardians of democracy.

The marvelous Swiss avant-jazz pianist Irène Schweizer has died at 83:

• Martin Schray: [07-17] Irène Schweizer (1941-2024)

Here's my Grade List. I first got acquainted with her work when I reviewed a 2-CD compilation of her work in 2006:

IRÈNE SCHWEIZER: Portrait [1984-2004] (Intakt) Nothing in this year's bumper crop of solo piano is anywhere near as robust as the three solo cuts on this sampler from 14 albums. Eight duos, mostly with drummers, impress even more. The Swiss free jazz pioneer's straight rhythmic undertow rivals Jarrett's, and her pianistics challenge Cecil Taylor's. But as Schweizer demonstrates on the longest piece ("First Meeting," with trombonist George Lewis), her real talent is her spontaneous response to the challenges of such minuscule aggregations. One of the few compilations ever that makes me want to hear every single one of the source albums. A

Her duos with drummers were extraordinary, especially the ones with Han Bennink (1995 and 2015). The latter was my number one jazz record of 2015:

Irène Schweizer/Han Bennink: Welcome Back (2015, Intakt): Piano-drum duo, both should be household names by now, and indeed the Dutch percussionist is one of the very few Europeans to make Downbeat Hall of Fame ballot. On the other hand, I've had to write in the name of the Swiss pianist the last few years -- this year ahead of Myra Melford and Marilyn Crispell, who are similar players only in the sense that anyone can be described as similar to Cecil Taylor; Schweizer comes as close as anyone to matching Taylor, but she can also work in some boogie woogie or pennywhistle jive, and closes here with a bit of Monk that evokes "Lullaby of Birdland." In the late 1980s Schweizer started a series of duos with top avant drummers (Louis Moholo was the first, followed by Gunter Sommer and Andrew Cyrille). The best was her 1995 meeting with Bennink (although I also have the 1990 Pierre Favre at A). This return engagement belongs alongside. A [cd]

New records reviewed this week:

أحمد [Ahmed]: Wood Blues (2022 [2024], Astral Spirits): British quartet of Pat Thomas (piano), Joel Grip (bass), Antonin Gerbal (drums), and Seymour Wright (alto sax), originally formed as a tribute to bass/oud player Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-93), fourth album since 2017, unless the 4-CD Giant Beauty box came out ahead of it (looks like it did, by 4 days). I've had people tell me this is the best live band on the planet. They probably thought the same of Cecil Taylor in the 1970s. A- [sp]

Kenny Barron: Beyond This Place (2024, Artwork): Pianist, I first really noticed him as a duet partner for Stan Getz (People Time, 1991), but he started in the early 1970s (cf. Peruvian Blue, 1974), is a DownBeat hall-of-famer, one of the most storied jazz educators in history, and still pretty sharp entering 80s. Helped out here by Steve Nelson (vibes), Kiyoshi Kitagawa (bass), Johnathan Blake (drums), and especially Immanuel Wilkins (alto sax). A- [sp]

BassDrumBone: Afternoon (2023 [2024], Auricle): Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway, and Ray Anderson: I've been filing their records under the trombonist since 1986. This one seems a bit muted, but that just brings out the craft in the BassDrum. B+(***) [cd]

Jamie Baum Septet+: What Times Are These (2023 [2024], Sunnyside): Flute player, debut 1996, Septet -- including Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Sam Sadigursky (reeds), Brad Shepik (guitar), and Luis Perdomo (piano) -- has four albums 2004-18, expands to nine credits here plus four more vocalists picking their spots. Choice cut is "Sorrow Song," even beyond Kokayi's words. Other vocalists don't fare so well. B+(*) [sp]

Albert Beger/Ziv Taubenfeld/Shay Hazan/Hamid Drake: Cosmic Waves (2023 [2024], No Business): Tenor saxophonist, born in Istanbul, grew up in Israel, studied at Berklee, has a 1995 album, came to my attention with a pair of 2005 albums with William Parker under Hamid Drake's name. The others play bass clarinet and bass, for a dicey free jazz jam, with the drummer as impressive as ever. A- [cd]

Anthony Braxton: 10 Comp (Lorraine) 2022 (2022 [2024], New Braxton House, 10CD): Alto sax legend, credited with "saxophones, electronics" here, with each composition (numbered 423-428, 432-435) running from 41:31 to 60:09. The first six are trio with Adam Matlock (accordion/voice) and Susana Santos Silva (trumpet); the last four are quartet, with a second saxophonist (James Fei) and two bassists (Zach Rowden, Carl Testa). Way too long for anything other than a glancing view, but the first trio has limited appeal: sure, the accordion isn't as grating as Braxton's bagpipe albums, but that's the direction, and the operatic vocals have no more appeal when sung over abstractions than they do over schmaltz. The quartet is similar musically but with fewer annoyances, which doesn't necessarily make it more interesting, or even listenable (though sometimes it is). Length: 490:36. B+(*) [bc]

George Cartwright & Bruce Golden: Dilate (2024, self-released): Saxophonist and drummer, played together in the final iteration of Cartwright's group Curlew (founded 1979, but I think we're talking 2002-03 here). Sounds mostly like electronics and percussion, but all the credits have to say is: "george licked sounds; bruce nailed sounds." Some bits I really like, but others wear me down and out. B+(*) [bc]

Ivanna Cuesta: A Letter to the Earth (2023 [2024], Orenda): Drummer, from Dominican Republic, studied there and at Berklee, based in Boston, first album, composed by, also credited with electronics, with Ben Solomon (sax), Kris Davis (piano), and Max Ridley (bass) -- all terrific here. Bit of guest vocal at the end (Pauli Camou). A- [sp]

Jeremiah Cymerman: Body of Light (2022-23 [2024], 5049): Clarinet player, fifteen-plus albums since 2007, first two pieces here appear to be solo, credits including synths, percussion, sequences, bass. The other two (longer) tracks add drums (Mike Pride) and either guitar-cello or violin. Either way this mostly comes off as ambient. B+(*) [sp]

Welf Dorr/Elias Meister/Dmitry Ishenko/Kenny Wollesen: So Far So Good (2022 [2024], self-released): Alto saxophonist, born in Germany, based in New York, first album appears to be a Flowers for Albert thinking of Einstein not Ayler, unless it was the group called Funk Monk. Backed by guitar, accordion/electric bass, and drums, has traces of soul jazz and funk fusion, but mostly as a vehicle for distinguished saxophone. A- [bc]

Edition Redux: Better a Rook Than a Pawn (2023, Audiographic): I lost track of Ken Vandermark's projects when he pulled most of his work behind the paywall, so I jumped on this new group as soon as I noticed it: Erez Dessel (piano/synth), Lily Finnegan (drums), Beth McDonald (tuba/electronics), and Vandermark (reeds, notably baritone sax). Piano tends to lead, but the real power remains the saxophonist. B+(***) [bc]

Bill Frisell: Orchestras (2021-22 [2024], Blue Note): Guitarist, long-established, leads a trio with Thomas Morgan (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums), featured here surrounded by symphony orchestras (Brussels Philharmonic, Umbria Jazz Orchestra), his (and some other) compositions scaled up by Michael Gibbs. Quick take is that the full strings on the first disc are a turn off. Dispensing with them, the second disc is rather enaging. B+(**) [sp]

Paul Giallorenzo Trio: Play (2021 [2023], Delmark): Chicago pianist, first trio album in 2012, second with this trio of Joshua Abrams and Mikel Patrick Avery. B+(*) [sp]

Erik Griswold/Chloe Kim/Helen Svoboda: Anatomical Heart (2023 [2024], Earshift Music): Pianist, based in Brisbane, Australia, a dozen-plus albums since 2002, has a fondness for prepared piano. Trio with drums and bass. The bit of jerkiness keeps it interesting. B+(**) [sp]

Sarah Hanahan: Among Giants (2024, Blue Engine): Alto saxophonist, first album, quartet with Marc Cary (piano), Nat Reeves (bass), and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums), with extra percussion on 4 (of 8) tracks. Mainstream, with considerable power, and more than a little finesse. B+(***) [sp]

Simon Hanes: Tsons of Tsunami (2024, Tzadik): California-born, based in New York, plays baritone guitar here, has mostly worked under group names (Tredici Bacci, Trigger, Shimmer, Guerilla Toss; Tsons of Tsunami was the group name for a 2013 album called Fearless Riders of the Holy Curl. He describes these compositions as "surf-based," backed with trombone, horn, waterphone, vibraphone, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Roger Kellaway: Live at Mezzrow (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Pianist, first album 1963, first new one since 2019, with bass (Jay Leonhart) and drums (Dennis Mackrel) plus guest Roni Ben-Hur (guitar). He's always been a bop era pianist with a little stride in his style. B+(*) [sp]

Brian Landrus: Plays Ellington & Strayhorn (2023 [2024], Palmetto): Baritone saxophonist, also plays similar instruments, plus some piccolo and flutes, backed quite capably by Dave Stryker (guitar), Jay Anderson (bass), and Billy Hart (drums), playing fourteen songs you can't go wrong with. B+(***) [cd]

Nduduzo Makhathini: Unomkhubulwane (2024, Blue Note): South African pianist, started leading albums in 2014, got a big profile boost when Blue Note picked him up in 2020. Third album there, sings some (not fancy or dramatic, but quite agreeably), backed by Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere (bass) and Francisco Mela (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Fabiano do Nascimento & Sam Gendel: The Room (2024, Real World): Brazilian guitarist, several albums since 2011 -- I particularly liked 2015's Dança Dos Tempos -- here in a very nice duo with soprano sax. B+(**) [sp]

Madeleine Peyroux: Let's Walk (2024, Just One Recording/Thirty Tigers): Jazz singer-songwriter, born in Georgia but grew up in France, ten or so albums since 1996, aimed early for Billie Holiday phrasing, returns after a six-year pause with a new batch of songs that defy expectations. I could see this one being taken for Americana, if you pardon the bit of French (in my book, that's a plus). B+(***) [sp]

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3+3 (2023 [2024], Cuneiform): Cellist, based in Chicago, helped revitalize the post-2000 AACM, and has an impressive list of albums since her 2015 Quartet, finally a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow in 2022. Same group here, with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Jason Roebke (bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). Three longish pieces: sags a bit in the middle but closes real strong. A- [dl]

Michael Shrieve: Drums of Compassion (2024, 7D Media): Drummer, played in Santana 1969-74, formed Go in 1976 with Stomu Yamashita and Steve Winwood, with later groups like Spellbinder. I recognized the name, and found him in my database, but in the New Age section, with two unheard albums (1984, 1989). Not much jazz there, but some of his many collaborators here count, starting with percussionists Jack DeJohnette, Zakir Hussain, Airto Moriera, and Babatunde Olatunji. Not just drums, but keyboards, sax (Skerik), and electronics (Amon Tobin). B+(*) [sp]

