Daily Log

I woke up today early for me, a bit after nine, and read the chapter on Theodor Herzl in Shlomo Avineri's The Making of Modern Zionism. I tried going back to sleep, but never really made it, spending over an hour thinking, mostly about memoirs and the "obits" piece, which turned into an idea that I figure I should write down, a possible chapter for my "Utopian Essays & Practical Proposals" file (UEPP).

The idea is to build a "national registry": database, servers, and tools, all built and paid for by the government, using open source software. This would tie into several other UEPP topics, including: subsidized open source development; universal free computing infrastructure, with secure identification and strict protocols on privacy and tracking; and various applications that can be build thereupon. The Registry is an example of the latter.

Needless to say, in order for any of this to work, government has to become much more trustworthy than it is now, or might ever be as long as businesses and/or political organizations are allowed to shape and exploit technology for their own gain. That is a daunting challenge in its own right, so will largely be glossed over here. But I will say that the ability to implement proposals like this one, and have them accepted and used by large numbers of people, not only depends on much greater trustworthiness, it would also be a benefit of much better government.

The registry is a single, common repository for information about all people under its domain (let's say nation, so citizens and resident aliens, but could reference others). Each person, living or dead, would have a permanent record, initially drawn from public information. Other entities, like corporations, are also to be represented. Each record would list relationships and dates, minimally providing geneology and census data, so this would suffice as a public resource that could replace private ones like Ancestry.com.

Obviously, not all facts are known, so that needs to be noted, and information added needs to be identified and validated to whatever degree possible. There needs to be a system for adding comment on all items in the record, and a process for deciding what to keep, to question, and/or to prune from the records. In addition to the structured entries, it should be possible to add notes, including photos or other media, with their metadata.

The registry should be keyed to an identification system that can be used for all practical purposes. That's a separate project, and way beyond my competency to design, but would be useful for lots of things. There is much resistance to developing any sort of national identity system, although what we have now is worse, a bunch of incompatible systems (some federal, some state, many more imposed by the private sector), unreliable, hard to use, susceptible to excessive tracking, impossible to coordinate (a feature, if you believe the systems cannot be trusted).

The purpose of the identity system here is to keep track of who submits data, and who is permitted to see and manage it. One should generally be able to see and manage one's own data, and/or delegate this to a guardian. There should be rules for classes of data, where some is public, some is restricted, and some is private (with a strict process for law enforcement and admissibility in court). There should be a policy for disclosing additional information some time after death.

One example of data that needs to be collected but should not be exposed (at least by default) is contact information. One could use this for secure messages without disclosing the recipient's address. The process could be double-blind, so contact info can only be disclosed in the message content. The process could also evaluate the message for risks, notify the receiver whether the sender has a history of bad faith, and/or require additional points of identification or reference. This would be a big improvement over current systems, which shake you down to provide bits of information (like phone numbers) they've scraped from various places.

Some data should be available for statistical aggregation, in a form that validates the data without compromising the identity of its sources. This might be an owner option, with the researchers required to submit public proposals specifying their data request.

The database could conceivably grow to enormous dimensions. It would be tempting to hang all sorts of ancillary information on it -- basically anything that can be organized primarily by person (e.g., medical histories, criminal records, taxes). That needs to be worked out. What I'm more immediately interested in is the question that occurs every time I read an obituary: who was this person? I find standard obituary form very stultifying in this regard, especially as they are mostly revenue schemes perpetrated by newspapers. This might be a neat job for well-regulated AI: dig through the data, and condense it into a sensible one-to-three paragraphs.

Obviously, you don't want to train AI on the whole database, but the one thing it's most likely to be good for is sucking up, sorting, and summarizing a lot of data fast. I don't know how many people are interested in finding this out, but I'm guessing a lot of people would find this interesting. And I like the idea of blurring the boundary between the grandees the New York Times writes about and those literally buried in the back pages of their local (and fast disappearing) rags.

I didn't stop with this proposal. I also came up with a second idea, not unrelated, and not one that had never occurred to me before, but worth mentioning here: demand-only advertising. Back when I was working in advertising, I got rather deep into the art and science of it all, but later reverted to my initial instinct that it's one of the most completely evil things in the world today. At one point, I started a lexicon/keywords book, where I would write a page of two on a hundred or so terms.

One of the first I wrote was on advertising. I can't find that particular rant, but it started by denying that advertising is ever free speech. It is expensive speech, but calculated to pay dividends by manipulating people -- to shell out their money is merely the most mundane of the ulterior purposes it serves. Still, I find there are times when I'm desperate enough for information I'll go seeking out ads, skeptical as I am.

So let's imagine a system where advertisers are prohibited from pushing their messages, especially in media that you can't shut off or easily ignore (radio is the worst in that respect) or at least control the pace (with print you can usually skip ahead). But let the advertisers package their pitches, and put them on a server you can access when you finally want to.

We have a rough approximation of such a system today, in Amazon. It could be better organized, with better query tools, and options to buy elsewhere, as well as more warnings not to buy at all. Actually, this is one of several areas where Amazon has made real progress for us, only to run it as a predatory monopoly scam. Their "Marketplace" isn't a wheel we need to reinvent. The best solution would be to nationalize it, then make it more ethical. Same for their warehousing/shipping business. They've proven the efficiency advantages of scale. Breaking it up won't produce any more efficiency; if anything, the opposite. But why can every retailer enjoy the same level playing field? Or for that matter, every manufacturer (cutting the middle men out)?

Music Week

Expanded blog post, February archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 11 A-list

Music: Current count 41900 [41864] rated (+36), 22 [20] unrated (+2).

Running late this week, but managed to get most things done that had to be done. Still, I'm a frazzled, nervous wreck as I try to wrap up this introduction, so don't expect much.

I didn't get done with Speaking of Which by bedtime Sunday, so (once again) posted what I had, with the promise of a Monday update. But I've made very little progress on that today, so I don't know where that leaves us. I still expect to post this by bedtime Monday evening, even if it's in a similar state of disarray. There is some chance of further updates on Tuesday, but right now I'm growing sick of all of it.

I did wrap up the February Streamnotes file (except for the last Music Week, which I may still manage to add, and the indexing, which I certainly won't get done in time). At least the empty March Streamnotes file is opened.

I also managed to save off my frozen year 2023 list. Subsequent additions to the active one will be flagged in a distinctive color. It looks like I added 91 such post-freeze records to the year 2022 file.

I added a few more lists to the EOY aggregate, most notably the long Aquarium Drunkard list, which pointed me to a few items and suggested many more. I had trouble focusing on things last week, so rated count was down, but A-list exploded from 2 last week to 9 this week (plus two upgrades from revisits -- I've been meaning to return to Bryan and Crowell; also, but not yet, Brandy Clark and Tyler Childers. That helped the Non-Jazz A-list catch up with the Jazz, now 84-83.

New records reviewed this week:

• Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville: Music by and for Sam Jones (2023 [2024], Hot Cup, EP): [cd]: B+(***)
• Advancing on a Wild Pitch: Disasters, Vol. 2 (2023 [2024], Hot Cup): [bc]: A-
• Tanner Adell: Buckle Bunny (2023, Columbia, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
• Eric Alexander: A New Beginning: Alto Saxophone With Strings (2021 [2023], HighNote): [sp]: B+(**)
• Aunty Rayzor: Viral Wreckage (2023, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: B+(***)
• Annie Chen: Guardians (2022-23 [2024], JZ Music): [cd]: B
• Daggerboard: Escapement (2022 [2024], Wide Hive): [cd]: B+(**) [03-08]
• DJ Finale: Mille Morceau (2023, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [sp]: A-
• Drain: Living Proof (2023, Epitaph): [sp]: B+(*)
• Emmeluth's Amoeba: Nonsense (2021 [2024], Moserobie): [cd]: A-
• Christian Fabian Trio: Hip to the Skip (2022-23 [2024], Spicerack): [cd]: B+(*)
• Friends & Neighbors: Circles (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(***)
• Romulo Fróes and Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (2023, YB Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Glass Beach: Plastic Death (2024, Run for Cover): [sp]: B-
• Gordon Grdina/Christian Lillinger: Duo Work (2023 [2024], Attaboygirl): [cd]: B+(***)
• Gordon Grdina's the Marrow: With Fathieh Honari (2023 [2024], Attaboygirl): [cd]: B+(***)
• Enrique Heredia Trio: Plays Herbie Nichols (2019-22 [2024], Fresh Sound): [sp]: B+(***)
• Kabeaushé: The Coming of Gaze (2023, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: B+(*)
• Kabeaushé: Hold On to Deer Life, There's a Blcak Boy Behind You! (2023, Monkeytown): [sp]: B
• Noah Kahan: Stick Season (2022, Mercury/Republic): [sp]: B+(***)
• Kaze: Unwritten (2023 [2024], Circum/Libra): [cd]: B+(***)
• Anni Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (2023 [2024], We Jazz): [sp]: B+(***)
• Doug MacDonald: Sextet Session (2023 [2024], DMAC Music): [cd]: B+(**) [03-01]
• Eliza McLamb: Going Through It (2024, Royal Mountain): [sp]: B+(***)
• Chase Rice: I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell (2023, Broken Bow): [sp]: A-
• RVG: Brain Worms (2023, Ivy League/Fire): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sunny Five [Tim Berne/David Torn/Ches Smith/Devin Hoff/Marc Ducret]: Candid (2022 [2024], Intakt): [sp]: B+(***)
• Kali Uchis: Orquídeas (2024, Geffen): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Herb Geller: Fire in the West (1957 [2023], Jazz Workshop): [sp]: A-
• Ghetto Brothers: Power-Fuerza (1972 [2024], Vampisoul): [sp]: B+(*)
• If You Want to Make a Lover: Palm Wine, Akan Blues & Early Guitar Highlife, Pt. 1 (1920s-50s [2023], Death Is Not the End): [sp]: B+(*)
• If You Want to Make a Lover: Palm Wine, Akan Blues & Early Guitar Highlife, Pt. 2 (1920s-50s [2023], Death Is Not the End): [bc]: B+(**)
• Melba Liston: Melba Liston and Her 'Bones (1958 [2023], Jazz Workshop): [yt]: A-
• Los Mohanes: La Tumbia (2017 [2023], Moli Del Tro): [sp]: B+(*)
• Don Menza & Sam Noto: Steppin': Quartet Live (1980 [2023], Fresh Sound): [sp]: B+(***)

Old music:

• Abyssinia Infinite Featuring Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw: Zion Roots (2003, Network): [yt]: A-
• Afrorack: The Afrorack (2022, Hakuna Kulala): [sp]: A-

Grade (or other) changes:

• Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (2023, Warner): [sp]: [was: B+(***)] A-
• Rodney Crowell: The Chicago Sessions (2023, New West): [sp]: [was: B+(**)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Albare: Beyond Belief (AM) [02-12]
• Ian Carey & Wood Metal Plastic: Strange Arts (Slow & Steady) [03-22]
• Stephan Crump: Slow Water (Papillon Sounds) [05-03]
• Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows: Heartland Radio (SoundSpore) [03-16]
• David Leon: Bird's Eye (Pyroclastic) [03-08]
• Queen Esther: Things Are Looking Up (EL) [04-09]
• Ron Rieder: Latin Jazz Sessions (self-released) [03-04]
• Jeremy Rose & the Earshift Orchestra: Discordia (Earshift Music) [03-01]
• Jacob Shulman: High Firmament/Ferment Below (Endectomorph Music, 2CD) [03-01]
• Julia Vari Feat. Negroni's Trio: Somos (Alternative Representa) [02-16]
• Fay Victor/Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms, 2CD) [04-05]

Speaking of Which

Blog link.

Once again, I failed to finish my rounds by end-of-Sunday, so I'm posting what I have, with the expectation that I'll add more on Monday (look for red right-border stripes). One thing I didn't get to but seems likely to be worthwhile adding is No More Mister Nice Blog. That's where I first ran into the Katie Glueck article, and I see relevant posts on many of this week's politics articles. Charles P Pierce also has worthwhile takes on most of this.

Initial count: 154 links, 7,499 words. Updated count: 178 links, 8,813 words.

Top story threads:

Israel: The genocide continues.

Reported casualty figures, as of 2/23, show 1,147 Israelis killed on October 7, plus 576 Israelis killed since. Palestinian deaths -- certainly undercounted -- are 29,514 in Gaza + 380 elsewhere in Israel. Since Oct. 7, Israelis are killing more than 51 Palestinians in Gaza for every soldier lost. No breakdown between soldiers lost in invading Gaza vs. elsewhere, but the latter numbers are probably very small. The kill ratio increases to 65-to-1 using the 38,000 estimate "when accounting for those presumed dead."

• Mondoweiss:

  • [02-19] Day 136: Netanyahu approves Ramadan restrictions on Al-Aqsa Mosque: "Hamas slams Israel over plans to restrict access of Palestinian worshipers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, more Palestinians die from preventable causes as Israel besieges hospitals in Gaza."

  • [02-20] Day 137: Israel builds highway cutting Gaza Strip in two: "Several patients evacuated Nasser Hospital while dozens remain trapped under the Israeli siege of Khan Younis. Meanwhile, Palestine called on the ICJ to end the Israeli occupation, and Brazil's Lula likened Israel's Gaza genocide to Nazi Germany."

  • [02-21] Day 138: US vetoes another UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza: "The U.S. vetoed another resolution in the UN Security Council calling for a Gaza ceasefire as the WHO evacuates 32 critical patients from besieged Nasser Hospital, and the World Food Program is forced to suspend distribution amid mounting famine."

  • [02-22] Day 139: As Palestinians in north Gaza starve, Israel attacks MSF building in Rafah: "The situation in Gaza grows worse by the day as Palestinians are starved and Israeli forces turn hospitals into morgues. In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, tensions rise as Ramadan approaches."

  • [02-23] Day 140: UN experts urge countries to stop arming Israel as Netanyahu unveils postwar plan: "Benjamin Netanyahu's postwar plan would see Israel exerting direct control over a demilitarized Gaza Strip while permanently dismantling UNRWA and assigning "local officials" to govern civilian affairs."

  • [02-24] Day 141: Israel attacks civilian shelter in Deir el-Balah as ceasefire talks continue in Paris: "Israeli forces attacked a building in Deir el-Balah where more than 120 people were sheltering, killing at least 24. Medical staff at nearby Al Aqsa Hospital expect many more casualties and are struggling to deal with the influx of wounded civilians."

  • [02-25] Day 142: UN experts call for immediate arms embargo on Israel: "Israel bombs near Egypt's fortified wall with Rafah as talks resume to reach a captive exchange with Hamas. UN experts call for arms embargo against Israel and say states supplying weapons, ammunition or intelligence risk violating international law."

• Yuval Abraham: [02-23] Settlers and army blocking West Bank roads to Palestinians: "Makeshift barriers erected since October 7 have sealed off dozens of Palestinian communities."

• Samer Badawi: [02-19] Laying the groundwork for Gaza's permanent exodus: "With Egypt reportedly preparing for an influx of refugees and UNRWA on the brink of collapse, Israel's second Nakba fantasies could soon become reality."

• Zack Beauchamp: [02-20] How Israel's war went wrong: "The conflict in Gaza has become "an era-defining catastrophe." It's increasingly clear what -- and who -- is to blame."

• Josh Breiner/Bar Peleg: [02-22] Israeli Nova partygoer was misidentified as Hamas terrorist on October 7 and killed by Israeli forces. More examples like this are likely to come out. When Israel reduced its Oct. 7 death count from 1,400 to under 1,200, one wonders how much of that was bad counting, and how much reclassifying?

• Isaac Chotiner: [02-24] "Trying to project the death toll from Israel's military campaign over the next six months." On a report from Johns Hopkins University Center for Humanitarian Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I suspect their "worst case scenario" isn't nearly as bad as it could get. But even with a ceasefire today, they're projecting over 15,000 "excess deaths" in the next six months.

• Osama Gaweesh: [02-24] Buffer zone in Sinai: Is Sisi preparing to displace the Palestinians?

• Yousef Khelfa: [02-20] My medical colleagues in Gaza are exhausted, and terrified of what is to come: "When I left Gaza two weeks ago, my colleagues at the European Hospital in Khan Younis were already overwhelmed. Now, they are terrified Israel will invade the hospital and kill patients like they did at nearby Nasser Hospital."

• Ibtisam Mahdi: [02-17] The obliteration of Gaza's multi-civilizational treasures: "Israel's war has brought ruin to thousands of years of rich heritage in Gaza, with Palestinian experts decrying the destruction as a cultural genocide."

• Nicole Narea: [02-23] Netanyahu's postwar "plan" for Gaza is no plan at all: "Netanyahu's plan is wildly disconnected from US priorities -- and reality."

• Jonathan Ofir:

  • [02-21] How Haaretz has aided Israel's genocide in Gaza: "Haaretz is widely considered Israel's leading liberal news source, but it has published and promoted some of the most harmful propaganda in support of Israel's genocide in Gaza."

  • [02-23] Over 2/3 of Jewish Israelis oppose humanitarian aid to Palestinians starving in Gaza.

• Oren Ziv: [02-20] Rugs, cosmetics, motorbikes: Israeli soldiers loot Gaza homes en masse: "Soldiers describe how stealing Palestinian property has become totally routine in the Gaza war, with minimal pushback from commanders."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Ben Armbruster: [02-22] US intel has 'low confidence' in Israel's UNRWA claims.

• Michael Arria: [02-22] The Shift: US vetoes UN ceasefire resolution again: "Joe Biden has stepped up public criticisms of Israel to save his faltering electoral prospects in Michigan, but there remains an incredible disconnect between these words and his administration's ongoing support for Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza."

• Moustafa Bayoumi: [02-17] As Biden ignores death in Gaza, the 'Dark Brandon' meme is unfunny and too real.

• Miguel A Cruz-Díaz: [02-23] On the shame of living through times of genocide. The article, about "suicidal ideation," is not exactly what I imagined from the title, but I'm not wired to take other people's tragedies personally. (I was tempted to say "for empathy," but I can imagine even if I only rarely feel.) But the title is evocative. I don't advise you feeling shame for what other people -- and not just the perpetrators, but also those making excuses, or just shrugging their shoulders -- are doing, but they definitely should feel ashamed (and if not, should learn).

• Emily Davies/Peter Hermann/Dan Lamothe: [02-27] Airman who set self on fire grew up on religious compound, had anarchist past: Aaron Bushnell, whose protest echoed that of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc during the Vietnam War.

• Yves Engler: [02-21] The reasons for Canada's 'unwavering' support for Israel: "Canada's remarkable fidelity to an apartheid state committing genocide is driven by imperial geopolitics, settler solidarity, Christian Zionism and the Israel lobby in Canada, and the weaponization of antisemitism."

• Richard Falk: [02-25] In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in human history.

• Jonathan Freedland: [02-23] Hamas and Netanyahu are a curse on their peoples. Yet amid the horror, there is a sliver of hope: The "sliver" seems to be [02-23] Gaza ceasefire talks underway in Paris, but this ignores the core fact of this "war," which is that you don't need to negotiate a ceasefire when only one side is shooting. Just do it. Israel can even declare that if Palestinians do keep shooting rockets at Israel, there will be reprisals (short in time, but severe). That would be understandable. But negotiations just does something Israel claims it doesn't want to do, which is to elevate Hamas as the representative of the people of Gaza.

  The headline suggests that both Netanyahu and Hamas are unfortunate political choices, but Netanyahu was a choice, at least of the limited electorate within Israel, and there's plenty of reason to believe he's doing exactly what those who voted for him want. Hamas was never elected, because Palestinians have never been free to choose their own leaders. The West Bank is, well, complicated, but Gaza should be simple: all Israel has to do is stop attacking and step away. They've more than punished Hamas. They've destroyed most of the region's infrastructure. For at least the next 20 years, the only way people will be able to live in Gaza is through foreign aid, which they will basically have to beg for. If Israel takes itself out of the picture, and lets the UN organize a proper democratic government there, Hamas will release the hostages, and quietly disappear. (Sure, Hamas may still survive in the West Bank, and among exiles, but that shouldn't be Gaza's fault. Hamas has no life except as resistance to Israeli power.)

  The idea that some people who got to power purely through the use of terror -- and that's every bit as true of Netanyahu as of Hamas (and only slightly less for the Saudis and Americans and other parties invovled) -- can settle something in Paris that will bring peace to Gaza is absurd. Freedland writes: "To grasp it, the Palestinians need to be free of Hamas and Israelis free of Netanyahu." Swap those and you start to enter the realm of the possible: Palestinians need to be free of Netanyahu, which for Gaza at least is easy to do. And that would also make Israelis free of Hamas (except, of course, in the areas where they're still determined to rule rough over Palestinians, because such rule always begets resistance -- if not by Hamas, then by the next bunch that bands together to stand up for freedom and against injustice).

• Thomas L Friedman: [02-27] Israel is losing its greatest asset: acceptance: This is one of those "if even Thomas Friedman sees a problem . . ." pieces. Israelis have a handicap here: they're so conditioned to expecting that the whole world hates them, they can't imagine how much worse it can get, or how that might impact them. They figure as long as the US stays in line, no problem. And they figure the US is way too big to worry about its own diminishing acceptance.

• Mehdi Hasan: [02-21] Biden can end the bombing of Gaza right now. Here's how.

• Robert Inkalesh: [02-23] Why the US must enage Hamas politically: I don't agree with this now, but I do believe that I do believe that America's refusal to accept the results of the 2006 Palestinian Authority elections -- I believe Israel, which had always preferred Hamas to the secular-socialist PLO, was only following the American lead -- was largely responsible for pushing Hamas back into violent rebellion, including the desperate attacks of Oct. 7. There is, of course, much room for debate as to how to apportion blame for the continued repression and resistance. Israel's behavior is fully consistent as a white settler colony overseeing a rigidly racist system of control -- call it "Apartheid" if you like, but it differs in some from the disgraced South African system, and often for the worse. It reflects a demented and ultimately self-destructive worldview, but they are pretty clear on what they're doing, and why. As for Americans, they're much harder to explain. Having developed two (or maybe three) such rigidly racist systems, then dismantled them without ever owning up to their crimes, they're amazingly ingenious at lying to themselves and others -- hypocrisy is much too superficial a word -- for the way they so easily rationalize and romanticize Israeli brutality as high moral dudgeon.

• Jake Johnson: [02-22] "I think we should kill 'em all," GOP Rep. Andy Ogles says of Palestinians in Gaza. Makes him exhbit A (but not the only one) in:

  • Branko Marcetic: [02-24] US elected officials keep explicitly supporting genocide.

• Robert Lipsyte: [02-22] I'm heartbroken by the war in Israel.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [02-23] Biden won't let Israel's rejection of a Palestinian state interfere with his delusions.

• Philip Weiss: [02-21] The context for October 7 is apartheid, not the Holocaust: "The Israel lobby is attempting to indoctrinate Americans that the context for the October 7 attack is the Holocaust. This is a misrepresentation. The Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust."

America's expansion of Israel's world war:

• Spencer Ackerman:

  • [02-19] The US and Israel actually did retaliate against Iran: "They just did it through cyberattacks and pipeline bombings."

  • [02-21] American delusions at the International Court of Justice: "The US 'Rules-Based International Order' continues to eat international law alive."

• Samar Al-Bulushi/Ahmed Ibrahim: [02-21] US inks deal to build up to 5 bases in Somalia.

• Giorgio Cafiero: [02-19] Will Egypt suspend the Camp David Accords?

• Dave DeCamp: [02-22] $14 billion US aid package for Israel crafted to prepare for 'multi-front war,' not just Gaza.

• Julia Gledhill: [02-23] The new 'defense industrial strategy' is a boon for the arms makers, not so much for regular Americans.

• Eldar Mamedov: {02-23] The EU's flagging credibility in the Middle East.

• Ishaan Tharoor:

  • [02-21] The world confronts Israel over its occupation of Palestinian lands: "There is a growing global perception that Israel is at odds with the international system and reliant on the United States to shield it from further censure."

  • [02-23] In Ukraine and Gaza, twilight for the 'rules-based order': "Western leaders may see in Ukraine the defense of the 'rules-based order' against Russian brutishness, but in the ongoing calamity in Gaza, it's easy to also see its breakdown."

  • [02-27] Netanyahu's 'day after' plan for Gaza is unviable: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled a blanket rejection of any solutions that empower the Palestinians." Or to allow Palestinians any measure of dignity anywhere near Israel's vaunted Iron Wall. No one anywhere should credit Netanyahu as having any legitimacy to rule over Palestinians. I don't see any way to force his government from power, but he and it should be shamed and shunned with every option, including ICJ charges and sanctions. Sure, other governments treat their minorities with insufficient respect, but no other works so relentlessly to destroy their livelihood, and often their lives.

Trump, and other Republicans: Well, South Carolina is done and dusted -- see [02-24] Trump defeats Haley in South Carolina primary, 60.1% to 39.2% (at the point with 92% counted). Also, if you care, How different groups voted in the South Carolina primary, according to exit polls. Nothing terribly surprising there, except perhaps that Trump had his best age split in 17-29 (66% vs. 63% for 65+). [PS: The final delegate split was 47 Trump, 3 Haley.]