Harry Skoler: Red Brick Hill (2022 [2024], Sunnyside): Clarinet player, three albums 1995-99, this is only his third since, following a Mingus study in 2022. Strong support here on vibes (Joel Ross), bass (Dezron Douglas), and drums (Johnathan Blake), with one-track guest spots from Marquis Hill (trumpet), Christian Sands (piano), and Grégoire Maret (harmonica). B+(**) [sp]

Something Else! [Featuring Vincent Herring]: Soul Jazz (2024, Smoke Sessions): Mainstream "supergroup," alto saxophonist gets featured spotlight but Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) steals as much spotlight. Also with Wayne Escoffery (tenor sax), Paul Bollenback (guitar), David Kikoski (piano), Essiet Essiet (bass), and Otis Brown III (drums). They swing a little, swagger too. B+(*) [sp]

Gregory Tardy: In His Timing (2023, WJ3): One of many mainstream tenor saxophonist to emerge in the 1990s, starting out on Impulse!, but mostly recording on SteepleChase since then. But he plays clarinet here, paired with violin (Regina Carter), backed by piano-bass-drums. Sometimes the mix pays dividends, sometimes not so much. B+(*) [bc]

Alan Walker: A Little Too Late (2024, Aunt Mimi's): Singer-songwriter, started in a group I've never heard of, the Brilliant Mistakes (three albums 1998-2008), second solo album. Plays piano, some pop craft, some strings. B+(*) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Louis Armstrong: Louis in London (1968 [2024], Verve): A previously unreleased BBC radio shot from July 2, 1968, billed as his "last great performance," three years before his death in 1971. He had been in decline for several years, often unable to play trumpet, but his vocals remained endearing, with a couple songs turning into big pop hits. He's credited with trumpet here, which seems good enough, his voice even better, as he runs through thirteen songs, most signature hits, a proper career summary. A- [sp]

Derek Bailey/Sabu Toyozumi: Breath Awareness (1987 [2024], NoBusiness): British guitarist (1932-2005), a major figure in the avant-garde (albeit one that I've only lightly sampled, and never really gotten the hang of), in an improv duo with the Japanese drummer. Scratchy, abstract, requires close listening, sometimes rewards it. B+(***) [cd]

Karen Borca Trio Quartet & Quintet: Good News Blues: Live at the Vision Festival 1998 & 2005 (1998-2005 [2024], No Business): One of the few bassoon players in any branch of jazz, especially in free jazz, she led groups so rarely that this is her first collection as leader, but Discogs credits her with 30 albums, many with her husband, Jimmy Lyons, also Cecil Taylor, William Parker, Joel Futterman, Alan Silva, Bill Dixon. The early set here has Parker and Rob Brown (alto sax). Brown returns for the late set, with Reggie Workman, and is stellar throughout. A- [cd]

Peter Brötzmann/Toshinori Kondo/Sabu Toyozumi: Complete Link (2016 [2024], NoBusiness): Tenor sax/tarogato, trumpet/electronics, drums. Within our ten-year window for "new releases," with both of the principals recently departed, this feels more like an archival find. They had a fairly long run together in the quartet, with William Parker and Hamid Drake, named for their first album, Die Like a Dog. I always found their records a bit too abrasive, but here I'm not only not bothered, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. A- [cd]

Nat King Cole: Live at the Blue Note Chicago (1953 [2024], Iconic): Pianist and singer (1917-65), had his first r&b hits in 1942, cracked the pop top ten in 1944 with "Straighten Up and Fly Right," hit number one in 1946 with "For Sentimental Reasons," followed by "Nature Boy," "Mona Lisa," and "Too Young" -- all in these live sets, a quartet with guitar (John Collins), bass (Charlie Harris), and drums (Lee Young). B+(**) [sp]

The Jazzanians: We Have Waited Too Long (1988 [2024], Ubuntu Music): In 1984, Dave Brubeck's son Darius organized a jazz program at the University of Natal, in South Africa. A few years later, he organized this "first multiracial student jazz ensemble from South Africa," and took them on tour, and into the studio. Best known player now is probably Zim Ngqawana (alto sax/flute). They kick off with a very infectious township jive groove. They're not all that delightful. B+(**) [sp]

Charles Mingus: Incarnations (1960 [2024], Candid): The bassist recorded two sessions for Nat Hentoff's label, which immediately led to the albums Presents Charles Mingus and Mingus. In 1985, Mosaic collected those albums and outtakes for The Complete Candid Recordings of Charles Mingus, In 1990, Candid took some of those for Mysterious Blues. This albums grabs five more takes (one previously unissued). B+(**) [sp]

Louis Moholo-Moholo: Louis Moholo-Moholo's Viva-La-Black (1988 [2024], Ogun): South African drummer, moved to Europe in 1964, emerged as a prominent free jazz drummer in the 1970s. Leads a sextet here, with Sean Bergin (tenor/alto sax), Steve Williamson (tenor/soprano sax), Claude Deppa (trumpet/flugelhorn), Roberto Bellatalla (bass), and Thebe Lipere (percussion). B+(**) [bc]

Septet Matchi-Oul: Terremoto (1971 [2024], Souffle Continu): Label dedicated to "Treasures of the French Underground," this one-shot group led by Chilean-French pianist Manuel Villarroel qualifies nicely. No other names I immediately recognize, but some further research may be in order. B+(***) [sp]

Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Pink Elephants on Parade (1985-90 [2024], Modern Harmonic): A "small sample" of songs from Walt Disney movies, eight from two dates in 1988-89, 5 more from 5 different venues, the first 9 tracks previously unreleased. Vocals on most tracks, none slick or particularly funny, but amused? Sure. B+(***) [sp]

John Wright Trio: South Side Soul (1960 [2024], Craft): Pianist (1934-2017), born in Kentucky but moved to Chicago when he was two. First album, with bass (Wendell Roberts) and drums (Walter McCants). [sp]

Old music:

Albert Beger: The Primitive (1995, NMC): Israeli tenor saxophonist, plays some flute, first album, quartet with piano (John Bostock), bass guitar (Gabi Maier), and drums (Asaf Sirkis). B+(**) [sp]

Albert Beger Quartet: The Art of the Moment (2000, Third Ear Music): Curious lack of information on this, label name appears on some streaming sites (NMC seems more likely), quartet with guitar, bass, and drums (no idea who). Impressive saxophonist, rhythm section has some spunk, flute I could do without. Need to work on that discography. B+(*) [sp]

Welf Dorr: Funk Monk 2002 (2002 [2020], self-released): Alto saxophonist, from Germany, based in New York, led the band Funk Monk from 1996-2009, various lineups, released a Live at the Knitting Factory in 1999 but that seems to be all. Dorr salvaged this tape from Izzy Bar in July 2002, and claims all compositions, so no Monk tribute here: more horns (Antonio Dangerfield on trumpet, Melvin Smith on tenor sax, trombone on two tracks), backed by a bubbling array of keys, guitar, bass, and drums. B+(*) [sp]

Welf Dorr: Flowers for Albert (2005 [202], self-released): The saxophone/flute player/composer has laid claim to this tape, although his name appears last on the cover, after Kenny Wolleson (drums), Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Hock Temesgen (bass), and Shoko Nagai (piano). Title comes from David Murray's tribute to Ayler, but Dorr's preferred Albert is Einstein, seeing this as the centennial of his three breakthrough papers on physics. B+(**) [sp]

Welf Dorr Unit: Blood (2014 [2018], Creative Sources): Brooklyn group, leader plays alto sax and bass clarinet, backed by guitar (Dave Ross), bass (Dmitry Ishenko), and drums (Joe Hertenstein). Guitar runs a bit heavy. B+(*) [bc]

Welf Dorr/Dmitry Ishenko/Joe Hertenstein: Pandemic House Sessions (2020 [2021], self-released): Previous Unit reduced to a trio, recorded at the drummer's apartment. Losing the guitar gives the saxophonist a lot more breathing room. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Greg Copeland: Empire State (Franklin & Highland, EP) [09-06]
• Ize Trio: The Global Suites (self-released) [08-02]
• Frank Paul Schubert/Michel Pilz/Stefan Scheib/Klaus Kugel: Live at FreeJazz Saar 2019 (Nemu) [05-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

I'm starting this introduction on Tuesday, already two days late, ignoring for now the new news pouring in, especially from the RNC. Due to my Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll project, I wasn't able to start until Saturday, at which point I started with the long introduction to the Biden section. After that, I scrounged up a few quick links to seemingly important stories. The alleged Trump shooting -- I'm not denying it, but I'm not fully buying it either -- had just happened, so I had to spin off a section on that. Monday the Cannon ruling on the Trump documents case came down, so I had to note that. If I find out that Hamas and Netanyahu agreed to a cease fire deal -- I've heard that, but as I'm writing this I haven't seen any confirmation -- I'll note that too. (But thus far I've been smart to ignore past rumors of impending agreement.)

A couple days ago, still with Biden very much on my mind, I thought I'd begin this introduction with a spur-of-the-moment tweet I posted:

Unsolicited advice to the ruling class: can someone point out to Biden that being president and running are two different full-time jobs. He should pick one, like the one we need someone to focus on and do well, right now. He could set a model we should add to the Constitution.

Looking it up now, I see that it only has 97 views, with 0 replies, forwards, or likes. It seems like views have been steadily declining, although the number of followers (640) is about double from a long plateau about a year ago.

One thing that stimulated my thought was when I saw several folks pushing a constitutional amendment to impose a maximum age limit on presidents. (Search doesn't reveal a lot of examples, but here's one.) I have no time to argue this here, but I've often worried about the accumulation of arbitrary power in the presidency -- especially war-making power, but there are other issues here -- and with in the development of a political personality cult (Reagan is the obvious example, with Trump even more so, but they at least remained aligned with their party, while Clinton and Obama used their office to direct their party to their own personal fortunes, a shift that worked to the detriment of other Democrats).

Banning self-succession (second consecutive terms) wouldn't fix all of the problems with the presidency, but it would help, especially in terms of democracy. I won't go into details here, but there should also be limits on nepotism (spouses, children, possibly more), and major campaign finance reforms. Whether you keep the two-term total limit is optional -- eliminating it may get rid of the often stupid "lame duck" argument. But I also suspect that people will have little appetite for returning a non-incumbent ex-president.

One more point: if presidents can't run again, maybe they'll actually put their political instincts aside and settle into actually doing their jobs. Trump is the obvious worst-case example: the first thing he did after inauguration in 2017 was to file as a candidate for 2020, and he returned to holding campaign rallies a month or two later. Given how temperamental his judgment was, we are probably lucky that he turned out to be so oblivious to actually doing the job, but that's hardly something we can count on saving us again. Even more competent presidents were repeatedly distracted by political duties -- ones they were, as a requirement for selection, more interested in, if not necessarily better at.