• Liz Anderson: [02-13] The crack-up of the Michigan GOP: "The trouble is, when the working-class WCN [White Christian Nationalists] takes over a party, their lack of and contempt for managerial skills, their conspiratorial mindset, and their inability to assume personal responsibility for their failures leads to organizational failure and financial crisis." Also on the Michigan GOP:

  • Dexter Filkins: [02-19] Matt Gaetz's chaos agenda.

  • Ira Glass/Zoe Chance: [2023-12-22] It wouldn't be make-believe if you'd believe in me: "A major political party in a major swing state bets on a new leader: a total political outsider. How does that work out for them?"

• Zack Beauchamp: [02-24] The South Carolina primary is a joke. It tells us something deadly serious: "Trump's seemingly inevitable romp to victory in Nikki Haley's home state reveals how strong his hold on the GOP is -- and how dangerous he remains to democracy."

• Jackie Calmes: [01-22] I watched a Trump rally so you don't have to. But you need to know what he's saying.

• Igor Derysh: [02-23] Experts trash Trump's "insultingly stupid" filing asking Judge Cannon to dismiss case: "Trump invoked presidential immunity and other arguments that have already been rejected by other courts."

• David Freedlander: [02-22] The Swiftboater coming for Biden: "With co-pilot Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita has brought discipline to the Trump campaign. Is that enough to win?"

• Margaret Hartmann: [02-21] Trump doubles down on making Navalny's death about him.

• Christopher Hooks: [02-25] The human toll of Greg Abbott's war at the border.

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [02-22] Running for president may be the only way for Trump to pay all his lawyers.

  • [02-25] Haley got crushed by Trump in her home state, but plans to keep losing. Interesting footnote here: "she was able to massively outspend Trump in South Carolina ($15 million to $900 thousand by one estimate)."

• Charisma Madarang: [02-23] Trump claims he's 'being indicted for the black population': "The ex-president additionally said 'the Black people like me' because he has been indicted four times." So, like, they can relate to a guy who has spent $50 million on lawyers to stay out of jail (for months, maybe even a year or two)?

• Ben Protess/Jonah E Bromwich: [02-24] Donald J Trump is racing against time to find a half-billion dollar bond.

• Jennifer Rubin:

  • [02-21] Trump idolizes Putin, the man who killed Navalny and invaded Ukraine. After being horrible for years, Rubin's conversion to anti-Republicanism was more convincing than most, but she's lost her marbles here. Trump doesn't idolize Putin. Trump only worships himself. Maybe he has a bit of grudging admiration for Putin, as a guy who gets away with doing things he can only dream of. Maybe he thinks Putin might be a fun guy to pal around with, like Jeffrey Epstein, but if so he's almost dead certain wrong. (Does Putin really strike you as the kind of guy who'd enjoy Trump's company?) Trump throws these gestures out mostly just to wind up the Russiagate libs, knowing they'll react hysterically, and knowing that when they do, that'll just reinforce the sense of his base that he's a straight shooter, one of the very few people in national politics who's not under the spell of the warmongering Deep State. Meanwhile, Rubin is only winding up her base, giving them talking points that seem archly moral but are instantly recognized by anyone not in the clique as hypocritical at best and quite likely seriously dangerous.

  • [02-25] Dim or disloyal? Republicans again ensnared in possible Russian plot. And here she goes again, although here we should also note how easy it is for Russian agents to play Republicans. After all, if you want to swindle someone, the easiest possible mark is someone who's convinced in his own con.

• Praveena Somasundaram: [02-25] Koch network ends financial support for Nikki Haley's presidential bid: Regular people may get a chance to vote in America, but only for candidates who have been vetted and backed by the very rich. And when that backing falters, the candidates have little choice but to withdraw (er, "suspend"). Having lost what appeared to be her two best chances (Trump-averse New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina), and now the biggest source of her funding, she has no chance of winning, and little of making much of a showing. Sure, as long as she's nominally in the race she'll continue to trounce Ron DeSantis (who still got 0.4% in South Carolina), and she's still got the fawning PR coming from Jim Geraghty and Kathleen Parker.

• Matt Stieb: [02-22] Was the Biden Crime Family informant a Russian asset?

• Kate Sullivan: [02-18] Trump launches sneaker line a day after judge's order to pay nearly $355 million.

• Tatyana Tandanpolie: [02-23] Bipartisan Wisconsin ethics commission refers Trump PAC for felony prosecution over alleged scheme: "Officials find evidence Trump's Save America committee skirted campaign finance laws to take down disloyal GOPer."

CPAC: The erstwhile conservative (more like fascist) organization held their annual conference last week, headlined by Donald Trump, so we'll offer this as a Republicans overflow section. Before we get serious, probably the best introduction here is: [02-23] Jimmy Kimmel on CPAC: 'A who's who of who won't accept the results of the election'.

• Daniel Dale: [02-24] Fact Check: Trump delivers another lie-filled CPAC speech.

• Ben Goggin: [02-24] Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies.

• Ellen Ioanes: [02-24] How US conservatives fell for two of Latin America's most controversial leaders: Javier Milei (Argentina) and Nayib Bukele (El Salvador), guest speakers at CPAC. Note that Viktor Orbán (Hungary) appeared in 2022, to reassure Americans that "a Christian politician cannot be racist." I used to think that the only saving grace of nationalists is that they'll never be able to band together because each still hates every other, but someone (Steve Bannon?) seems to have bridged those divides, delivering what seems like a Fraternal Order of Fascists. [PS: Nigel Farage was another speaker; so was Liz Truss.]

• Alex Isenstadt: [02-23] Trump's potential VPs turn on the flattery.

• Ben Jacobs: [02-24] Calling himself a 'political dissident,' Trump pitched regime change at CPAC.

• Gustaf Kilander: [02-25] 'Donald Trump is a juggernaut of justice': The most bizarre things said at CPAC 2024. That quote was from Kash Patel. Perhaps the most bizarre came from Stephen Miller, who declared "there is something really broken in the conservative brain," then proceeded to provide himself as an example.

• Kelly McClure: [02-24] Trump compares migrants to Hannibal Lecter in bizarre CPAC rant.

• Heather Digby Parton: [02-23] CPAC can't quench MAGA's thirst: "They don't want frat house humor and obscure Latin American leaders. They want blood."

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [02-26] Criticizing a president is always okay -- even one running against Trump: If you care about issues, you should say so, even when it's politically inexpedient. Otherwise, you lose your credibility, and any hope for eventual success. You reduce politics to a game, signifying nothing. If that's your view of it, you may already be a Republican -- although they've adopted some truly obnoxious issue stands, they're really just saying whatever they think gives them a slight advantage, because all they're really intererested in is power: seizing it, keeping it, cashing in on it.

• Aaron Boxerman/Jonathan Weisman: [02-24] Biden caught in a political bind over Israel policy: "His steadfast support of the Gaza war effort is angering young people and Arab Americans in an election year. But any change risks alienating Jewish voters." Not really: recent polling has Jewish Americans favoring a ceasefire 50-34%. That's not as high as support for a ceasefire from Americans in general, but not enough to justify the NYT's antisemitic trope of painting "the Jews" as responsible for Biden's colossal blunder.

• Jackie Calmes: [02-14] Biden's polls aren't great. How much is the media's fault?

• Ben Davis: [02-21] Biden visited East Palestine a year after Trump. This doesn't bode well.

• William Hartung: [01-31] Tone deaf? Admin brags about 55% hike in foreign arms sales: "Washington's sanitized view of unleashing $80.9 billion in weapons on the world, especially now, is a bit curious."

• Eric Levitz: [02-23] Biden is weak -- and unstoppable: "It will be hard to convince the president that he isn't the best of his party's bad options."

• Norman Solomon: [02-25] Joe Biden's moral collapse on Gaza could help Donald Trump win. I'm not going to not vote for Biden in November even though I regard him as not just naive and/or negligent but materially complicit in the most crime against humanity in recent decades, but only because I fully realize that Trump would even be worse (as, indeed, his four years as president amply demonstrated). Still, by all means, tank Biden's polls and trash his prospects, at least until he starts to reverse course. And also note that lots of people are not fully apprised of how awful Trump has been on Israel in particular and on world war in general -- indeed, he is campaigning, Wilson-like, on having "kept us out of war" and steering us away from the path to "world war" that Biden is heading (even though, sure one might even repeat Wilson-like, he's done more than anyone to pave that path). If Biden fails to get his war under control, enough people are likely to fall for Trump's line to tip the election. Also linked to by Solomon:

  • Jake Johnson: [02-14] Biden has no plan to punish Israel for Rafah invasion as UN warns of 'slaughter'.

  • Jack Mirkinson: [02-13] Biden is mad at Netanyahu? Spare me. "An infuriating, thuddingly predictable genre of article has emerged: the 'Biden is really upset with Israel behind the scenes' story."

  • Alexander Ward/Matt Berg: [02-13] US won't punish Israel for Rafah op that doesn't protect civilians.

• Robert Wright: [02-23] Biden's tough love deficit: Two years after Ukraine, and 20 weeks after Gaza, turned into massive wars:

  There are lots of differences between those two events and between the wars they've brought, but there's one important commonality: how President Biden has reacted. In both cases he has come to the aid of a friend in need and done so in a way that wasn't ultimately good for the friend. Biden is good at showing love and catastrophically bad at showing tough love.

  With both Ukraine and Israel, the US has massive leverage -- by virtue of being a critical weapons supplier and also in other ways. And in both cases Biden has refused to use the leverage to try to end wars that are now, at best, pointless exercises in carnage creation.

  I'll add that both of these wars were advertised long before they broke out, coming out of long-standing conflicts, and only surprising to the those in Washington who pretended that peace can be secured simply by buying American arms and covering them with clichés about deterrence and sanctions. Most of the fault belongs to presidents before Biden: to Bush and Trump for indulging Israel's most right-wing fantasies (and Obama for not resisting them, reinforcing the idea that American reservations are not things Israelis need to take seriously); to Obama's pivot toward a renascent Cold War (after Clinton and Bush expanded NATO to Russia's doorstep); and to Trump for his half-assed mishandling of Ukraine, Russia, China, and everything else. On the other hand, every president inherits the mistakes of his predecessors. Thanks to Trump, Biden wound up with more than usual, but it was his job to fix them. In some cases he tried, and has even had some success. In others, he failed, sometimes not even trying. But here, he's made bad situations worse, and seems incapable of even understanding why.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Rachel M Cohen: [02-23] Alabama's IVF warning to the country: "The movement to treat embryos as full-fledged people is taking a victory lap."

• Melissa Gira Grant: Alabama's unhinged embryo ruling shows where the anti-abortion movement is headed: "The Christian right is paving the way for a world without abortion or IVF, but with lots of embryo adoptions."

• Keren Landman: [02-20] Living in an abortion ban state is bad for mental health: "Worsened anxiety and depression is a predictable (and costly) effect of abortion bans."

• Ruth Marcus: [02-24] The case of Clarence Thomas's new clerk taints the entire judiciary.

• Harold Meyerson: [02-22] America's richest men ask the courts to make unions illegal: Lawyers for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos say "the Court erred in 1937 by letting workers have rights on the job."

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [02-19] The Supreme Court will decide whether to let civilians own automatic weapons: "Garland v. Cargill asks whether gun makers can evade the ban on machine guns with a device called a bump stock."

  • [02-20] The Alabama Supreme Court opinion holding that embryos are children, explained.

  • [02-20] Justice Alito is mad that George W Bush was too woke: "In a dissenting opinion, Alito takes a potshot at Bush's signature racial justice program."

• Toni Aguilar Rosenthal: [02-21] Where is the oversight for Republican State Attorneys General? "Often a stepping stone to higher office, Republican AG offices have played host to a repeated set of scandals in recent years." I don't think "industrial" is the right word, but it does suggest that there are private interests that benefit from, and presumably help perpetuate, bad foreign policy. Review of a book by Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy.

• Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: [02-24] Alabama justice who quoted Bible in IVF case often invokes religion.

• Austin Sarat: [02-23] Alito's cries of religious persecution are a chilling preview of Supreme Court in another Trump term.

• Tessa Stuart: [02-22] Journalist Tim Burke indicted for leaking Tucker Carlson clips that embarrassed Fox News. That sounds to me like a public service.

• Li Zhou: [02-20] Wisconsin's new legislative maps are a win for democracy.