At this point, the essential skill sets of campaigners and administrators have diverged so radically that it's almost inconceivable that you could find one person for both jobs. I could imagine a constitutional change where whoever wins the presidency has to appoint someone else (or maybe a troika) to run the executive government, while being personally limited to symbolic public service, like the King of England, or the President of Israel. But the amendment I proposed above should be a much easier sell, especially given the mess we're in now.

Fortunately, we don't actually need the amendment this year. All we need is for Biden to drop out. As I explain below, there are lots of good reasons for him to do so. This is one more, and if he grasped it, would be a principled one.

About 10 PM Tuesday, time to call it quits for this week. I may pick up a few adds while I'm working on the similarly delayed Music Week, but I expect to be extremely busy on deadline day for the Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll (up to 78 ballots as I write this). No doubt I'll have to do a lot of cross-checking next week to keep from repeating stories. But the big ones, rest assured, will return, pretty much as they are here, so what's below should give you a leg up on everyone else.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [07-08] Day 276: Top Israeli security officials 'shocked' by Netanyahu's attempts to sabotage ceasefire proposal: "Israel has committed a new massacre in Nuseirat as it launches a new invasion of Gaza City. Meanwhile, Hamas says it has recruited thousands of new resistance fighters."

  • [07-11] Day 279: Israel orders Gaza City residents to flee south -- again: "Israel ordered Gaza City residents to leave as Shuja'iyya has become 'uninhabitable.' Meanwhile, ceasefire talks are set to continue in Egypt as Netanyahu is accused of sabotaging a potential deal."

  • [07-15] Day 283: Israel bombs three Gaza displacement centers, killing hundreds: "Hamas confirms that ceasefire talks will continue despite the latest massacres, while differences rise between Netanyahu and Israel's negotiating team headed by the security services."

• Ellen Cantarow: [07-14] A cancer on the West Bank: "How the Israeli extreme right has achieved victory." Essential history, starting with Gush Emunim and the Alon Plan. If you don't know this stuff, you should.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [07-14] Testimonies from the Mawasi massacre: 90 people buried in the sand: "The Israeli army committed another massacre against displaced Palestinians in tent encampments, this time in the coastal Mawasi area, which Israel had designated as a 'safe zone.'"

• Haggai Matar: [07-04] A flawed peace conference offers a radical proposal: hope: "In a context of fear, hatred, and violence, an Israeli-Palestinian gathering that seemed detached from reality actually represented something revolutionary."

• Qassam Muaddi: [07-11] Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse: "The West Bank's economic crisis and the expansion of Israel's settlements are connected."

• Mahmoud Mushtaha: [07-10] Israel ordered thousands to 'safe' areas in Gaza City -- them bombed them: "After fleeing west at the Israeli army's instruction, Palestinians quickly found themselves encircled and under fire from tanks, drones, and snipers."

• Orly Noy: [07-04] Only an anti-fascist front can save us from the abyss: "Israeli society will emerge from this war more violent, nationalist, and militaristic than ever. The work of curbing its worse impulses must start now."

• Abed Abou Shhadeh: [07-15] For Palestinian parents, every day of this war provokes existential anxiety: "In the annihilation of Gaza, we see a vision of our future as Palestinians inside Israel. So do we cling to our land, or ensure our children's safety and leave?"

• Oren Ziv:

  • [06-29] Can this conference inspire a new Israeli-Palestinian peace movement? "For activists Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, reviving a joint peace effort that learns from past obstacles is 'the biggest antidote to extremism.'"

  • [07-02] 'We'd rather die than enlist': Haredi Jews vow to defy conscription: "An Israeli High Court ruling has overturned a decades-old military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, leading thousands to rage against the state and their community's politicians."

  • [07-08] 'I'm bored, so I shoot': The Israeli army's approval of free-for-all violence in Gaza: "Israeli soldiers describe the near-total absence of firing regulations in the Gaza war, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets -- all with their commanders' permission."

America's Israel (and Israel's America):

• Spencer Ackerman: [07-09] These corporations are the true "winners" of the war on Gaza: "From Colt to Caterpillar, American companies are earning big profits off of Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, turning the horrors of war into boardroom victories."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [07-12] Biden or not, US policy on Palestine stays the same: "When it comes to Dems and Republicans, you pick your poison, but there's no healthy choice."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: [07-12] We must understand Israel as a settler-colonial state: I'd go a bit deeper and say we can only understand Israel if we start from acknowledging that it is primarily a settler-colonial state. I'm not saying this because I think "settler-colonial state" means we should automatically condemn Israel, and especially not to argue that the only solution is expulsion ("go back where you came from" just won't do here). But identifying it as such puts Israel into a conceptual framework that really helps explain the options and choices that Israeli political leaders made -- many of which do indeed deserve approbation -- as well as providing a framework to see some way of ending the conflict on terms that most people can find agreeable. I would add that among settler-colonial states, Israel is exceptionally frustrated, which is why it has turned into such a cauldron of interminable violence.

• Marcy Newman: [07-13] The reluctant memoirist exposes the academy: "At a time when Palestine activism and free expression at U.S. universities are under attack, Steven Salaita's new memoir disabuses us of the notion that these universities are anything other than hedge funds with a campus."

• James North: [07-10] Israel's leading paper says its own army deliberately killed Israelis on October 7. But in the US media: silence: "Israel ordered the 'Hannibal Directive' on October 7 by ordering the killing of captive Israeli soldiers and civilians. But the U.S. media continues to hide the truth."

• Alice Rothchild: [07-14] The destruction of healthcare in Gaza and the scientific assessment of settler colonial violence: "The Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council held a distinguished panel of experts that addressed the settler colonial determinants of health in light of the Gaza genocide." Following up on these documents:

  • Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council: [07-01] Emergency statement on the health and human rights crisis in the West Bank: "Alongside the catastrophe in Gaza, another crisis is unfolding in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the Israeli military has launched land incursions, conducted airstrikes,restricted access to resources, and targeted health infrastructure."

  • Palestine Mental Health Networks: [07-10] The duty of mental health professionals in the struggle for Palestine: "We call on mental health professionals around the world to follow the example of renowned American psychoanalyst Dr. Jessica Benjamin in respecting the BDS picket line and boycotting conferences in Israel."

• Philip Weiss: [07-14] Weekly Briefing: The 'NYT' justifies Israeli slaughter of civilians as necessary tactic: "The New York Times says Israel has been 'forced' to massacre Palestinian civilians because Hamas militants hide in bedrooms. The U.S. used such justifications for massacres in Vietnam."

Trump:

Well, this happened:

• [Vox]: [07-14] Who shot Trump? What we know about the assassination attempt. [PS: This piece has been updated after I wrote the following, as more information was released, such as the identities of the people shot, including the alleged shooter.] "This is what happened at the Butler rally, as we understand it right now." As I understand it, shots were fired during a Trump rally. Trump dropped to the ground. When he appeared again, there was blood on his face. Secret Service surrounded him, and moved him off the platform. The people around him jerked when he did, but afterwards mostly looked confused. He tweeted later that he had been shot, nicked in the ear. (From his head angle at the time of the shot, it must have come from the far side -- not from the crowd, or from the gallery behind him.) Reports are that two people wound up dead -- one the alleged shooter, and another person, still unidentified, and two more people were injured. It's not clear where those people, including the shooter, were, or what the timing of were. One report says the shots came from an "AR-type" gun.

  I'll link to more pieces as I collect them. But knowing only what is in here (and having watched the video provided), my first reaction is that a real assassination attempt like this would be very hard to pull off, but would be very easy to fake (assuming you could imagine that anyone involved would be willing to do so, which with this particular crew isn't inconceivable; still, the risk of faking it and then getting exposed seems like it should be pretty extreme). No need to jump to that conclusion, but I'm pretty sure the "grassy knoll" squad is going to jump all over this story. More Vox pieces are collected in: Donald Trump targeted in assassination attempt.

• Zack Beauchamp:

  • [07-13] America is not ready for what comes next: "The attempt on Donald Trump's life has put the republic in peril."

  • [07-15] This is how you get escalation: "Political leaders should try to douse the flames. The right's leaders are fanning them."

• Constance Grady: [07-15] The pure media savvy of Trump's first pump photo, explained by an expert: "It's his brand now." The interview goes into the making of other iconic photos, as well as Trump's history of seizing on moments like this.

• Jeet Heer:

  [07-13] In the wake of the Trump shooting, we need clarity -- and caution: "The best way to fend off conspiracy theories and instability is by emphasizing the need for solid facts."

  • [07-14] Biden condemns political violence without whitewashing Trump: "The president deftly avoids the trap of surrendering his critique of MAGA lawlessness."

• Murtza Hussain: Will this make Trump more popular? "Assassination attempts targeting populist leaders have had a track record of boosting their popularity."

• Sarah Jones: [07-15] God's strongman.

• Ed Kilgore: [07-15] Trump assassination attempt makes 2024 election more bonkers than ever: "But will it cinch a victory for him?" Evidently, "many Republicans are already saying the bullets that nearly killed Donald Trump have clinched his return to the White House."

• Natasha Lennard: The only kind of "political violence" all U.S. politicians oppose.

• Eric Levitz:

  • [07-14] Heated rhetoric is dangerous, but honest disagreement is necessary for democracy: "Critics are blaming Democratic rhetoric for Trump's shooting. Here's what they're missing." Subheds: "Biden's most heated rhetoric about Trump is defensible"; "heated rhetoric is an inextricable feature of democratic life." Maybe he figures it's too soon, but sooner or later someone will recall that the only candidate who's ever called for "2nd amendment people" to take matters into their own hands is one Donald J. Trump.

  • [07-14] Yes, it's still fair to call Trump a threat to democracy: "The attempt on his life shouldn't cow his critics." Looks like a new title for the same article.

• Stephen Prager: [07-16] 'Political violence' is all around us: "Condemning 'political violence' rings hollow coming from politicians who are highly selective in the violence they deplore. We should oppose it consistently."

• Aja Romano: [07-15] The Trump assassination attempt was a window into America's fractured reality. I'm not sure whether the subhed is a conclusion or just a premise: "The shooting wasn't staged, but conspiratorial thinking has become widespread in our paranoid age." You know, the latter truism doesn't prove "the shooting wasn't staged." It just suggests that we shouldn't jump to that conclusion.

• Helen Santoro/Lucy Dean Stockton/David Sirota/Joel Warner: Pennsylvania GOP fought a ban on the gun used in Trump shooting.

• Timothy Messer-Kruse: [07-15] The myth of the magic bullet: He doesn't weigh in on the Trump shooting, but takes on the more general idea, that a single bullet can change history for the better. I rather doubt his assertion that "there would still be a MAGA movement" without Trump, because no matter how much fuel of "white resentment" had accumulated, it still took a spark to set it off, and it's hard to find a leader with Trump's particular mix of ego and ignorance. But he is right when he says, "Trump is not a threat to democracy as much as he is a symbol of its deepening absence."

On Monday, Trump announced his pick for vice president: JD Vance:

• Zack Beauchamp: [07-15] What J.D. Vance really believes: "The dark worldview of Trump's choice for vice president, explained."

  Vance has said that, had he been vice president in 2020, he would have carried out Trump's scheme for the vice president to overturn the election results. He has fundraised for January 6 rioters. He once called on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into a Washington Post columnist who penned a critical piece about Trump. After last week's assassination attempt on Trump, he attempted to whitewash his radicalism by blaming the shooting on Democrats' rhetoric about democracy without an iota of evidence.

  This worldview translates into a very aggressive agenda for a second Trump presidency. In a podcast interview, Vance said that Trump should "fire every single mid-level bureaucrat" in the US government and "replace them with our people." If the courts attempt to stop this, Vance says, Trump should simply ignore the law.

  "You stand before the country, like Andrew Jackson did, and say the chief justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it," he declares.

• Aaron Blake: [07-15] The risk of J.D. Vance: "Trump went with the MAGA pick. But the 2022 election suggests that might not be the right electoral one."

• Jonathan Chait: [07-15] J.D. Vance joins ticket with man he once called 'America's Hitler': "Apparently he meant it as a compliment."

• Ben Jacobs: [07-15] J.D. Vance on his MAGA conversion: "Trump's man in Ohio once called him 'America's Hitler,' but there's an explanation."

• Sarah Jones: [07-15] Hillbilly shapeshifter: "Re-reading J.D. Vance's memoir." This came out earlier this year, but gets an update for the moment.

• Ed Kilgore: [07-15] J.D. Vance as VP means Trump picks MAGA over 'unity'. What does "unity" even mean? Trump has complete control. He doesn't need to compromise with anyone. One might ask why he would pick a double-crossing weasel, but Trump probably figure he's on top of that game. Maybe Kilgore is just trying to plug the Intelligencer liveblog: So much for 'national unity': RNC live updates. Republicans don't need "unity": they believe they're the only ones who count, so they already are "unity" -- now if they can just get rid of everyone else, they'll be set (and America will be great again, like it was when the other people didn't count).

• Daniel Larison: [07-15] What will Vance do for Trump's foreign policy? "The Ohio senator's ideology is hard to nail down as he has vacillated between restraint and interventionism."

• Steve M: [07-15] J.D. Vance probably hates you more than Trump does: "It is clear that Vance is an angry, nasty person whose contempt for the people he doesn't like is bone deep." Also:

  Now that Trump has chosen Vance, I expect Democrats to focus on the mean tweets Vance posted about Trump before he became a Trump fan. I don't see the point -- politicians (and non-politicians) change their minds about people all the time. Kamala Harris said harsh things about Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign. George H.W. Bush attacked Ronald Reagan's economic ideas in the 1980 campaign. I think it's more important for voters to know how much contempt Vance has for everyone who disagrees with him or does things he doesn't like. I have kids, so he hates me. Maybe he hates you too.

• Veronica Riccobene/Helen Santoro/Joel Warner: J.D. Vance wants police to track people who have abortions.

• Ross Rosenfeld: The scary message Trump sent by choosing J.D. Vance: "The Ohio senator is a sycophant who will never challenge or question his boss -- not even to defend American democracy."

Of course, the Trump news doesn't end there.

• Sasha Abramsky: [07-14] A brief history of Trump and violence: "But that can't be allowed to erase the long, ugly history of Trump's dalliance with violence."

• David Atkins: [07-08] Pay attention to Trump's every cruel and crazy syllable: "All eyes are on President Biden's words, but Trump is getting meaner and increasingly bonkers each day."

  Let's look at just a few recent examples.

  1. Trump wants to make poor migrants fight each other for sport.
  2. Trump wants to ban electric cars because someone in an electric boat might get eaten by a shark.
  3. Donald Trump wants to ban all vaccine mandates in schools, which would include polio, measlesl, etc.
  4. Trump wants to end meaningful elections in the United States.
  5. Trump thinks the end of Roe v Wade was "amazing" and brags that he was "able to kill Roe v. Wade.

• Elizabeth Austin: [07-13] Trump's Democrats-support-infanticide trope is an infuriating lie: "Republicans like the soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee are mocking every woman who got that horrible call from the obstetrician and made the tragic decision to end a hopeless pregnancy."

• Christopher Fettweis: [05-15] Trump's big idea: Deploy assassination teams to Mexico: "His plan to kill drug kingpins to solve the American opioid crisis will backfire dramatically."

• Chris Lehman: [07 -11] Donald Trump's new strategy: act normal: "With the opposition in disarray, Trump and his campaign have begun exhibiting unusual restraint in hopes of expanding his support."

• Clarence Lusane: [07-12] Who thinks Donald Trump is racist? "Other racists, that's who!"

• Nicole Narea: [07-15] A right-wing judge just threw out a case against Trump in a brazen abuse of power: "The classified documents case against Trump hits another major setback before the 2024 election." Why?

  In her ruling, Cannon argued that because Smith had not been appointed a special counsel by the president and confirmed by the Senate, his appointment violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause. . . .

  Cannon's ruling, which relies on a stringent reading of the Constitution and represents a brazen break with precedent, has come under heavy criticism from legal scholars. Under her ruling, the appointment of prior special counsels would have also come into question, from Archibald Cox, who investigated the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation, to Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election.

  I'm sure there will be more on this next week. Well, for now, this one is worth quoting at length:

  • Steve M.: [07-15] The death of America is steady rot:

    We think we'll lose democracy and the rule of law suddenly if Donald Trump becomes president again. We think the edifice will be destroyed like the Twin Towers on 9/11: the planes hit the buildings, and without hours they collapsed in on themselves.

    But our system is like a house that's rotting room by room. The foundation has cracks. There are termites. The roof leaks. One room after another has become uninhabitable.

    We've lost the federal courts. The would-be murderers of America already have the federal bench they need to sustain the horrible America they want. A second Trump presidency won't really worsen the federal bench -- it will only fix it in place in its current form for several more decades. I'm 65, and I'll never live to see a federal bench that isn't an extremist Republican legislature in robes.

    Through gerrymandering, we lost democracy in many state legislatures years ago. In states like North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas, liberals and moderates add up to more than 45% of the electorate and have exactly none of the legislative power, because of gerrymandering. This happened long before Trump and there were no "Death of Democracy" front-page headlines.

    If Trump wins in November, he and the thugs of Project 2025 might take a wrecking ball to what's left of the house. But already several rooms are closed off. It's unsafe to live in them. And even if Trump loses, or wins and doesn't follow through with the worst ideas his backers have proposed, many rooms in the house will continue to rot.

    A lot of this rot can be traced back to Reagan in the 1980s, when a brief majority of Americans put sentiment and emotion over reason and practicality, and ceded power to the people Kurt Anderson called Evil Geniuses (subtitle: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History), and for that matter to the conspiracies -- to use a word we've systematically been trained to abjure -- of the 1970s that many others have written about (off the top of my head: Rick Perlstein, Jane Mayer, Max Blumenthal, Kim Phillips-Fein, Laura Kalman, Nancy McLean, Jeff Madrick). For sure, part of the blame lies with Democrats, like Carter and Clinton, who thought they could beat the Republicans at their own game, and some to with Democrats like Obama and Biden, who chose to play along rather than rouse the people to defend their rights against relentless Republican assault.

    M's point is absolutely right. Bad choices often take years, sometimes decades, to manifest themselves. To cite two examples where the elapsed time was too short to cloud causality, the distance from Reagan's deregulation of the S&L industry to its collapse was 6-8 years. The distance from Clinton's repeal of Carter-Glass and the deregulation of derivatives -- changes mostly championed by Republicans like Phil Gramm, but Clinton signed off on them -- was 8-10 years. Longer, more insidious time frames are even more common. I recall George Brockway tracing the financial madness circa 2000 back to an obscure banking law Republicans passed after their fluke congressional win in 1946 -- the same one that gave us Taft-Hartley, which had little effect on unionized auto, aircraft, steel, etc., workers through the 1960s but led to their collapse from the 1980s on. Similarly, there are blunders from the early Cold War that still haunt us (like the overthrow of Iran in 1953).

    We've been systematically starved of democracy for decades now: ever since campaigns became media circuses, increasingly in thrall to the sponsor class. Maybe now that the strangulation has become so obvious -- the only choice we've been allowed is between the two least popular, and quite arguably the two least competent, politicians in America -- we'll finally realize our need to struggle to breathe free. Or maybe we'll just fucking die. After all, we're about 90% buried already.

. . . And other Republicans:

• Sasha Abramsky: [07-02] Will Arizona be MAGA's last stand? "Trump needs the state's votes to win. But after its highest court revived an 1864 law that bans abortions, all bets are off."

• Hassan Ali Kanu: [07-11] No, Trump and GOP have not 'softened' on abortion, women's rights: "The language change in their platforms is nakedly dishonest bait and switch."

• Sarah Jones: [07-14] The authoritarian plot: "At the National Conservatism conference, Republicans mix with racists ranting about 'post-white America.'"

• Steve M: I have a couple more of his posts elsewhere, but let's go to town here:

  • [07-13] First thoughts on the shooting (updated): Starts with his own prediction tweet: "Every rank-and-file Republican voter believes this was an assassination attempt ordered by President Biden. Trump will soon start pouring gasoline on the flames by stating this as if it's fact." Update shows it's happening even ahead of Trump's provocation. He does have them well trained.

  • [07-13] Project 2025: the gaslighting is well underway.

  • [07-13] Fear the all-powerful left! "The fever dreams of the propaganda-addled crazies at the Heritage Foundation are hilarious."

  • [07-12] Are Biden's poll numbers impervious to bad news, like Trump's? I think the upshot here is that while people may not know what (or whom) to believe, they've become so wary of being lied to that they reject any news, probably from any source, leaving them impervious to change. If you're a journalist/pundit, you may think it's your job to adjust to new facts, but if you're not, it's just fucking noise, almost all of which can be discounted.

  • [07-11] New York Times editorial: Trump is bad -- but the Republican Party is awesome! That editorial was titled Trump is not fit to lead.

    Not a single Democrat is cited in this editorial. I understand that that's the point -- the ed board members, if you asked them about this, would say, "We're making the point that even Trump's fellow Republicans know he's unfit" (though no Republican in good standing dares to say that). But this is also a sign that the Times ed board agrees with the Republican Party's decades-long campaign to "other" Democrats. Our political culture accepts the GOP's assertion that Democrats aren't really Americans.