Climate and environment:

• Eric Levitz: [02-21] Why you probably shouldn't blow up a pipeline. Reaction to Andreas Malm's book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, and the subsequent movie. My rejection of such notions is so deep-seated -- I'm still anti-Luddite, even after having developed some appreciation for the intractable problems they faced -- I've never had to wrestle with the issues, nor do I expect that I ever will. But I won't be surprised to see a rising tide of sabotage -- they've already coined the term "ecoterrorism" for this eventuality -- as climate distress worsens, especially if major powers are unwilling to reform and continue to set the standard for dealing with problems through repression and violence. [PS: Note, however, that in Kim Stanley Robinson, in his novel, The Ministry for the Future, expects to see a lot of "ecoterrorism," and sees it as promoting necessary changes.]

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker: [02-21] The sham "The economy is awful" story: Per Baker's tweet: "Too bad they [New York Times] weren't allowed to run these when Donald Trump was in the White House." Next in my Twitter queue was Kevin Erdmann: "It's really crazy how interest rate casual stories get canonized without the slightest interest or curiosity in facts. EVERY story about housing will stipulate that the Fed's rate hikes slowed down sales." The chart shows that sales spiked after the worst of the pandemic in 2020, while interest rates were still low, and declined as interest rates increased, but since 2022 they're basically back to pre-pandemic levels, albeit with higher interest rates.

• Farrah Hassen: [02-23] The rent's still too high! "A new Harvard study found that half of U.S. renter households now spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. And rent increases continue to outpace their income gains. . . . Last year, homelessness hit an all-time national high of 653,100 people."

Ukraine War:

• Responsible Statecraft: [02-22] The Ukraine War at two years: By the numbers.

• Kyle Anzalone: [02-22] US officials see Ukraine as an active and bountiful military research opportunity.

• Medea Benjamin/Nicolas JS Davies: [02-25] After two grueling years of bloodshed, it's time for peace in Ukraine.

• Aaron Blake: [02-27] Zelensky's increasingly blunt comments about Trump: This isn't a good sign, but Trump has always wanted Zelensky to wade into the American political fray -- on his side, of course, but it's not like he can't play opposition just as well. Zelensky is careful to portay his interests as America's own, but Trump is unflappable in that regard.

• Joe Buccino: [02-22] Ukraine can no longer win. This piece appeared in the Wichita Eagle right after the Doran piece, below. Added here after I wrote the Doran comment, but let's list it first.

• Peter Doran: [02-24] Ukraine can win -- here's how: Author works for Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), one of our leading war tanks, out here to buck up the troops by, well, quoting Winston Churchill and Henry V. He's wrong on many levels, starting with the notion that anyone can win at war these days. Even when he has a point (that Russia's "manpower pool" isn't inexhaustible) he misses it (that it's still much deeper than Ukraine's). He points to the unpopularity of the war in Russia, the suggestion being that Putin will buckle if the West only shows we're firmly resolved to win, but hasn't Putin proven much more effective at stifling dissent than the democratic West has? Aside from greater resolve, he insists the keys to winning are faster deliveries of even more sophisticated weapons systems, and even tighter sanctions. How did the war planners miss that? He insists on "a clear and compelling definition of victory in Ukraine that advances our national interests." Note nothing here about the well-being of the Ukrainian people, who bear the primary costs of continued war. His definition? "The requirements of this victory include the Russian military ceasing to kill Ukrainians, departing Ukrainian territory and not threatening the existence of the country in the future." It should be obvious by now that the only way to achieve any way of this is through a negotiated settlement that leads not just to a ceasefire but to an enduring stable relationship between Russia, Ukraine, and the West. That may require lesser steps -- a ceasefire would be a good start -- but also means giving up impossible definitions of victory.

• Steven Erlanger/David E Sanger: [02-24] Hard lessons make for hard choices 2 years into the war in Ukraine: "Western sanctions haven't worked. Weapons from allies are running low. Pressure may build on Kyiv to seek a settlement, even from a weakened position."

• Ben Freeman: [02-22] The Ukraine lobby two years into war.

• Joshua Keating: [02-22] Are Ukraine's defenses starting to crumble? "What Ukraine's biggest setback in months tells us about the future of the war."

• Serhiy Morgunov/David L Stern: [02-25] Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since invasion. His first public disclosure since Dec. 2022 ("up to 13,000"). He's also claiming 180,000 Russian troops have been killed. When the New York Times reported this story (31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in two years of war, Zelensky says, they also noted that Zelensky's number "differs sharply from that given by U.S. officials, who have said the number is closer to 70,000."

  A leaked Pentagon document had estimated deaths at 15,500-17,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and 35,000-42,500 Russian soldiers. That doesn't count at least 10,000 Ukrainian civilians killed. For more figures, some exaggerated, some minimized, see Wikipedia's Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

• Marc Santora: [02-24] Ukraine's deepening fog of war: "Two years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian leaders are seeking a path forward in teh face of ferocious assaults and daunting unknowns."

• Paul Street: [02-22] 500,000 dead and maimed in Ukraine, enough already: It's been a long time since I've seen any figures for war in Ukraine, so this one caught me off guard.

• Marc A Thiessen: [02-22] If Republicans want to help Trump, they should pass Ukraine aid now. I never cite him, mostly because he's pure evil (he got his start as Cheney's torture apologist), but my local paper loves his columns, so I run into him constantly, and occasionally read enough to reconfirm my judgment. But this one is especially twisted, so I offer it as an example of the mind games regular Republicans play to manipulate the deranged Trumpian psyches -- in effect, to keep them reliably evil. The pitch is that Republicans should keep the war going so Trump can fulfill his "I'll have that done in 24 hours" campaign promise once he's elected. Of course, if Trump does win, Thiessen will do his most to sabotage any peace moves, but in the meantime the war goes on and Biden gets the blame.

• Katrina Vanden Heuvel/James Carden: [02-23] 10 years later: Maidan's missing history.

• Walt Zlotow: [02-24] First 2 years of US proxy war against Russia finds both US and Ukraine in downward spiral.

Navalny/Assange:

• The Observer: [02-17] The Observer view on Alexei Navalny's murder: Putin must be shown he can't kill with impunity: "Russia has been exposed as a rogue state that is a menace to the rest of the world." Isn't the Guardian supposed to be the flagship of Britain's left-leaning press? But I cringe any time I see an "Observer view" editorial, perhaps because so many of them are so full of spite yet so futile, combinations of hypocrisy and bluster. After fulminating for twelve paragraphs, they finally explode: "It's time to get real with Russia." So, like, no more patty-cakes? Like 74 years of "cold war" that actually started with US and UK troops fighting the revolution on Russian soil? That went on to using Afghan proxies to snipe at Russians in the 1980s? That after a brief respite when Yeltsin tried to adopt America's prescription of "shock treatment" nearly self-destructed Russia? That was followed by the relentless expansion of NATO combined with economic warfare including crippling sanctions?

  When they wail, "After Navalny, it's time to drop any lingering illusion that Putin's Russia is a normal country, that it may be reasoned with." If Russia is not "a normal country," and I'll grant that it isn't, perhaps that's because no one in the US/UK has tried to reason with it in dacades? Navalny is part of the price of this hostile rivalry, and unless he was some sort of spy, he wasn't even a price the US/UK paid. He was just collateral damage, like thousands of Ukrainians and Russians maimed and killed in Ukraine, the millions displaced, the many more who are denied food and fuel due to sanctions, and the millions of Russian subjects who are denied free political rights because they are living under a state whose security is constantly being attacked by the West.

• Andrew Cockburn: [02-19] Tears for Navalny. Assange? Not so much.

• Ellen Ioanes: [02-20] Where does the fight for a free Russia go now? "Yulia Navalnaya picks up her husband's battle against Putin."

• Fred Kaplan: [02-21] Even if you hate Julian Assange, the US attempt to extradite him should worry you.

• Margaret Sullivan: [02-20] The US justice department must drop spy charges against Julian Assange: 'You don't have to like him or WikiLeaks to recognize the damage these charges create."

• Walt Zlotow: [02-22] Julian Assange is Biden's Navalny.

Other stories:

Mac William Bishop: [02-23] American idiots kill the American century: "After decades of foreign-policy bungling and strategic defeats, the US has never seemed weaker -- and dictators around the world know it." This is a pretty seriously wrong-headed article, its appeal to the liberal publisher based on the MAGA movement, prominent Republicans, Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson for making America weak, the effect simply to "advance Putin's agenda." The key to American influence around he world was always based on nothing more than the perception that we would treat the world fairly and generously -- unlike the old colonial empires of Europe, or the new militarism of the Axis, or the growing Soviet-aligned bloc. Sure, the US was never all that innocent, nor all that charitable, but in the late 1940s seemed to compare favorably to the others. The US squandered its moral standing and good will pretty rapidly, and as the article notes, is losing the last of it with Biden's wholehearted support for Israeli genocide.

Marina Bolotnikova/Kenny Torrella: [02-26] 9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize: "Factory farms aer now so big that we need a new word for them."

Nick Estes: [02-19] America's origin story is a myth: Daniel Denvir interviews Estes, author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance.

Katie Glueck: [02-19] Anti-Trump burnout: The resistance says it's exhausted: "Bracing for yet another election against Donald Trump, America's liberals are feeling the fatigue. "We're kind of, like, crises-ed out," one Democrat said." Well, if one Democrat said it, that's exactly the sort of thing you can count on the New York Times to blow up into a page one issue. Genocide in Palestine? Not so much. Reading their own paper, they don't seem to understand that Trump is out of power, and has been for 3.5 years now. Sure, he still talks a lot, but that's all he is. Trying to shut him up, even if we wanted to, not only isn't worth the effort, but would make things even worse. For most of us, there's nothing much we can do except wait until November, then vote against him.

Sarah Jones: [02-22] The right to a private life is under attack: Starts with the Alabama ruling on IVF (see Cohen, Millhiser, and others, above), but of course the Trump-supporting Christian Nationalists want much more than that: they want to run nearly every aspect of your life:

Our private freedoms are linked to public notions of equal citizenship. Conservatives attack the former in order to undermine the latter. It's an unpopular strategy, but as the scholar Matthew Taylor told Politico, "These folks aren't as interested in democracy or working through democratic systems as in the old religious right because their theology is one of Christian warfare." This is total war, and not just on women. Anyone who fails to conform is at risk.

More, especially on the IVF backlash:

• Amanda Marcotte: [02-23] Alabama's targeting of IVF is the Christian right's attempt to control motherhood: "IVF helps women become mothers -- so why does the Christian right hate it so much?"

• Nikki McCann Ramirez: [02-23] The right is cracking down on abortion and IVF. Is 'recreational sex' next?: "Conservative influences have set their sights on birth control amid the GOP's continued to push to curtail reproductive freedoms." We've seen similar stories before, especially from the Heritage Foundation. For example:

  • Ansev Demirhan: [2023-08-17] Anti-abortion groups are coming for birth control -- just as reproductive rights activists warned.

• Tatyana Tandanpolie: [02-23] Tommy Tuberville mocked for "running in circles" in disastrous IVF interview.

• Ed Kilgore: [02-23] Tuberville and Republicans are tripping all over the Alabama IVF decision.

• In Alabama this is a chicken

Taylor Lorenz: [02-24] How Libs of TikTok became a powerful presence in Oklahoma schools: "The owner [Chaya Raichik] of the far-right social media account, who sits on a state advisory panel, has drawn attention since the death of a nonbinary student near Tulsa." I could have filed this under Republicans (above), as that's her mob, but didn't want to bury it under the usual graft and bullshit. Related here:

• Tatyana Tandanpolie: [02-22] Nonbinary teen dies after bathroom fight: Nex Benedict, 16, in Owasso, Oklahoma.

• Kelly McClure: [02-24] Oklahoma senator calls LGBTQ+ people "filth" while commenting on death of Nex Benedict.

Garrison Lovely: [01-22] Can humanity survive AI? Long piece I haven't spent much time with as yet, although the subhed "Capitalism makes it worse" is certainly true. I don't know how good and/or bad AI will be, but it's generating a lot more press than I can follow, including:

• Chas Danner: [02-25] How AI is being used to influence and disrupt the election.

• John Herrman: [02-22] AI companies are getting the culture war they deserve: "Google's new image generator is yet another half-baked AI tool designed to provoke controversy."

• Michael Klare: [02-24] Swarms of AI "killer robots" are the future of war: If that sounds scary, it should. Also available at TomDispatch as Swarming our world, or "'Emergent' AI behavior and human destiny: What happens when killer robots start communicating with each other?"

• Breda O'Brien: [02-25] AI is generating '100 bombing targets a day' for the Israeli army in Gaza: Link moved down here after the "AI" section opened up, but note: the great fear is that AI will take control over warmaking decisions away from people who might have known better, but the most immediate use is here, making decisions for people who don't care whether the targets are reasonable or not. It remains to be seen whether AI can produce genuine value, but that it can generate a gushing torrent of crap is certain.