  • [07-10] Dear Democrats: You know people can hear you, right? (updated):

    It's been thirteen days since the June 27 debate. On each of those thirteen days, the top news story in America -- not just in the monomaniacal New York Times, but everywhere -- has been "Christ, That Joe Biden Is Really, Really Old. He Can't Possibly Win. He Has to Step Aside. Has He Done It Yet?" Other stories, including stories that could have been very damaging to Donald Trump, were fully or partly buried. And still Democrats can't muscle Biden out, persuade him to leave the race, or stop talking about it and get behind him. . . .

    I think Democrats believe it's okay for this to play out in public for two weeks -- two weeks of bad headlines for the man who now seems certain to be the nominee -- because of a fundamental misunderstanding of politics that hurts them in other areas as well. They think this is fine because they think voters pay attention to politics only in the last couple of months before an election. That's the reason most Democrats don't bother with messaging unless it's election season, while Republicans engage in messaging every day of every year.

    I'm not personally super bothered by the protracted process, but clearly this has given Trump and the Republicans a whole month of big PR wins, from the June 27 debate all the way through the end of the RNC, especially as, in response to the shooting incident, Democrats have wisely decided to pull their ads, and keep their powder dry. But if the election was next week, this would have been a total disaster for the Democracy. (Maybe not for the small-d concept, but that's what they called the Party back in Jackson's day, and that's what Will Rogers meant when he said he wasn't a member of an organized political party: he was a democrat.) But at some point soon-ish, they really have to get the act together and turn this mess around. I don't see how they can do that without first jettisoning Biden, who is the indelible personification of a much greater crisis in democratic faith.

  • [07-09] The press doesn't have a "bias toward coherence" -- it has a bias toward Republicans.

• Shawn Musgrave: Trump's camp says it has nothing to do with Project 2025 manifesto -- aside from writing it.

• Timothy Noah: The GOP platform perfectly reflects the lunacy of Trump's party: "I read it so you don't have to: It's an unconditional surrender to the cult of Trump, and its plan to reduce inflation is laughable."

• Rick Perlstein: [07-10] Project 2025 . . . and 1921, and 1973, and 1981: "Terrifying blueprints for the next Republican presidency are a quadrennial tradition." Perlstein points out that aside from all the truly evil stuff you've possibly read about elsewhere, there is also a lot of confusion and in-fighting going on. For example:

  The section about Russia in the State Department chapter -- the author is an old hand of the High Reaganite wing of the Republican foreign-policy guild; a "globalist," if you will -- emphasizes that the Russia-Ukraine conflict "starkly divides conservatives," with one faction arguing for the "presence of NATO and U.S. troops if necessary," while the other "denies that U.S. Ukrainian support is in the national security interest of America at all."

  This misunderstanding is important. The silence, so far, on those parts, indicts us. These are great, big, blinking red "LOOK AT ME" advertisements of vulnerabilities within the conservative coalition. Wedge issues. Opportunities to split Republicans at their most vulnerable joints, much as when Richard Nixon cynically expanded affirmative action requirements for federal building projects, in order to seed resentment between blue-collar building trades Democrats and Black Democrats.

  And yes, there is plenty of blunt insanity, too. But, bottom line, this is a complicated document. "Conservatives in Disarray" is precisely the opposite message from that conveyed by all the coverage of Project 2025. But it is an important component of this complexity, and why this text should be picked apart, not panicked over, and studied both for the catastrophes it portends and the potential it provides.

• Andrew Prokop: [07-13] Project 2025: The myths and the facts: "The sweeping conservative plan for Trump's second term is very real. Here's what it actually says."

• Prem Thakker: GOP platform doesn't mention the word "climate" once -- even after hottest year on record.

Biden

Evidently Biden's age was already an issue in 2008, when Barack Obama picked him for Vice President. The thinking was that his age would balance off Obama's youth, that the position would cap off an already long and distinguished political career, and that he'd be too old to mount a serious run in 2016, leaving the field open for Hillary Clinton.

But when Clinton lost to Donald Trump -- let that sink in for a moment, folks -- Biden convinced himself that he could have done better, and set out to prove it in 2020. And he was a flop, his age dulling the charisma he never really had in the first place, but with Bernie Sanders a year older age wasn't so much an issue, and with Sanders winning, Biden became the only credible option to stop him, and the donor wing of the Democratic Party were desperate to do that.

After derailing Sanders, defeating Trump should have been the easy part, but somehow Biden managed to make even that look hard fraught. He won, but not decisively enough to lead Congress, or to squelch Trump's big lie about a rigged/stolen election. Trump has, if anything, loomed larger in American politics than Biden, even as president, could do. While that is testimony to several alarming tendencies in public opinion -- and media that both panders to and cashes in on controversy -- one cannot help but suspect that Biden's age is part of the problem.

At any rate, it's the part that people focus on once they realize that there is a problem that it could plausibly explain. They do that because it's tangible, something they have lots of experience with or at least observing. It's also something you can base expectations on, because it's inevitably progressive: if age seems to be a problem now, you can only expect it to get worse. Many Democrats, especially one who have closely bound their careers to Biden, have worked hard to hide evidence and deflect discussion of Biden's age -- even from Biden himself. But once you see it, as most people did in his June 27 debate with Trump, it's hard to revert to denialism. It's like the zit you never noticed, then found you can't avert your eyes from. Pretty soon you wind up with the Emperor's New Clothes.

As the following links will show, Democrats are divided: Biden and his closest allies still think that if they hold firm, he can ride the story cycle out, and by November refocus the campaign on beating back the immense threat of a Trump win; many others are skeptical and/or worried sick; a few actually see that replacing Biden with a younger, more dynamic, and hopefully much sharper candidate -- Harris seems to fill that bill, and is well-placed to step in, but there could be dozens of good options -- opens up an opportunity to not just eke out a win in November but deliver a crushing blow to Trump and his crony fascists.

As I've probably made clear over the last couple weeks, I'm skeptical, but also in the latter camp. I'm not really capable of the sort of despair that sees Biden, even as decrepit as he obviously is, losing to Trump -- despair in the future tense, as anticipation of a horrible turn of events, something very different from the sickening feeling when such events happen (as I remember all too well from November 2016). That part is just faith, still intact even if waiting to be shattered.

But my skepticism takes many forms. The one I'm most certain of is that if Biden remains in the race, he will commit a fair number of age-related gaffes and blunders, maybe including what wouldn't be his first fall, and that every time he does, his age will return as the paramount media obsession, shifting attention from the real and present threat of Trump. I don't know how many votes that will cost Biden, but it is a risk, and also a major opportunity cost. We need Democrats to win not just to stop Trump and shore up the somewhat liberal wing of the militarist oligarchy that Biden aligns with, but to actually address real problems, helping an overwhelming majority of Americans through very troubling times.

Another form of skepticism is suggested by my rather sour turn of phrase in that last line. I gravitated toward the new left in the late 1960s, and since then I've been as acutely critical of the Democratic Party as I've been of the Republicans, even as I've most often voted for Democrats, figuring them to be not just lesser evils but occasionally good for modest reforms. Either is reason enough to vote Democratic. (It's not like your vote is good for much else.) But if you're on the left (or anywhere else excluded from access to power), you might also consider voting a tactical choice: you're going to spend the next four years in opposition anyway, but which issues would you rather protest against? Biden, or any other Democrat with a chance, will leave you plenty to argue against.

One thing I can say about age is that it mellows you out. My critical analysis is as radical (in the sense I originally got from a 1966 book titled The New Radicals) as ever, but my appetite for conflict has really dimmed, and I'm willing to appreciate almost any tad of ameliorative reform. I chalk much of my personal change up to aging, and I suspect similar things happen to most people, including politicians like Biden. As I've noticed, Biden is the only president in my lifetime who turned out better than I expected (well, until Gaza, which is hard to excuse). Part of that is that he came in with really low expectations. Part of it may be that he's old enough to remember the pre-Carter, pre-Reagan, pre-Clinton Democrats -- even though he seemed totally simpatico with them, you know how old people lose recent memories before they lose formative ones? There's no one else like him in the Democratic Party these days. (Sanders is old enough, but never was that kind of Democrat. He was much better, which is why he remains so much sharper.) I do worry that whoever replaces Biden will be just another neoliberal shill. But even where Biden's heart is in the right place -- and, let's face it, it isn't always -- he's lost his ability to persuade, to lead, and to listen.

So my considered view is that we need to move him out, and start working on viable future. Even if Biden sticks and wins -- and I'll vote for him, despite thinking he really belongs in a Hague Court -- he's only going to get older, more decrepit, less credible, more embarrassing, and less effective as he struggles to hang on past his 86th birthday. And if he dies, resigns, or has to be removed, his replacement will enter with a much reduced mandate. Dump him now, elect his replacement, elect a Congress that's willing to do things, and the next four years will start looking up.

I guess that's more of an editorial than an introduction. I wrote it before collecting the following links:

• Intelligencer: [07-09] Biden resistance appears to be waning in Congress: For a brief period, this publication seemed convinced that Biden is persevering in his fight to stay atop the Democratic Party ticket.

  • Ben Jacobs: [07-10] How the Democratic movement to dump Biden went bust.

  • Nia Prater: [07-09] Why is the Squad backing Biden so forcefully?

• Sasha Abramsky: [07-10] An open letter to the president of the United States: "There are worse things in life than a comfortable retirement."

• Michael Arria: [07-09] Biden was already a vulnerable candidate because of the genocide: "Biden was already plummeting in the polls before his disastrous presidential debate with Trump. The reason was his ongoing complicity in the Gaza genocide and the Uncommitted movement."

• David Atkins: [07-11] I'm a DNC member and a public opinion professional. It's highly unlikely Biden can win: "Only one person can build on the administration's accomplishments, have unfettered access to funds and ballot lines, and do so without wasting precious time. Her name is Kamala Harris." Another long-time, major Biden apologist breaks ranks.

• Rachel Bade/Eugene Daniels/Ryan Lizza: [07-11] Playbook: What Obama and Pelosi are doing about Biden. Report here is that George Clooney showed his op-ed to Obama before he ran it, and did not receive any objection. "Obama's team declined to comment." Pelosi seems to be maneuvering behind the scenes, but "out of respect for Biden and national security writ large" thought he should hang on through the NATO summit. Now (my thinking here), with the shooting, it would make sense to wait until after the RNC shuts down.

• Joseph Contreras: [07-06] What Joe Biden could learn from Nelson Mandela about knowing when to quit: "Unlike the beleaguered U.S. president, the South African leader did not want to be an 81-year-old head of state and served only one term."

• Keren Landman: [07-11] The controversy over Biden and Parkin's disease, explained.

• Eric Levitz:

  • [07-09] The arguments for Biden 2024 keep getting worse: "No, 'history' does not tells us that the Democrats shouldn't change their nominee."

  • [07-12] The bar for Joe Biden should not be on the floor: "At his press conference, the president proved he can sometimes speak coherently. That's not good enough."