Kelly McClure: [02-23] Ex-NRA chief funneled millions of dollars into his own pockets, according to a NYC jury: "Wayne LaPierre and other NRA executives were found liable for financial misconduct."

Anna North: [02-23] Mascuzynity: How a nicotine pouch explains the new ethos of young conservative men: "Stimulants, hustle culture, and bodybuilding are shaping young men's drift to the right." Not obvious to me why this has become "a gateway to right-wing politics." Unless, that is, you're broadening the definition of right-wing from servants of hierarchy/oligarchy to plain old, all-around assholes.

Rick Perlstein: [02-21] The neglected history of the state of Israel: "The Revisionist faction of Zionism that ended up triumphing adhered to literal fascist doctrines and traditions." This is, of course, directly relevant to what's happening in the Israel section above. The relationship is not just temperamental and ideological: Netanyahu's father was Jabotinsky's secretary and confidant.

Alissa Quart: [02-21] US media is collapsing. Here's how to save it. She's director of something called Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Aja Romano: [02-18] An attempt to reckon with True Detective: Night Country's bonkers season finale: Noted in the breach, as a remarkably bad review of a season and series where I'm hard pressed to find any points to agree with, either in praise (mostly of seasons one and three, where the flaws are most obvious) or in panning (seasons two and four, where the messes swamp out the positives). But I will say that the "bonkers season finale" was much more satisfying than any I imagined to that point. I at least took the political point, which is that the power of the rich, and the hopelessness of the people they carelessly grind down and toss aside, are never as complete as they imagine.

At the same time, I was also watching A Murder at the End of the World, which was, if anything, even messier (though just a close second for bone-chilling cold), and again mostly acquitted itself with a politically-charged "bonkers finale": the murders were orchestrated by AI, but the context was corporate megalomania, as represented by a billionaire obsessed with control and life-extension. Speaking of which:

• Arwa Mahdawi: [02-25] The latest billionaire trend? Doomsday bunkers with a flammable moat.

Jeffrey St Clair: [02-23] Roaming Charges: Somewhat immature: Title is Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, commander of U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, describing the "rules of engagement for orbital warfare," which is to say nobody agrees on any rules, or even knows what they are or should be. But who's that going to stop?

Ben Wray: [02-24] It's time to dismantle the US sanctions-industrial complex: "The US has built up an elaborate machinery for waging economic warfare on its rivals with little or no public debate. This sanctions-industrial complex is a disguised form of imperialism and a dangerous source of global instability."

Li Zhou: [02-23] America's first moon landing in 50 years, explained.

Daily Log

Clifford Ocheltree in Facebook on my Mingus review:

I liked the Mingus box a tad more, the music is solid BUT the set saves me shelf space AND enabled me to sell off the individual CDs. In essence the set became 'free' or no cost plus it does benefit from the remastering. The Jasmine 50s could indeed be shorter but, as I suggested about the 40s set, it provides context. Certainly, given the price, it serves as an educational experience for those younger than you or me.

I added this:

Packaging is so important in box sets that it's rather unfair just to write a review of streaming the music. Also sheer length leads to fatigue, which is one reason I'm so reluctant to even bother with them. On the other hand, I'm suspicious that reviewers who are gifted with the deluxe packages tend to be overly generous -- in part, because I know that when I'm the beneficiary, I often do cut them some slack. I could imagine myself bumping up the "Hot House" grade if I had the proper set. As I noted in the review, the Mingus set was a big time filler for me: my biggest disruption every day is figuring out what to play next, and the boxes saved me a lot of that. Plus it was the highest-rated Critics Poll album I hadn't heard, plus it's Mingus, and I really love Mingus (the hostname of one of my computers). Even with my cursory approach, I did learn a few things: I significantly bumped my very low grades of "Mingus Moves" and "Cumbia," and I finally heard the two last studio albums (more closely related to the post-Mingus big bands than to his own albums, but still very good). The "Changes" albums, which I bought on vinyl shortly after they came out (and as such were probably my first Mingus) slipped a bit from my memory, but not enough to downgrade them. So all-in-all, I think, a fair and worthwhile review. But sure, packaging could have made a difference. As would the ease of replaying individual discs.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, February archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 3 A-list

Music: Current count 41864 [41828] rated (+36), 20 [23] unrated (-3).

I posted a long Speaking of Which just before bedtime late Sunday night. I didn't quite get through my usual rounds, so added some more stuff today, which in turn pushed this out late, again. Still unclear how far I'll get Monday night.

Fortunately, I don't have much to say about music this week. The rated count is down, but I hit up several boxes, including the big Mingus one I saw little point in but enjoyed anyway, and yet another iteration of the Massey Hall Quintet/Trio. Also, another big r&b oldies box, again not ideal but quite thoroughly enjoyed.

Very little progress to report on EOY lists, websites, book projects, or anything else. The links, of course, are in the usual place.

New records reviewed this week:

• Joe Alterman: Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe (2023, Joe Alberman Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Carsie Blanton: Body of Work (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Stix Bones/Bob Beamon: Olimpik Soul (2023 [2024], BONE Entertainment): [cd]: B+(*)
• Peter Bruun/Søren Kjærgaard/Josas Westergaard: Thēsaurós (2022, ILK): [bc]: B+(*)
• Mina Cho's Grace Beat Quartet: "Beat Mirage" (2023 [2024], International Gugak Jazz Institute): [cd]: B+(**)
• Commodore Trio: Communal - EP (2023 [2024], self-relesed, EP): [cd]: B+(*)
• Dogo Du Togo: Dogo Du Togo (2022, self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
• Jose Gobbo Trio: Current (2023 [2024], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
• Mary Halvorson: Cloudward (2023 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jon Irabagon: Survivalism (2024, Irabbagast): [bc]: B+(*)
• Jon Irabagon's Outright!: Recharge the Blade (2021 [2024], Irabbagast): [bc]: B+(**)
• Steven Kamperman: Maison Moderne (2023, Trytone): [cd]: A-
• Liquid Mike: Paul Bunyan's Slingshot (2024, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Richard Nelson/Makrokosmos Orchestra: Dissolve (2023 [2024], Adhyâropa): [cd]: B+(**)
• Nondi_: Flood City Trax (2023, Planet Mu): [sp]: B+(*)
• Angel Olsen: Forever Means (2023, Jagjaguwar, EP): [sp]: B
• Public Image Ltd.: End of World (2023, PIL Official): [sp]: B+(*)
• Zoe Rahman: Colour of Sound (2023, Manushi): [sp]: B+(*)
• Andrew Rathbun: The Speed of Time (2022 [2023], SteepleChase) **
• Monika Roscher Bigband: Witchy Activities and the Maple Death (2023, Zenna): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: Vox Humana (2023, Jazzheads): [sp]: B+(***)
• Adam Schroeder/Mark Masters: CT! Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry (2023 [2024], Capri): [cd]: B+(***)
• Matthew Shipp/Steve Swell: Space Cube Jazz (2021 [2024], RogueArt): [cdr]: B+(***)
• Rajna Swaminathan: Apertures (2021 [2023], Ropeadope): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tucker Brothers: Live at Chatterbox (2023 [2024], Midwest Crush Music): [cd]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• George Cartwright's GloryLand PonyCat: Black Ants Crawling ([2024], Mahakala Music) **
• Late Night Count Basie (2023, Primary Wave): [sp]: B+(**)
• Charles Mingus: Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings (1973-78 [2023], Rhino, 7CD): [sp]: B+(***)
• Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie/Bud Powell/Charles Mingus/Max Roach: Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings (1953 [2023], Craft, 2CD): [sp]: B+(***)
• Sonny Rollins: Go West! The Contemporary Records Albums (1957-58 [2023], Craft, 3CD): [sp]: A-

• Pharoah Sanders: Festival de Jazz de Nice, Nice, France, July 18, 1971 (1971 [2024], Kipepeo Publishing): [bc]: B+(***)

Old music:

• Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: Sings Louis Jordan [The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions] (1973 [2019], Black & Blue): [sp]: B+(**)
• Millie Jackson: On the Soul Country Side (1977-81 [2014], Kent): [sp]: B+(***)
• The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59 [2013], Acrobat, 6CD): [cd]: A-

Grade (or other) changes:

• Sonny Rollins: Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders: Barney Kessel/Hampton Hawes/Leroy Vinnegar/Shelly Manne (1958, Contemporary): [was: B+] B+(***) [r]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Bob Anderson: Live! (Jazz Hang) [03-29]
• Lynne Arriale Trio: Being Human (Challenge) [03-01]
• The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59, Acrobat, 6CD) [2013]
• Dave Rempis/Pandelis Karayorgis/Jakob Heinemann/Bill Harris: Truss (Aerophonic/Drift) [04-23]
• Håkon Skogstad: 8 Concepts of Tango (Øra Fonogram) [03-15]
• Jack Wood: The Gal That Got Away: The Best of Jack Wood, Featuring Guest Niehaud Fitzgibbon (Jazz Hang) [03-29]

I wrote this in a letter to Michael Tatum. Obviously something I should have filed in the book draft, but will hold here until then:

Book files opened, but I haven't found any time to work on them, and the basic prep -- basically what to do with all the old stuff, which needs to be cleared out so I can lay out the beams I hope to build around, is daunting or, at least, given my discomfort with the tools, depressing. But I do find myself thinking about it much of the time, including every morning when I'm waking up, and keep coming up with what seem like good ideas -- often fed by recent reading, as I've finished Grandin and started into Geoghegan. Latest idea, given the extreme pessimism I'm developing around Biden, is to add a new section to the end of the book.

Lots of policy books are structured as long critiques of some major problem, followed by a brief how-to-fix-it section, an almost-never-convincing attempt to end on an optimistic note. But in my case, the how-to-fix-it section was the point of the book, a major integral part. To recap:

1. Thinking about American history (not a real title, but basically the old four-eras model with some additional bells and whistles, notes on concepts, methods, my skepticism about determinism, etc.).

2. The history of the Republican Party, how they started with a dialectic of principles and pragmatism, and evolved into completely cynical assholes.

3. A "brief" survey of the many problem areas that have developed while they were happily playing politics, and why their superficial approach inevitably fails.

4. A section on the Democrats, which could turn into three: one on how and why Democrats' attempts to compete politically by adopting key elements of Republican rhetoric inevitably fail, because Republican ideas are so fundamentally flawed, and because Democrats (unlike Republicans) are expected to actually solve problems, not just pretty them up; then develop a set of principles that can be used to solve problems (chiefly by resurrecting the concept of public interest, showing how that mostly involves social rights, and how the whole point of democracy is to assert social rights and the public interest against the corruption of private interests -- now wholeheartedly embraced by the criminalized Republican Party; finally conclude with a sketchy but more practical section on how Democratic candidates need to think and talk in order to succeed in their mandate: which is to win elections, and to solve problems, and to keep winning and solving. This last section is where we get into disposing of the various culture war wedge issues that Republicans dwell on (because, well, they don't have anything else, because they don't care about solutions, and they thrive on fear and chaos).

I could go back and expand the first three like the fourth. The second, for instance, starts with Richard Nixon, as the "godfather" of the modern Republican Party -- although it just occurred to me that he could have been Jesus, turning Goldwater into John the Baptist, seeing as how he was crucified, with Reagan spreading and sanitizing the gospel like Paul, and Trump finally the resurrection (there are actually books about this last bit, written by people who believe it). The second is also where the problem of dysfunctional government belongs, since that's largely the work of Republicans (unlimited money, gerrymanders, packing the courts, etc.).

The first is where I lay out the tool kit: introduce my model, then mention other models, then lay out the underlying concepts, and how they develop as myths. At some point I may simply list a bunch, with one-paragraph framing. Some will take a bit more, like liberal/conservative, left/right, etc.

The third is most in flux. Originally I was thinking of policy areas, with macro first, then things like health care, climate change, education, and inequality. Now I'm wondering if change itself isn't the problem area, so start with technology, and then show how it is shaped and given force by business. After that, well, it's mostly capitalism, impinging on most aspects of daily life. But recent events have brought war front and center, so that has to fit in somewhere (not as some primordial force, as many are inclined to believe, but, like it's oft-bound cousin politics, as struggle against equality).

Anyhow, the latest idea is to tack on a 5th (or 7th?) section, which is what I really think will happen if (and most likely when) my plans and pleas in the second half of the book are defeated (or more likely just ignored). There's something tantalizing about ending with a premature I-told-you-so. Saving it up for the end might also make the third section less grim (or at least shorter).

I know, I should probably save this off, and paste it into the book file, and expand in place.

The preceding took a bit over an hour (the time of one record), just off the top of my head. The idea is to spend a month writing like that, to see what it looks like then. Maybe not all off the top of my head -- may do some minor fact-checking to minimize the gross errors, but mostly, figuring that way I can keep track of the overall structure, so it makes sense and balances out. Then we can decide to go/no go.

Speaking of Which

Blog link.

Another week, dallying on work I should be doing, eventually finding a diversion in the world's calamities, reported below.

Note, however, that I didn't manage to finish my usual rounds by end-of-Sunday, so posted prematurely, and will try to follow up on Monday, the new pieces flagged like this one.

Initial counts: 151 links, 7,009 words. Updated: 171 links, 7,780 words.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [02-12] Day 129: Israel bombards Rafah, killing more than 60 in a night: "67 Palestinians, including babies and children, were killed Sunday night as Israel intensified bombing in Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, in preparation for a ground invasion that experts warn would amount to genocide."

  • [02-13] Day 130: U.S. Senate votes to send additional $14 billion to Israel as catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah appears imminent: "As Palestinians prepare for a catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah, the U.S. Senate votes to send an additional $14 billion to Israel. Amnesty International warns Palestinians in southern Gaza are "facing the real and imminent risk of genocide."

  • [02-14] Day 131: Israeli snipers force dozens to evacuate Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Israel steps up bombing in Lebanon: "As ceasefire negotiations enter their second day in Cairo, fighting around Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is intensifying -- with dozens of Palestinians who have been sheltering inside forced to evacuate by Israeli sniper attacks."

  • [02-15] Day 132: Israel bombards Nasser hospital, reports of Egypt preparing 'buffer zone' ahead of Gaza expulsion: Israel bombarded Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, killing and injuring patients and those sheltering inside. Egyptian human rights group reports construction underway on detention zone ahead of a possible mass expulsion from Gaza into Sinai.

  • [02-16] Day 133: Israel cuts electricity to critical Nasser Hospital patients, forces staff to evacuate: Medicins Sans Frontiers reports "an unknown number of dead and wounded" following Israel's attack on Nasser Hospital. UNRWA says 84% of Gaza health facilities have been impacted by Israeli attacks, and 70% of civilian infrastructure has been damaged.

  • [02-17] Day 134: Biden claims to push for temporary ceasefire, as US authorizes more weapons to Israel: "After several days of reported negotiations, Hamas says it will not accept anything less than complete ceasefire, blames Israel for stalling a ceasefire agreement."

  • [02-18] Day 135: Israel's war on Gaza's hospitals continues: "Nasser Hospital, the second-largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, was forced closed Sunday following an Israeli siege, storming, and arrest of medical staff and patients. Meanwhile, Israel also bombed Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis."

• Kyle Anzalone: [02-16] Israel Military says Hamas will not be defeated in Gaza offensive: But it will continue, as long as possible, because Hamas is just systematic of the real target, the Palestinian people. We refer to what Israel is doing in Gaza as "genocide" because, well, that's clearly the intent, but even the Nazis left a million or so Jews alive, and several times more beyond their war zone. Palestinians will also survive, and will remember, and struggle to return. No doubt the Israelis fully understand that: Hamas is the Palestine they most need, because it's the force that justifies perpetual struggle, and that's what distinguishes and lifts Israelis above diaspora Jews.

• Avishay Artsy: [02-16] The looming ground assault on the last "safe" zone in Gaza: Never have scare quotes been more warranted.

• Dave DeCamp: [02-15] Egypt building walled camp in Sinai Desert to absorb Palestinian refugees from Gaza: Cites report by:

  • Summer Said/Jared Malsin: [02-15] Egypt builds walled enclosure on border as Israeli offensive looms: "Authorities are surrounding an area in the desert with concrete walls as a contingency for possible influx of Palestinian refugees."

• Irfan Galaria: [02-16] I'm an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn't war -- it was annihilation.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [02-13] Rafah on the precipice: "Palestinians in Rafah are dreading Israel's impending invasion, but there is nothing we can do to ensure our safety. If the army surrounds us, we have nowhere left to go. We will be forced to endure the fire and look death in the face."

• Shatha Hanaysha: [02-15] From the cities to the countryside, armed resistance is spreading in the West Bank: "Armed resistance in the West Bank had been concentrated in larger cities, but since October 7 it is spreading. 'Resistance in Azzun used to be non-armed,' a resident of the small town tells Mondoweiss. 'Then everything changed after October 7.'"

• Ellen Ioanes/Nicole Narea: [02-15] Hospitals are supposed to be safe. Not in Gaza. "Israel's raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yuonis might break international humanitarian law." Might?

• Nicole Narea: [02-12] Israel's dangerous escalation in Rafah, explained.

• Jonathan Ofir: [02-15] Former Mossad official: Children in Gaza over the age of 4 deserve to be starved: Interview with Rami Igra.

• Meron Rapoport: [02-13] 'Change in Israel will only happen when there are costs that force our eyes open': "Oct. 7 has 'broken a contract' between the army and gov't, but has yet to shake key parts of Israeli society into a different paradigm, says scholar Yagil Levy."

• Daisy Schofield: [02-11] Israel has ramped up attacks on Jenin Camp in the West Bank.

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [02-13] War cabinet orders IDF to lay waste Rafah neighborhood, murdering 100 civilians.

  • [02-14] Egypt agrees to ethnically-cleanse Gaza refugees, builds new camp.

  • [02-18] Israel unloads Gaza ethnic-cleansing on US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

• Brett Wilkins: [02-14] Israel jails Palestinian human rights lawyer Diala Ayesh without charge: "How is this not hostage-taking?"

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Spencer Ackerman: [02-14] The children of Gaza were not killed for democracy: "Absolutely nothing about Israel's U.S.-sponsored genocide has to do with democracy. Biden needs to stop staining democracy with the blood of children."

• AlJazeera: [02-18] Brazil's Lula compares Israel's war on Gaza with the Holocaust.

• Michael Aria: [02-15] The Shift: AIPAC targets Bush and Bowman: "AIPAC is poised to spend $100 million this election cycle, as they look to oust the few House members who criticize Israeli policy."

• Ramzy Baroud: [02-16] The unrepentant West: Germany's Olaf Scholz and the right to commit genocide in Gaza.

• Dave DeCamp:

  • [02-13] Sen. Van Hollen calls Israelis 'war criminals,' votes to send them $14 billion in new military aid.

  • [02-15] House passes bill to work against countries normalizing with Syria: Usually, Congress defers to the president for making bad foreign policy, but lately they've been insisting on it -- especially where Israel has an interest. "Only 28 Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill."

  • [02-18] US threatens to veto new Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council.

• Eoghan Gilmartin: [02-16] Why Spain opposed the West's punishment of UNRWA.

• Marc Martorell Junyent: [02-18] Munich dispatch: Gaza "wind blowing against the West": "EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warns the world smells hypocrisy as Israel readies death blow in Rafah." Well, it's much worse than hypocrisy, but that tiny concern shows that the public relations disaster is starting to sink in, even as far as the EU's top security mandarins.

• David Kattenburg: [02-13] Dutch court orders government to stop providing F-35 parts to Israel.

• Daniel Larison: [02-13] Biden's calls for Israel to mind the laws appear feeble, and ignored.

• Shaul Magid: [02-14] The forgotten history of American Jewish dissent against Zionism: "In resurrecting stories of non- and anti-Zionist critics, a new book shows American Jews how questioning Israel is deeply rooted in their community." The book is Geoffrey Levin: Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent 1948-1978. Note: Magid's own book, The Necessity of Exile: Essays From a Distance, is one of several reviewed here:

  • Gideon Lewis-Kraus: [02-15] Jewish identity with and without Zionism.

  By the way, here's a quote from Magid's book:

  But what if instead, we began to explore a new ideology of Jewish self-determination? One that doesn't begin with the proprietary narrative of Zionism? One that doesn't lay claim to the land of the Jews at the exclusion of others? What if we separated the Jewish homeland from the notion of a Jewish state (as Hannah Arendt suggested in her essay "To Save the Jewish Homeland")? What if the concept of shared sovereignty was not perceived as Jews giving away "their" land to Palestinians, but as recognition of the equal rights of Palestinians to the land -- that is, an acknowledgment that the right of Palestinian self-determination is equal to the right of Jewish self-determination, and that the proprietary nature of the Zionist claim is abolished? What if we did away with the "Arab Question" altogether since the very notion assumes Jewish ownership and sovereignty, just as the "Jewish Question" once implied Jews' second-class status in Europe because of their resistance to assimilation?

  Of course, this hypothetical was never seriously entertained by the actual Zionists, who plotted to seize power from the outset -- Herzl's book, after all, was titled The Jewish State. Nor were the Palestinians, at least as long as they held the majority, inclined toward sharing. (Sure, there were dissenting voices, on both sides, especially among communists, but they never had real power.) Sharing power is something all sides can conceivably agree to. Dominance, on the other hand, can only be seized, and with it inevitably resisted. Israel remains unwilling to share anything, only because they haven't been forced to realize that dominance is unsustainable. After all, they've gotten away with it for 75 years since seizing power in 1948. They realize it takes harsh measures, and that they risk turning themselves into international pariahs, but they're getting away with it. Some of them may even figure that when they are so shunned and shamed they're unable to sustain their policies of apartheid and genocide, they'll still be able to settle for equality -- a deal the overwhelming majority of Palestinians were already hoping for decades ago. But for now, most repeat the threat that, if given the opportunity, Palestinians would do unto Israelis as Israelis have done unto them. Whether that line is just propaganda or paranoia varies from person to person. But we others should realize that denying Israel license to deny and destroy Palestinian humanity, by taking the weapons of genocide away, will do no serious harm to the Israeli people. All that would do is to prod Israelis to negotiate a more equitable sharing of power, and with it recognition of everyone's humanity. And if we fail to do so, we will be cursing Israelis as well as Palestinians to an eternity of dread and doom.

  By the way, looking at Magid's book led me to another similar but perhaps even more pointed book, by Daniel Boyarin: The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto. (Not many reviews, but Jewish Currents published Two paths for diasporism, and First Things (a right-wing journal previously unknown to me) went with Anti-Zionism goes woke.

• Jeff Merkley/Dick Durbin/Elizabeth Warren/Chris Van Hollen/Peter Welch: [02-16] The US should immediately mobilize 'Operation Gaza Relief': Five Senators, three of whom just voted to send Israel $14.1B more ammo and to prohibit the US from giving any funds to UNRWA, the UN's already-active relief and works agency. Supposedly a direct American operation would be tolerated by Israel while continuing its systematic destruction of Gaza. But most certainly it would become an instrument of Israel's genocidal aims, making the US even more complicit. Until there is a ceasefire, relief isn't even feasible. By the way, students of Israeli history will recall that Israel twice agreed to ceasefires during the 1948-50 war. The reason they did so was that they ran low on ammo, and the ceasefire bought time to rearm. The only thing that will cause Israel to slow down its assault is blocking its resupply of arms and ammunition.

• Ed Rampell: [02-11] Israelism bucks blind faith in Israeli occupation, apartheid and "the Jewish Disneyland": Reviews a documentary by Erin Axelrod and Sam Eilertsen.

• Mazin Qumsiyeh: [02-18] Pathetic state of our world: Also includes many more links.

• Paul Rogers: [02-13] The US could stop the horror in Rafah today. Why won't it?

• Hamza Ali Shah: [02-16] Western governments share responsibility for Israel's crimes.

• Ishaan Tharoor:

  • [02-13] As Trump spooks Europe, Biden stirs global anger over Gaza war.

  • [02-16] As Israel corners Rafah, Netanyahu defies the world.

• Daniel Warner: [02-16] If a mother can be found complicit in her son's murders, shouldn't states be held complicit in a "plausible" genocide?

• Philip Weiss: [02-18] Weekly Briefing: Why any decent person supports a ceasefire, but not Biden: "Americans are overwhelmingly for ceasefire by 4 to 1, and Democrats by more than 7 to 1. The reason Biden can't life a finger in the face of genocide is that he is afraid of alienating the Israel lobby as a force for his reelection. It's that simple."

America's expansion of Israel's world war:

• Dave DeCamp:

  • [02-15] US launches airstrike in Somalia, says two al-Shabaab killed.

  • [02-18] Israel was behind attacks on gas pipelines in Iran: Because Israel has nothing better to do than stir up trouble for America?

• Farnaz Fassihi/Eric Schmitt/Ronen Bergman/Julian E Barnes: [02-16] Israel was behind attacks on major gas pipelines in Iran, officials say.