• Andrew Prokop:

  • [07-09] Is it undemocratic to replace Biden on the ticket? "Biden says the primary voters picked him. Is there more to democracy than that?" What kind of democracy was that? Practically nobody ran against Biden in 2024 because the campaign finance system lets donors pick who can run, and they didn't dare cross Biden -- especially after Democrats canceled Iowa and New Hampshire, which historically have been wide open and have a history of upsets, and which Biden lost badly in 2020, in favor of running South Carolina first, the sourc of Biden's breakthrough win in 2020.

  • [07-11] What Biden's news conference did, and didn't, clear up: "The presser went fine. But the Democratic defections continued."

  • [07-14] Will Trump's shooting change everything? Or surprisingly little? "Two theories on the political impact of the Trump assassination attempt." The Trump campaign will try to spin this in to a big deal, blaming it all on the left and championing Trump as a life-risking fighter for true Americans, who want nothing more than to make their beleaguered nation great again. But it doesn't change the issues, or stakes, one iota.

  • [07-15] Did Trump's shooting save Biden's nomination? "Democratic defections have slowed, but Biden isn't out of the woods yet." Perhaps I should re-read this more carefully, but on first scan, absolutely nothing in this piece makes any sense to me.

• Kaleigh Rogers: [07-12] Americans were worried about Biden's age long before the debate. Background from the poll-watchers at 538, who also produced:

  G Elliott Morris: [07-09] Why 538's forecast hasn't moved much post-debate: "Polls move a lot in the fall, and the fundamentals are still good for Biden."

  • Nathaniel Rakich: [07-10] What the Democrats doubting Biden have in common: "They're more moderate, while his backers are progressive and racially diverse."

  • Tommy Barone: [07-11] 4 reasons to beware of post-debate polling takes: "Biden's lost some ground, but it's hard to say much more."

• Luke Savage: [07-12] The Biden problem has been years in the making: "As concerns mount over Biden, the Democratic Party reminds us this isn't a democracy."

• Bill Scher:

  • [07-05] I've defended Biden for years. Now, I'm asking him to withdraw: "After waiting too long to reassure the public of his mental fitness, the president is sinking in the polls with little hope for recovery. But he can resign with grace and make history." Scher has long struck me as the most diehard Biden apologist in the Washington punditocracy, and indeed he was one of the few to have reserved hope after the debate (see: A wasted opportunity for Biden (but still time for redemption)). So this appears as a significant retreat. And he's followed with:

  • [07-09] How Kamala can win (without mini-primary madness).

  • [07-12] Wilson didn't resign. The world suffered. Biden need not repeat that mistake: "Wilson hid an incapacitating stroke from the public and fatally compromised his mission to establish a functional League of Nations. Once again, global peace and democracy precariously rely on a president reluctant to face a personal health crisis." Well, that's another whole can of worms, and while it's always fun to argue about Wilson, his case is really not relevant here. I will say that Wilson was a very complex but tragically flawed character, often invoked in arguments that reduce him to caricature. My own argument is that his failure to sell Americans on the League of Nations -- which was evident before his stroke took him out of action -- had no real bearing on the coming of WWII, but his failures at Versailles did (as Britain and France cast aside his anti-imperialism and insisted on punitive reparations over his better sense).

• Jeffrey St. Clair:

  • [07-12] Running on empty: Very good coverage on Hurricane Beryl here, but this is mostly on Biden, starting with a Chris Hayes quote: "Biden is a decent man who has done nothing wrong. He has not got caught in a scandal -- he's just aging." To which St. Clair responds: "The real scandal is that liberals don't see arming a genocide as a scandal." I'm inclined to compartmentalize and see opposing Netanyahu's genocide in Gaza and opposing Trump in America as both critically important but separable matters, and I'm even willing to cut Biden some slack, as he is a potential solution to both -- although in the latter he's mostly proven hapless, in the former, which is something he could do something about on his own, he's drifted into criminal negligence. But clearly Hayes misspoke, and he, at least, should have known better. We've seen many attempts to use flattery to tempt Biden to quit (e.g., George Clooney, Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, David Remnick, Matthew Yglesias), but it hasn't worked, and it's hard to see why it would. This seems more like the time for brutal honesty. If you must, sugar-coat it as tough love, but save the huzzahs for after he does "the right thing."

  • [07-15] Big Boy Biden in his own words: He starts by quoting some of the praised heaped on Biden for his press conference performance, like Andrew Bates: "To answer the question on everyone's minds: No, Joe Biden does not have a doctorate in foreign affairs. He's just that fucking good." That leaves St. Clair wondering:

    After hearing these encomia, I had to check myself. This is Joe Biden they're talking about, right? The same Joe Biden who voted for the Iraq War, the most disastrous foreign policy debacle in US history? The same Joe Biden who backed the overthrow of Qaddafi, turning Libya into an anarchic war zone dominated by slave trading gangs? The same Joe Biden who provoked and now refuses to seek an end to a bloody, stalemated war in Ukraine? The same Joe Biden who has continued Trump's Cuban embargo and tariffs on China? The same Biden who has spent the last 3.5 years pandering to the bone-sawing Saudi regime he called a "pariah" state during his 2020 campaign? The same Biden who refused to renegotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran? The same Biden who has armed a genocide in Gaza that may end up claiming over 200,000 Palestinian lives? The same Biden who could barely string together two complete sentences a couple of weeks ago?

    Adding, "An unlikely transformation, IMHO." So then he reads the White House transcript, and quotes it liberally, although his best line is in his introduction: "Biden's answers reminded me of some of Samuel Beckett's later works exploring the thought patterns of a decaying mind."

• Alexander Stille: We learned everything we needed to know about Biden in 1988: "His stubborn refusal to heed wise advice, and bottomless belief in his own greatness, were on display in his first campaign for president."

• Michael Tomasky: [07-12] Democrats: "He was better than the debate" is not remotely good enough: "In Trump world, they're thinking landslide. Democrats need to act and talk Biden into stepping aside, and soon."

• p>Cenk Uygur: [07-11] Biden will not be the nominee: "The Young Turks host has long predicted Biden's campaign would implode. He explains why it wasn't obvious to everyone, and predicts what will happen next." Nathan J Robinson interviews him.

And other Democrats:

• Jonathan Chait: [07-15] The Democratic Party's strange attraction to defeatism: "After the Trump shooting, another post-9/11 moment takes hold."

• Christian Paz: [07-10] Is Kamala Harris a better candidate now than she was four years ago?

• Li Zhou: [07-13] Kamala Harris's strengths -- and vulnerabilities -- explained: "Harris would be a strong nominee. She also has to overcome some challenges."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Aja Romano: [07-13] How Alec Baldwin's Rust trial went spectacularly off the rails: "Charges of involuntary manslaughter against the actor have been dismissed, and cannot be refiled. Here's what happened."

Climate and environment:

• Umair Irfan: [07-12] Why Hurricane Beryl was more than Houston could handle: "The factors fueling the storm's strength -- and the city's widespread power outages -- have been building for months."

Economic matters:

• Ryan Cooper: [07-12] Inflation is whipped. Someone wake up Jerome Powell.

Ukraine War and Russia:

• Blaise Malley: [07-12] Diplomacy Watch: Will Russia be invited to next peace summit?

• George Beebe: [07-12] We need a rational discussion about the Russian threat: "Is Moscow about to 'move on to Poland' after Ukraine like Biden says? Not exactly."

• Warren Davidson: [07-09] All eyes on Biden, but can they se how close we are to war? "More than ever the president appears willing to cross any red line against Russia for Ukraine."

• Jonah Valdez: Russia attacks hospitals in Ukraine. Israel does the same in Gaza. The U.S. response couldn't be more different. "The U.S. undermines its criticism of Russia's abuses in Ukraine by making excuses for Israel's assault on Gaza."

America's empire and the world:

• Bob Dreyfuss: [07-09] A surprise win by an Iranian reformist. Masoud Pezeshkian, regarded as a moderate, won Iran's election to become president after Ebrahim Raisi's recent death. Also on Iran:

  • Ellen Ioanes: [07-10] Iran's new president can only change the country so much.

• Anatol Lieven: [07-08] This week, NATO III celebrates itself: "As thousands descend on Washington for an anniversary summit, we posit that the alliance is broken and sleepwalking into war." Also on NATO:

  • Medea Benjamin: [07-12] Similar to Biden, NATO is aged and unfit for leadership: Only a passing reference to Biden on the way to her real subject: one she, with David Swanson, wrote a book about: NATO: What you Need to Know.

  • Sevim Dagdelen: [07-12] NATO charts a new course: "Will NATO encircle China next?"

  • Blaise Malley: [06-10] Declassified docs: US knew Russia felt 'snookered' by NATO; "Clinton officials understood Moscow's objection to eastward expansion."

  • Ishaan Tharoor:

    • [07-08] NATO meets at a moment of peak uncertainty in the West.

    • [07-10] At NATO summit, Gaza is the elephant in the room.

    • [07-12] NATO sets its sights on China. Because Russia worked out so well?

Other stories:

Zack Beauchamp: [07-10] What the world can learn from Indian liberalism: "The intellectual Pratap Bhanu Mehta explains how liberalism grew out of 3,000 years of Indian history."

Roger Kerson: [07-09] You think this year's presidential conventions will be crazy? 1924's fights over the Ku Klux Klan were wilder.

Katie Miles: [07-08] "She usually won." Remembering Jane McAlevey, 1964-2024. Also:

• DD Guttenplan: [07-09] From the moment she joined a fight, Jane McAlevey was in it to win.

• Nathan J Robinson: [04-17] What Jane McAlevey has taught us: "The labor organizer and writer is approaching the end of her life. She leaves behind vital organizing lessons that will reverberate over the next decades." I've cited this piece before, but it's obvious worth citing again now.

Initial count: 146 links, 9355 words. Updated count [07-16]: 193 links, 9436 words.

Local tags (these can be linked to directly): Biden.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42624 [42580] rated (+42), 20 [29] unrated (-9).

Delayed until Tuesday again, because Speaking of Which took all of Monday, itself being pushed out by the seemingly futile notion that I could add a few Afterthoughts to the previous week's massive Speaking of Which.

Seems like I could wind up delaying this post a second day, as it's already late as I'm writing this. Most of Tuesday got chewed up writing two long comments relating to the Biden nomination: one on a Matthew Yglesias post, the other an expansion of my Afterthoughts comment. None of this even mentions the seemingly important (if true) Ben Jacobs: [07-09] How the Democratic movement to dump Biden went bust. Or Nia Prater: [07-09] Why is the Squad backing Biden so forcefully? As Yglesias explained in his piece, the calculation for Democratic politicians is different than the one for journalists and pundits. New York Magazine, which published a number of pieces extremely critical of Biden (probably all op. cit. through my links above) has gotten so into circling the wagons, they've gone into live blog mode: Biden resistance appears to be waning in Congress. On the other hand, Eric Levitz: [07-09] is back with another piece: The arguments for Biden 2024 keep getting worse.

Definitely no Afterthoughts this week, and I'm going to be hard pressed to do a Speaking of Which by Sunday or Monday. Most pressing thing after getting this up will be to follow up on the Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll. Deadline remains Sunday, July 14. I've received 18 ballots so far, referencing a total of 177 albums. About 50% of those albums were not previously in my tracking file, so I've been using them for prospecting (three of the five A- albums this week came from ballots; the other two are promos I received, with no votes so far).

Probably the most important thing I need to do is to compare the Jazzpoll mailing list, which is where I sent the invites, to the more authoritative list I made last year of people I actually sent invites to, especially the ones I voted. At some point I stopped automatically adding names to the Jazzpoll list, so chances are that a couple dozen people who should have been invited weren't. I'm also worried about invites being diverted into spam folders -- I know of at least two such cases, both with gmail. If I had the time and energy, I would follow up, but it's a lot of work. I also need to go back and review some couple emails I received after last year's poll -- a couple offers of help, at least one person who asked to be invited (and should be).

To make up for these shortcomings in the invitation process, I asked people to inform and possibly invite their colleagues. Thus far I haven't received any takers, or for that matter inquiries. The only evidence I have is that some spam has started getting caught there. Not a lot, and none of it's getting through, but it's one more thing to deal with.

At this moment, the website is a bit behind my local copy, but I will refresh it a couple times this week. I need to edit several documentation files, and change the methodology notes in the totals files. The main things of possible public interest are the invitation, the list of critics who have voted, and the list of new releases and rara avis that have received votes. The actual results won't be public until ArtsFuse publishes them.

I've had very little time for updating my metacritic file, but I have added the mid-year lists I've been noting in the Speaking of Which music section, so there's been a bit of movement. File still needs a lot of work. I did, by the way, start counting all of the metal magazines at AOTY (but I've yet to go back and fill in the ones I skipped earlier). I wish their coverage of jazz, hip-hop, electronica, and country was as deep as their interest in metal, but it isn't. I haven't gotten around to sources like All About Jazz, Saving Country Music, and Hip Hop Golden Age, which would help remedy those deficits. No time, and not much energy these days. Also, I can barely see, so if I don't post this right away, it won't make it tonight.

PS: Facebook blocked me, so I may give that a rest.

New records reviewed this week:

BbyMutha: Sleep Paralysis (2024, True Panther): Rapper Brittnee Moore, from Chattanooga, second album, Bandcamp page attributes it to "BIGMUTHA," but every other source goes as I have it, sometimes no-caps. B+(**) [sp]

Beings: There Is a Garden (2024, No Quarter): New York-based quartet of Zoh Amba (tenor sax, mostly), Steve Gunn (guitar), Shahzad Ismaily (bass, synth), and Jim White (drums). I never thought of Gunn as a jazz musician, and he doesn't have to be one when filling in behind Amba's sax or piano (even more indebted to Charles Gayle than her sax), but when she sings, he presents a Velvet Underground vibe so she can be Moe Tucker. No attempt at fusion here. Just multiplicities. A- [sp]

Chris Byars: Boptics (2023 [2024], SteepleChase): Tenor saxophonist, what you might call a retro-bebopper, probably the most talented musician to first appear on Luke Kaven's early 2000s Smalls label, which also produced exceptional records by two more musicians in this sextet: Zaid Nasser (alto sax) and Ari Roland (bass). They're joined here by Stefano Doglioni (bass clarinet), John Mosca (trombone), and Keith Balla (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Kim Cass: Levs (2023 [2024], Pi): Bassist, second album, composed everything here, mostly for pianist Matt Mitchell, who he's supported in the past, and is striking (as usual) here. Also with Tyshawn Sorey (drums), and (except for 3-4 tracks) flute (Laura Cocks) and euphonium (Adam Dotson). B+(***) [cd]

Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop: A Canadian Songbook (2022 [2024], Three Pines): Canadian drummer, based in Toronto, half-dozen albums since his 2015 Turboprop introduced his group name. Sextet with two saxophonists (Tara Davidson and Joel Frahm), trombone (William Carn), piano (Adrean Farrugia), and bass (Dan Loomis). Songs are sentimental favorites in his neck of the woods, but they travel well. B+(***) [bc]

Coco Chatru Quartet: Future (2024, Trygger Music): Swedish group, named for "a legendary Swedish adventurer," label for bassist Håkan Trygger, who wrote four (of eight) pieces, with two each by Daniel Kåse (drums) and Linus Kåse (alto sax), zero by Charlie Malmberg (baritone sax). Slippery postbop, somewhat understated. B+(***) [lp]

Alfredo Colón: Blood Burden (2023 [2024], Out of Your Head): Alto saxophonist, based in Brooklyn, first album, quartet with Lex Korten (piano/keybs), Steve Williams (bass), and Connor Parks (drums), original pieces plus a Son House blues. This develops impressively, in the "spiritual jazz" vein pioneered by Coltrane, Sanders, and Ayler, alongside more recent efforts by saxophonists like Nat Birchall. A- [cd]

GloRilla: Ehhthang Ehhthang (2024, Cocaine Muzik Group/Interscope): Rapper Gloria Hallelujah Woods, from Memphis, two albums, this one's considered her second mixtape, crunk (I've read). Lot of b&n here (as in "ain't no b in me, n"). If you can roll with that, this should rock you. B+(***) [sp]

Conrad Herwig: The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner (2024, Savant): Trombonist, born in Oklahoma, studied at UNT, joined Clark Terry's 1980s band, played with Joe Henderson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Joe Lovano, Mingus Big Band; first leader album in 1987, joined Eddie Palmieri in 1994, and recorded his initial The Latin Side of John Coltrane in 1996, since followed by Shorter, Hancock, Henderson, Silver, Mingus, and now Tyner. This one has Alex Norris (trumpet), Craig Handy (tenor/baritone sax), Bill O'Connell (piano), with the usual percussion excitement, and a special guest slot for Palmieri. B+(**) [sp]

Janel & Anthony: New Moon in the Evil Age (2024, Cuneiform): Janel Leppin (cello) and Anthony Pirog (guitar), self-released an album together in 2006, another for Cuneiform in 2012. They've since gone on to establish separate careers, but reunite here for what is effectively two albums: the first a ten-track suite of darkly engaging duet instrumentals, the second a singer-songwriter set with Leppin doing most of the singing -- jazz-influenced, no doubt, but not something one would note in a blindfold test. I find the songs a tad more appealing, but probably for the music, as I can't say much about the lyrics. B+(**) [cdr]

Mathias Højgaard Jensen: Is as Is (2022 [2024], Fresh Sound New Talent): Danish bassist, lives in Brooklyn, probably his first album as leader (Discogs has three side credits since 2019, his website has 13), all his pieces, quartet with David Mirarchi (alto sax), Jacob Sacks (piano), and Steven Crammer (drums). This is very nice: subtle and intricate postbop that sneaks up on you. A- [cd]

Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O: True Story (2020-21 [2024], New Soil/Mushroom Hour): South African trombonist, second group album. B+(**) [sp]

Alex Kautz: Where We Begin (2024, Sunnyside): Brazilian drummer, based in New York, married to Mexican singer Magos Herrera (featured on two songs here), with John Ellis (tenor sax/clarinet), Chico Pinheiro (guitar), Helio Alves (piano), and Joe Martin (bass). B+(*) [cd]

Cassie Kinoshi's SEED.: Gratitude (2023 [2024], International Anthem): British alto saxophonist, plays in the Afrobeat group Kokoroko, leads the large SEED Ensemble (first album in 2019, nominated for Mercury Prize, was upper case then but lower case now), which is a skeletal big band plus string quartet, flute, tuba, and turntables. Title piece runs 21:56, is packaged with a slightly smaller group on a 5:42 piece (so 27:38 total). B+(*) [sp]

Charlie Kohlhase's Explorer's Club: A Second Life (2022 [2024], Mandorla Music): Saxophonist (alto, tenor, baritone), based in Boston, Discogs credits him on 48 albums since 1985 (many with Either/Orchestra) but Wikipedia hasn't noticed yet, third group album, an octet with tenor sax (Seth Meicht), trumpet (Dan Rosenthal), trombone (Jeb Bishop), tuba (Josiah Reibstein), guitar (Eric Hofbauer), bass, and drums. Originals plus covers from Elmo Hope, Ornette Coleman, John Tchicai, and Roswell Rudd. The bottom horns provide a lot of lift. A- [sp]

Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is to Love (2023 [2024], Cuneiform): Cellist, released the album Ensemble Volcanic Ash in 2022, same basic group and concept here but I'm annoyed by the typography, so this is my solution. The music can also annoy, but also can turn remarkable, even living up to this hype: "progressive chamber jazz with the steely avant-garde that descends from Julius Hemphill's 1972 LP Dogon A.D." Hemphill's secret was cellist Abdul Wadud, whose name appears in the opening "Ode." Sextet with Brian Settles (tenor sax), Sarah Hughes (alto sax), Anthony Pirog (guitar), Luke Stewart (bass), and Larry Ferguson (drums). B+(***) [cdr]

Frank London/The Elders: Spirit Stronger Than Blood (2023 [2024], ESP-Disk): Trumpet player, has extensive experience in klezmer music (Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave, Klezmer Brass Allstars, Klezmer Conservatory Band) as well as straight jazz -- here often evoking Ellington and Mingus, with tributes to Lester Bowie and Ron Miles. B+(***) [cd]

Megan Thee Stallion: Megan (2024, Hot Girl): Rapper Megan Pete, fourth album (plus several EPs) since 2019, I usually like her raunch and roll, but runs long here, for mixed results. B+(***) [sp]

Che Noir: The Color Chocolate, Volume 1 (2024, Poetic Movement, EP): Rapper Marche Lashawn, from Buffalo, Discogs lists as Che'Noir, cover looks more like Chè Noir. EP is four songs, 10:58, but Discogs has more cuts, and Wikipedia has nothing, which is odd given that Discogs lists seven songs and six singles/EPs. Even at this length, this feels pretty substantial. B+(**) [sp]

Clarence Penn: Behind the Voice (2024, Origin): Drummer, has several albums, one original here plus a batch of soul & rock standards from the 1970s-80s, roughly Stevie Wonder to Prince, with sides of Peter Gabriel and Don Henley, employing five guest singers, with Kurt Elling the one you've heard of (but may not want to hear). B+(*) [cd]

Ken Peplowski: Unheard Bird (2024, Arbors): Supposedly another chapter of "Bird with Strings": a first recording of arrangements commissioned for Charlie Parker. The leader, playing clarinet and tenor sax, is not a very obvious choice for this project, but if the idea is simply to make Bird cornier, who is? Peplowski leads a very capable quintet with Terell Stafford (trumpet), Glenn Zaleski (piano), Peter Washington ( bass), and Willie Jones III (drums), while Loren Schoenberg conducts an orchestra of strings, harp, and oboe. B- [sp]