• Joshua Keating: [02-16] US officials are always talking about "deterring" Iran. What does that really mean? "Adversaries keep chipping away at America's military credibility." But they're doing much less damage than the US does to itself by using military force in situations where it cannot succeed. Deterrence theory was largely developed to justify nuclear arms, and worked because neither the Soviet Union nor the US had any real desire to use them. But its extension -- the notion that lesser powers will automatically submit to more powerful bullies -- has repeatedly failed, often exposing the aggressors to be much less powerful than they imagined, as well as discrediting their motives and generating moral outrage.

• Elias Khoury: [02-16] What's missing from the debate over US troops in Syria.

• Steven Zunes: [02-10] US bombs Yemen after years of undermining democracy in Yemen and destabilizing . . . Yemen.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Jamelle Bouie: [02-16] Trump owns Dobbs and everything that comes with it. Bouie also, recently, also wrote: [01-27]

Dobbs overturned much more than Roe v. Wade.

• Josh Dawsey/Ashley Parker: [02-16] Inside Trump's ouster of Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair.

• Nia Prater: [02-16] Trump banned from his company, fined $355 million for fraud: "Plus nearly $100 million in interest." [PS: Some reports stick with the base figure, while others add the interest in to get to $454 million.] The ban is for three years. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were also fined, and banned for two years each. More on this:

  • Kevin T Dugan: [02-16] The Donald Trump fire sale starts now.

  • Abdallah Fayyad: [02-16] Trump is suddenly in need of a lot of cash. That's everyone's problem. The article digs a bit into Trump's wealth, but doesn't begin to explain what that's "everyone's problem."

  • Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling: Trump enters full meltdown mode over $355 million verdict in fraud trial: "Donald Trump is not handling this one well at all."

  • Jonathan O'Connell: [02-16] Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family's business and fortune.

  • Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani: "Borders on pathological": Judge hands Trump brutal beatdown in fraud trial.

• Susan B Glasser: [02-15] Trump's threat to NATO is the scariest kind of gaffe: It's real. Not really. Trump neither understand what NATO was designed to do -- to divide Europe with the Russians, while occupying the West on the cheap simply by controlling their armed forces (while allowing the UK and France a bit of leeway to fight their colonies), or what it ultimately became in the post-Soviet period: an arms cartel. Well, he half-understands the latter part, which he sees as a protection racket: pay up, or we'll toss you into a revived version of the Hitler-Stalin Pact. But there's very little chance of him acting on that. The Deep State, which he has no clue how to deny -- even if he wanted to, which he probably doesn't -- wouldn't let him. But the rhetoric plays well to the "America First" yahoos, because it makes him look tough and superior, not dependent on the expensive good will of pampered (and mostly useless) allies. Moreover, his rhetoric makes the liberal Blob types squirm, and it's easy to blame them for all the recent wars gone bust -- while exempting the macho hotheads, like himself.

• Melvin Goodman: [02-16] Never forget who Donald Trump really is.

• Ed Kilgore: [02-15] What the polls say today: Does Haley still have a shot in South Carolina? Nope. The poll average is 64% Trump, 31% Haley. Nationwide, it's 74% Trump, 19% Haley.

• Heather Digby Parton: [02-14] Lara Trump's takeover of the RNC turns the GOP into a second Trump Organization.

• Andrew Prokop: [02-15] Trump's big day in court: The Georgia and New York state cases had hearings. Later on these cases:

  • Andrea Bernstein: [02-16] How Trump turns his courtroom losses into wins.

  • Aaron Blake: [02-15] 4 takeaways from Trump's dueling court hearings.

  • Ed Kilgore: [02-16] Fani Willis is losing the optics battle in her case against Trump.

  • Ruth Marcus: [02-16] The Fani Willis hearing was must-watch TV that no one needed to see.

  • Nia Prater/Andrew Rice: [02-15] It's official: Trump is going on trial in Manhattan next month.

• Jake Tapper: [02-16] 'Yes Jared, we're still doing this': Tapper reacts to Kushner's comments about Saudi crown prince: Video here. For more in print: Michelle L Price: [02-14] Jared Kushner, former Trump adviser, defends business dealings with Saudi Arabia. The "business dealings" included accepting a $2B investment into his hedge fund.

• Li Zhou: [02-14] Republicans' baseless Mayorkas impeachment sets a disturbing precedent: "It weaponizes the practice in a new way." More on this:

  • Jonathan Blitzer: [02-17] The trials of Alejandro Mayorkas.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Gabriel Debenedetti: [02-17] Too old? Biden World thinks pundits just don't get Joe: "The president's friends and aides play media critic amid a political mess." They're probably right, but it's hard for outsiders to see, because Biden has never been a very good communicator, and that's never sunk in deep enough to save his latest gaffes from being attributed to obvious age. David Ogilvy advised: "develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga." But if they hadn't paid attention, that's what they'll think anyway, since that's the easiest answer. But people who have paid attention often come to a different appreciation of Biden. I was surprised when, as Biden was just sewing up the 2020 nomination, to see the "Pod Save America" guys appear on Colbert and profess not just support for Biden -- as any practical Democrat would -- but love. I take that to be the point of Franklin Foer's The Last Politician (on my nightstand but still unread as, well, I'm pretty upset with him since he sloppily endorsed Israeli genocide).

• Elie Honig: [02-16] The real Biden documents scandal (it's not the old-man stuff).

  • James D Zirin: [02-14] Why Hur's gratuitous smear of Biden is a study in prosecutorial abuse.

• Paul Krugman: [02-13] Why Biden should talk up economic success: I'm pretty skeptical here. Two big problems: one is that people experience the economy differently, so it's hard for most people to see how the big stats affect them personally, and the latter requires more personalized messaging; the other is that lots of people think the economy does wonderfully on its own, and that politicians can only muck it up. They're wrong, but telling people they're stupid or naive is a rather tough sell. What Biden should be doing is talk about case examples. He should identify problems, like high prices (drugs is a good one; gasoline is less good, but still affects people), low wages (minimums, unions, etc.), rent, debt, pollution, corruption, fraud, etc. -- the list is practically endless -- and talk about what he has done, and what he is still trying to do, to help with these problems. And also point out what businesses, often through corrupt Republicans, are doing to make these problems even worse. Every one of these stories should have a point, which is that the Democrats are trying hard but need more support to help Americans help themselves, and to keep Republicans from hurting us further. But just throwing a bunch of numbers up in the air doesn't make that point, at least in ways most people can understand, even if you're inclinled to believe Biden, which most people don't. And isn't that the rub? There are lots of good stories to be told, but Biden is such an inept communicator that he's never going to convince people.

• Miles Mogulescu: [02-10] Biden's unqualified aid to Israel could hand Trump the presidency: I think this is true, even though anyone who knows anything knows that it was Trump who gave Israelis the idea that Washington would blindly support any crazy thing right-wing Israelis could dream up, and that was what increasingly pushed Hamas into the corner they tried to break out of on Oct. 7. However, Biden didn't so much as hint at any scruples over Israel, even after raging vengeance turned into full genocide. At this point, the war in Ukraine is slightly less of an embarrassment, but also shows the Biden administration's inability to think their way out of war. As I said last week, if Biden can't get his wars under control, he's toast.

• John Nichols: [02-16] Michigan just became the first state in 6 decades to scrap an infamous anti-union law.

• Ari Paul: [02-16] The media is cheering Dems' rightward turn on immigration.

• Christian Paz: [02-12] Yes, Democrats, it's Biden or bust: "Even if voters or the establishment wanted to, there really isn't a viable process to replace Biden as the nominee." More "replacement theory":

  • Ed Kilgore: [02-13] Yes, Democrats can still replace Biden (but they won't).

• Paul Rosenberg: This also led me to a couple of older articles also on tactics.

  • [02-17] Rachel Bitecofer's tough-love lesson for Democrats: Time to fight dirty. Interview with the author of Hit 'Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game. Headline is a bit off, as the real point is "to focus relentlessly on the threat posed by Republicans in terms that hit voters where they are." Which is to say Democrats need to start exposing the truth about Republicans, and stop pretending they're really just decent guys who are a little bit delusional. Bitecofer has examples of where her approach worked, and where not doing it failed, but the book is basically a "how to" for campaigns, including steps like:

    1. Ride for the brand
    2. Rebrand both parties with F-words [freedom, fascism]
    3. Less defense, more counter-offense
    4. Take credit, give blame
    5. Own our issues, then own theirs
    6. Stick to a single villain
    7. Say it again. And again. And again.

    Book also has chapters on "How to Land Punches" and "How to Give Wedgies."

  • [01-28] Swing Left fights for the future: "One-stop shopping" for progressive wins in 2024 and beyond.

  • [2023-05-28] Saving democracy from the ground up: David Pepper on how to fight the GOP and win.

• Dylan Saba: [02-15] Democrats are helping make the US border look more and more like Gaza.

• Robert J Shapiro: [02-12] Based on incomes, Americans are a lot better off under Biden than under Trump.

• Norman Solomon: [02-16] Dodging Biden's moral collapse is no way to defeat Trump.

• Paul Starr: [02-15] It's the working class, stupid: Review of John Judis/Ruy Teixeira: Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Story of the Party in the Age of Extremes. I've been thinking about the same problem, so picked up a copy of the book, but haven't rushed to get into it. After all, these guys aren't exactly known as geniuses. Their 2002 book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, tried to flip Kevin Phillips' 1969 book on how demographic trends favored Republicans, and didn't fare so well -- it's easier to be optimistic than to be self-critical. Starr lets them off easy, noting that he wrote a similar essay five years earlier (An Emerging Democratic Majority), so it's nice to have that reference.

• Matt Stieb: [02-15] Biden picks up key Putin endorsement: Eliciting suspicion by Democrats that he's playing some kind of devious reverse psychology game, although his explanation ("[Biden] is a more experienced, predictable person") sounds eminently reasonable. Of course, it would have been more sensible to just dodge the questions, maybe even to admit that covert support for Trump in 2016 was a blunder. In their rush to demonize him -- which Navalny's death once again sends into overdrive -- people forget that he is the kind of guy, secure in his own power, that one can do business with, at least if you approach him with a measure of respect. Unfortunately, that seems to be a lost art in Washington, supplanted by a cult of power projection with no concern for doing right.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [02-12] The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to sabotage Trump's most important criminal trial.

  • [02-15] The Supreme Court will decide if the government can seize control of YouTube and Twitter: The Court will weigh in on two "almost comically unconstitutional" laws passed by Florida and Texas.

Climate and environment:

• Amudalat Ajasa: [02-16] Coral bleaching is now so extreme, scientists had to expand their scale for it.

• Scott Dance: [02-15] Why a hot Atlantic has hurricane forecasters very worried: "Across a strip of ocean where many cyclones are born, February ocean temperatures are closer to what scientists expect in July."

• Brady Dennis/Chris Mooney: [02-15] A 'collapse' is looming for Louisiana's coastal wetlands, scientists say: "The overwhelming majority of the state's wetlands -- a natural buffer against hurricanes -- are in a state of 'drowning' and could be gone by 2070."

• Christopher Flavelle: [02-12] Wildfire smoke will worsen, new study shows, and protections are few: "Climate change is amplifying wildfires, and more smoke means higher risk of heart and lung disease from inhaling tiny particles that can drift far and wide."

• Andrew Jeong: [02-16] Parts of Amazon rainforest could tip toward collapse by 2050, study warns.

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker:

  • [02-13] Biden's record on income growth.

  • [02-14] New York Times tells readers that the inability of big firms to raise prices is evidence of inflation: "That is good news in the battle against inflation, not the bad news we are being told here."

• Yanis Varoufakis: [02-18] Are we transitioning from capitalism to silicon serfdom? Interview, conducted by David Moscrop, with the Greek economist, who has a new book called Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [02-16] Diplomacy Watch: Putin's ceasefire suggestion turned down.

• Zack Beauchamp: [02-13] The moral and strategic case for arming Ukraine: "Congress should have approved Ukraine aid yesterday." Deep down, I don't buy either of these arguments. I'm not dead set against sending arms to Ukraine, but the focus needs to be on negotiating a ceasefire and a peace that fairly reflects the needs of the people impacted by the war. Longer term, it needs to develop peaceful cooperation between Russia, Europe, and the world, which involves, but is far from limited to, easing the tensions caused by NATO enlargement. The last year has pretty clearly shown that the military ambitions of both Russia and Ukraine will not be met, making further fighting exceptionally pointless.

• Connor Echols: [02-16] New poll: Nearly 70% of Americans want talks to end war in Ukraine.

• Carlotta Gall/Marc Santora/Constant Méheut: [02-17] Avdiivka, longtime stronghold for Ukraine, falls to Russians.