Ken Peplowski: Live at Mezzrow [Smalls Live Living Masters Series] (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): This is more like what he's done so consistently since 1989: tenor sax and clarinet, playing swing standards with the occasional bop reference (Monk, Hank Jones), leading a rhythm section that's been doing just that for decades: Ted Rosenthal (piano), Martin Wind (bass), Willie Jones III (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Carla Santana/José Lencastre/Maria do Mar/Gonçalo Almeida: Defiant Ilussion (2023 [2024], A New Wave of Jazz): Electronics, alto/tenor sax, violin, bass quartet, recorded in Portugal. B+(***) [bc]

Dirk Serries/Rodrigo Amado/Andrew Lisle: The Invisible (2021 [2024], Klanggalerie): Belgian guitarist, Portuguese tenor saxophonist, English drummer, recorded in Belgium, three pieces (56:44). Amado is superb when he gets out front. B+(***) [bc]

Matthew Shipp: The Data (2021 [2024], RogueArt, 2CD): Pianist, brilliant, many albums since the late 1980s, probably has a dozen solos by now, with this one of the better ones, if you're at all so inclined. B+(***) [cdr]

TV Smith: Handwriting (2024, JKP/Easy Action): T for Timothy, was singer-songwriter in British punk band the Adverts, released two 1977-78 albums, best remembered for the single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes," but the song I always think of is "One Chord Wonders." He formed another band, then went solo in 1983, and has recorded pretty regularly since 1992 -- way off my radar. Older now, which means slower, and anger ripened into bitterness, and therefore gravitas. B+(***) [sp]

Anthony Stanco: Stanco's Time (2023 [2024], OA2): Trumpet player, second album, side credits back to 2011, half originals, half jazz standards from Ellington and early boppers (Parker, Monk, Dameron, Davis), half with "Time" in the title. With Randy Napoleon (guitar), Xavier Davis (piano), bass, drums, and on three cuts, Walter Blanding (tenor sax). B+(**) [cd]

TiaCorine: Almost There (2024, South Scope/Interscope, EP): Rapper from North Carolina, merged her first two names together, omitting Thompson Shultz, mother is Shoshone, father has roots in Japan and Africa. She released an EP in 2020, an album in 2022, back here with eight songs, 16:38. Title is about right. B+(**) [sp]

Ryan Truesdell: Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions (2022-23 [2024], ArtistShare, 3CD): Composer/arranger/conductor, started as Maria Schneider's assistant, made his name with "Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans," has conducted "The Music of Bob Brookmeyer." Here he's composed a bit and arranged or at least currated a lot of new compositions for string quartet, with a few strategic guest spots. B+(**) [cdr]

Steve Turre: Sanyas (2023 [2024], Smoke Sessions): Trombonist, also plays conch shells, couple dozen albums since 1987, quite a bit of side work (Discogs lists 224 albums he played trombone on). Live sextet here with Nicholas Payton (trumpet), Ron Blake (tenor sax), Isaiah Thompson (piano), Buster Williams (bass), and Lenny White (drums). Starts with title track, which Turre wrote for Woody Shaw's The Moontrane (1974), evoking the classic trombone-augmented hard bop sextets of the 1960s. Ends with a very nice "These Foolish Things." B+(***) [sp]

Lisa Ullén: Heirloom (2023 [2024], Fönstret): Swedish pianist, born in Seoul, South Korea, over a dozen albums under her own name since 2006, more side-credits. First solo album, each side with a variation on the same three-part suite. B+(**) [bc]

Jack Walrath: Live at Smalls (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Trumpet player, started out with Mingus in the mid-1970s, debut album 1979, had an impressive run in the 1990s, has five albums on SteepleChase since 2008 -- quite a bit of work I should catch up on. Quintet here with Abraham Burton (tenor sax), George Burton (piano), Boris Kozlov (bass), and Donald Edwards (drums), revisiting his songbook and adding to the legacy ("A Bite of Tunisia," "Mood for Muhal," etc.). B+(***) [sp]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Fu##in' Up (2023 [2024], Reprise): Live album, from Tivoli in Toronto, reprising their 1990 album Ragged Glory, a pretty solid A- at the time, dropping one song ("Mother Earth"), renaming most of the rest (title song becomes "Heart of Steel"), length up 1:50. Hard to see this as necessary, but sounds good and gets better. B+(***) [r]

Denny Zeitlin: Panoply (2012-23 [2024], Sunnyside): Pianist, 86 now, has recorded since 1964, while pursuing a parallel career in psychiatry. This offers a good survey of his range, from solo pieces (2012) to a trio (2019) with Buster Williams and Matt Wilson, plus home recordings in a duo with George Marsh (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Christer Bothén Featuring Bolon Bata: Trancedance [40th Anniversary Edition] (1984 [2024], Black Truffle): Swedish tenor sax/bass clarinet player, first albums were with Don Cherry, this was the first he led, Bolon Bata the band name, went on to a second album in 1988. Before this he lived and studied in Mali and Morocco, also playing doson n'goni and guimbri here, the large groups featuring other African instruments, and various vocals. A- [bc]

Johnny Griffin Quartet: Live in Valencia 92 [The Jordi Suñol Archives 3] (1992 [2024], Storyville): Tenor saxophonist (1928-2008), distinguished himself with Thelonious Monk in the 1950s, had a major career in the 1960s, recorded consistently during the 1970s and 1980s (on widely scattered labels), enjoyed something of a comeback in the 1990s. Live set from Spain -- part of a series of archives that started with albums by Phil Woods and Mulgrew Miller -- with Hervé Sellin (piano), Reggie Johnson (bass), and Doug Sides (drums). Opens fast, closes gently. B+(***) [sp]

Shelly Manne & His Men: Jazz From the Pacific Northwest (1958-66 [2024], Reel to Real): Drummer (1920-84), started in swing bands, quickly adapted to bebop and majored in cool jazz; played with Stan Kenton, André Previn, and Ornette Coleman; led small groups, his 1959 Black Hawk sets with Richie Kamuca and Victor Feldman are especially esteemed. Two LPs here, the first from Monterey in 1958 with Stu Williamson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax), Russ Freeman (piano), and Monty Budwig (bass); the second from Seattle in 1966 has Conte Candoli (trumpet), Frank Strozier (flute/alto sax), Hampton Hawes (piano), Budwig, and Ruth Price (vocals). B+(**) [sp]

Brother Jack McDuff: Ain't No Sunshine: Live in Seattle (1972 [2024], Reel to Real): Organ player (1926-2001), recorded 20-plus albums for Prestige 1960-66, establishing himself as one of the main soul jazz talents of the period, recording much less prolifically thereafter (for Atlantic, Blue Note, Cadet, and after 1992 for Concord). This is previously unreleased, a couple of nice sets with sax (Leo Johnson or Dave Young) and sometimes trumpet (unknown), as well as guitar and drums. B+(*) [sp]

Shelly Manne & His Men: Jazz From the Pacific Northwest (1958-66 [2024], Reel to Real): Drummer (1920-84), started in swing bands, quickly adapted to bebop and majored in cool jazz; played with Stan Kenton, André Previn, and Ornette Coleman; led small groups, his 1959 Black Hawk sets with Richie Kamuca and Victor Feldman are especially esteemed. Two LPs here, the first from Monterey in 1958 with Stu Williamson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax), Russ Freeman (piano), and Monty Budwig (bass); the second from Seattle in 1966 has Conte Candoli (trumpet), Frank Strozier (flute/alto sax), Hampton Hawes (piano), Budwig, and Ruth Price (vocals). B+(**) [sp]

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre: Live From Studio Rivbea: July 12, 1975 [Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 1] (1975 [2024], No Business): Tenor saxophonist (1936-2013), born in Arkansas, grew up in Chicago (AACM, two albums on Delmark), and on to New York, where he played in the streets, subways, and lofts, first recording as Kalaparusha in 1970, with an uptick in activity around 1998. The label has done a terrific job of releasing archival tapes by Sam Rivers, who was the central figure in New York's "loft scene, so it's nice to see them building out. B+(***) [cd]

Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (1984 [2024], Sundazed/Modern Harmonic): Solo organ performance, described here as "like a cross between a demonically riffing '50s horror movie villain and a futuristic congregation leader delivering the interplanetary gospel," and indeed this instrument often evokes church and/or horror movies. I'm not particularly fond of either. B [sp]

Old music:

Christer Bothén Trio: Triolos (2003-04 [2006], LJ): Leader plays bass clarinet, ngoni, guimbri; trio with David Stackenäs (guitar) and Peter Söderberg (theorbo, lute, guitar, low budget electronics). Rather abstract, more interesting than compelling. B+(**) [sp]

Ernesto Cervini: Joy (2021 [2022], Three Pines): Toronto-based drummer, composer, several albums, also a tireless publicist for his fellow Canadian musicians (many, including guest vocalists, featured here), credits this as "inspired by Louise Penny's Gamache series of books and the qualities of goodness, decency, courage, and love that permeate them." B+(**) [sp]

Maurice McIntyre: Humility in the Light of the Creator (1969, Delmark): Tenor saxophonist, first album, two suites ("Ensemble Love" and "Ensemble Fate"), the first dominated by George Hines' incantatory vocal, the latter picks up piano (Amina Claudine Myers) and more horns (Leo Smith on trumpet, John Stubblefield on soprano sax). B+(**) [sp]

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre: Forces and Feelings (1970 [1972], Delmark): Second album, cover has "Kalaparusha" in large type on top line, title (smaller, because it's longer) on second line, then "Maurice McIntyre" (smaller still) as third line, while the back cover credits tenor sax, clarinet, flute, and bells to "Kalaparusha Ahra Difda." Backed by guitar (Sarnie Garrett), bass (Fred Hopkins), and drums (Wesley Tyus), with vocals by Rita Omolokun. B+(**) [sp]

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre Quartet: Peace and Blessings (1979, Black Saint): Italian label, became a major outlet for American "loft scene" veterans (especially David Murray). This was recorded in Milan, with Longineau Parsons on trumpet (both also playing related instruments), Leonard Jones (bass), and King L. Mock (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Jack Walrath Quintet: In Europe (1982 [1983], SteepleChase): Trumpet player, played with Mingus in the 1970s (and later in various Mingus big bands), early in his career as a leader, with a relatively unknown group (Anthony Cox, on bass, is the only one I recognize), for a set in Copenhagen, playing four of his pieces. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Robby Ameen: Live at the Poster Museum (Origin) [07-26]
• BassDrumBone: Afternoon (Auricle) [06-24]
• Mai-Liis: Kaleidoscope (OA2) [07-26]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

prev -- next