• Keith Gessen: [02-15] Can Ukraine still win? "As Congress continues to delay aid and Volodymyr Zelensky replaces his top commander, military experts debate the possible outcomes." But haven't both sides already lost more than they could ever have hoped to gain?

• Marc Martorell Junyent:

  • [02-16] Dispatch from Munich: VP Harris warns against 'isolationism': "The Biden administration is intent on impressing to the annual security conference that it is the steward of 'international rules and norms.'" The term "isolationism" was invented in the 1940s, and applied retroactively to pretty much every American as far back as George Washington who was reluctant to send American troops to far away lands (as John Quincy Adams put it, "to find dragons to slay"), as if the only alternative to military adventurism was burying one's head in the sand. That's never been true, yet they still keep trotting the cliché out, imagining they're making a point.

  • [02-17] Munich Dispatch: After Adiivka, Zelensky insists Russians are losing: "Meanwhile, the German chancellor joins European heads in promising more money to Ukraine and NATO."

• Rand Paul: [02-15] Seizing Russian assets: A feel good bill that will absolutely boomerang: "A Senate measure under consideration would breed contempt and prolong the war in Ukraine."

• Olivia Rosane: [02-19] With $280 billion in profits, oil giants are 'main winners of the war in Ukraine'.

• Masha Gessen: [02-16] The death of Alexey Navalny, Putin's most formidable opponent: "The opposition leader, who died in prison, had been persecuted for years by the Russian state. He remained defiant, and consistently funny, to the very end."

• Ellen Ioanes: [02-16] Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death, explained.

• Luke Johnson: Alexei Navalny was Vladimir Putin's worst nightmare.

• Anton Troinovski: [02-16] In prison or out, Navalny was the thorn in Putin's side.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [02-19] In Navalny's death, Putin cements a new era of Russian dictatorship.

• Jada Yuan: [02-18] 'Navalny' director blames Putin for opposition leader's 'murder': "Daniel Roher won an Oscar for chronicling Alexei Navalny's investigation into his own poisoning."

Around the world:

• Ellen Ioanes:

  • [02-12] Pakistan's surprising election results, explained.

  • [02-14] Indonesia may have just elected a strongman: "A relic from Indonesia's dictatorship is the new president." Prabows Subianto, "despite his history as a general credibly accused of human rights abuses and war crimes and concerns he could hasten democratic erosion during his tenure."

• Sarang Shidore: [02-14] What a Prabowo win signals for US-Indonesia relations.

Other stories:

Keith Bradsher: [02-12] How China built BYD, its Tesla killer.

Tim Fernholz: [02-15] How the US is preparing to fight -- and win -- a war in space: "Meet the startup trying to maintain American military dominance in space." Author previously wrote Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race (2018). Few ideas are more misguided than the notion that anyone can militarily dominate space. Chalmers Johnson illustrated that much 20 years ago by imagining the result of some hostile actor launching "a dumptruck full of gravel" into orbit: it would indiscriminately destroy everyone's satellites, and everything dependent on them (including a big chunk of our communications infrastructure, and such common uses as GPS, as well as the ability to target missiles and drones).

Lydialyle Gibson: [02-12] We have treatments for opioid addiction that work. So why is the problem getting worse?

Umair Irfan: [02-14] Carmakers pumped the brakes on hybrid cars too soon.

Ben Jacobs: [02-13] The race to replace George Santos, explained: Written before Tuesday's vote, which gave the seat to Democrat Tom Suozzi, who was favored in polls by 3-4 points, and won by 8 (54-46).

Sarah Jones: [02-14] The anti-feminist backlash at the heart of the election.

Eric Levitz: [02-18] How NIMBYs are helping to turn the public against immigrants: "(In this house, we believe that high rents fuel nativist backlashes."

Charisma Madarang: [02-13] Jon Stewart skewers Biden and Trump in scathing 'Daily Show' return: I watched the opening monologue segment, and must say I didn't laugh once. It was about how much older Stewart is now than when he retired from the show 20 years ago, which was when Biden was the same age Stewart is now. And, yes, Trump's pretty old too. The most annoying bit was when Stewart, repeatedly, referred to being president as "the hardest job in the world." That it most certainly is not. As far as I can tell, it looks like a pretty cushy job, with lots (probably too many) people constantly at your beck and call, keeping track of everything and everyone, and preparing for every eventuality. It may be overscheduled, but Trump showed that doesn't have to be the case, and Biden doesn't seem to spend a lot of time in public, either. It may be dauntingly hard to fully comprehend, and the responsibility that comes with the power may be overwhelming, but Trump, and for that matter Biden, don't seem to be all that bothered. Maybe we should have presidents who know and care more, but history doesn't suggest that it makes much difference. Once they get their staffs in place, the bus pretty much drives itself. (Or, in Trump's case, wrecks itself, repeatedly.)

Later on, Stewart brought in his "team of reporters," tending to all-decisive diners in Michigan -- the sort of comedians who developed careers out of the old Daily Show, like Samantha Bee and John Oliver -- and sure, they were pretty funny, albeit in stereotypical ways (naïve/inept Democrats; vile/evil Republicans). More on Jon Stewart:

• Jeet Heer: [02-16] Jon Stewart is not the enemy: "You don't defeat Trump by rejecting comedy." I agree with the subhed, but I'm still waiting for the comedy. For what it's worth, I think Messrs. Colbert, Myers, and Kimmel have done great public service over the last eight years in reminding us how vile, pompous, and utterly ridiculous Trump has always been, and I thank their audiences for robustly cheering them on. (It's nice to know you're not alone in thinking that.) Myers even does a pretty good job of reminding us that all Republicans are basically interchangeable with Trump, which is a message more people need to realize.

Ciara Moloney: [01-29] What peace in Northern Ireland teaches us about 'endless' conflicts: "If the international community can underwrite war, it can also underwrite peace and justice." Nathan J Robinson linked to this in a tweet, pace a quote from Isaac Herzog: "You cannot accept a peace process with neighbors who engage in terrorism."

Kevin Munger: [02-16] Nobody likes the present situation very much. Unclear where this is going, but it's something to think about:

I think that the pace of technological change is intolerable, that it denies humans the dignity of continuity, states the competence to govern, and social scientists a society about which to accumulate knowledge.

Dennis Overbye: [02-12] The Doomsday clock keeps ticking: The threat of nuclear weapons is real, but the metaphor is bullshit. The clock isn't ticking. It's just a visual prop, meant to worry people, to convey a sense of panic, but panic attenuates over time. So if 7 minutes haven't elapsed since the clock was set 77 years ago, why should we worry now? We clearly need a different system for risk assessment than the one behind the doomsday clock. We also need some much better method for communicating that risk, which is especially difficult, because there are actually dozens of different risks that have to be represented, each with their own distinct strategies for risk reduction. I'm not willing to enter that rabbit hole here, other than to offer a very rough swag that the odds of any kind of nuclear incident in the next 12 months are in the 1-2% range (which, by the way, I regard as alarmingly high, given the stakes, but far from likely; my greatest uncertainty has to do with Ukraine, where there are several serious possible scenarios, but the avoidance of them in 2023 and the likelihood of continued stalemate suggests they can continue to be avoided; by the way, I would count Chernobyl as an above-threshold incident, as it caused more damage, and more fallout, than a single isolated bomb; it should be understood that there is a lot more danger in nuclear power than just the doomsday scenario).

Jared Marcel Pollen: [02-14] Why billionaires are obsessed with the apocalypse: Review of Douglas Rushkoff's book, Surival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires.

Aja Romano: [02-15] Those evangelical Christian Super Bowl ads -- and the backlash to them -- explained. Also:

• Andrew Perez/Tessa Stuart: [02-07] This evangelical billionaire family wants to convert you on Super Bowl Sunday: "The Hobby Lobby family emerges as the driving force behind the group running ads about Jesus during the Super Bowl."

Brian Rosenwald: [02-14] The key to understanding the modern GOP? Its hatred of taxes. Review of Michael J Graetz: The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America. The reviewer, by the way, had his own equally plausible idea, in his book: Talk Radio's America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States.

Becca Rothfeld: [02-15] The Alternative is just the book economists should read -- and won't: "Journalist Nick Romeo lays out eight examples of what we gain when we think about morality alongside money." The book's subtitle: How to Build a Just Economy.

Matt Stieb: [02-13] The millionaire LimeWire founder behind RFK Jr.: "Mark Gorton has done his own research on JFK, LBJ, vaccines, and the 2024 election."

Li Zhou:

• [02-13] The far right is using the Lakewood Church shooting for anti-trans attacks.

• [02-15] How the Kansas City shooting proves the "good guy with a gun" idea is a fallacy: "At least one person was killed in the violence and 21 people -- including 11 children -- were injured," in an "incident" where more than 800 police officers were supposed to provide security. Which brings us to more on guns, including some older pieces that are regularly updated:

  • Marin Cogan:

    • [02-15] What bullets do to kids: "Gun deaths among children have risen to their highest level in more than 20 years. A pediatric trauma surgeon describes the physical toll."

    • [02-15] We shouldn't have to live like this. "What experts and advocates say can make a difference in the face of unrelenting gun violence."

  • Vox: [02-14] America's unique, enduring gun problem, explained.

  • Kacen Bayless: [02-16] Missouri House Republicans scrap two gun bills after Kansas City Chiefs rally shooting: "One would allow guns on public transit and inside churches and the other would exempt firearms and ammunition from sales taxes."

  • Katie Langford: [02-15] Man fatally shot after approaching 13-year-old on bus.

The New Yorker: [02-17] Our favorite bookstores in New York City: From the days after I turned 16, got a driver's license, and dropped out of high school, up until perhaps as late as 2011 (i.e., when Borders show down), I spent large parts of my life carousing around bookstores -- at least two, often more like four times a week. (Since then, I mostly just do this.) I fell out of the habit here in Wichita (which still has Watermark Books, and a Barnes & Noble), but what really got me was find most of the bookstores I regularly sought out when visiting New York City had been turned into banks (Colisseum Books was especially saddening). So I'm pleased to see this article, and also to note that the only store listed I've actually been in was the Barnes & Noble. Not that I'm actually likely to get back there any time soon -- most of the people I knew there have departed, and I haven't traveled since the pandemic hit -- but at least one can again entertain the thought.

Also, some notes found on ex-Twitter (many forwarded by @tillkan, so please do yourself a favor and follow her; my comments in brackets):

• John Cassidy: When 2 headlines are worth 10,000 word[s]. [Image of Wall Street Journal page. Headlines: "Biden Presses Netanyahu to Accept Plan"; "U.S. Is Preparing to Send Bombs, Other Arms to Israel"]

• Tony Karon: Judge Biden by what he does, not by what he says. Israel can't sustain its genocidal war without the US munitions Biden keeps sending, while offering the equivalent of "thoughts and prayers" for the Palestinian civilians they'll kill [link to: US to send weapons to Israel amid invasion threat in Gaza's Rafah]

• Nathan J Robinson: The worst serial killer in history killed nearly 200 children. A true monster. Unfathomable evil.

  So far Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu have killed over 10,000 children. Their evil reaches a whole other level of depravity.

  [Commenters belittle the comparison by pointing to the usual list of political monsters -- Hitler, Stalin, Mao -- without realizing that they're only adding to the list (which should, by the way, also include Churchill, Nixon, and GW Bush). Where Netanyahu ranks on that list is open to debate, but that he is morally equivalent isn't. As for Biden, he's certainly complicit, a facilitator, but things he's directly responsible for are relatively minor even if undeniably real (e.g., strikes against Yemen, Iraq, Syria; general poisoning of relations with Iran and Russia). I'm less certain that Stalin and Mao belong, at least the mass starvation their policies caused: that result was probably not intended, although both did little to correct their errors once they became obvious. Churchill's relationship to starvation is more mixed: the Bengal famine was mostly incompetence and lack of care, much like Stalin and Mao, but his efforts to starve Germans were coldly considered and rigorous.]

Daily Log

Christgau Consumer Guide notes (my grades in brackets, - earlier, + after review:

• Aesop Rock: ITS: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers '23) B+ - [B+(***)]
• Dogo du Togo: Dogo du Togo (self-released '22) *** + [B+(*)]
• Jack Harlow: Jackman (Atlantic '23) A- - [B+(*)]
• Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings (1953, Craft '23) A + [B+(***)]
• Millie Jackson: On the Soul Country Side (Kent) A- - [B+(***)]
• James Kahn: By the Risin' of the Sea: Shanties for Our Times (self-released) *** - []
• Jim Kweskin: Never Too Late: Duets With My Friends (StorySound) *** - []
• The Mountain Goats: Jenny From Thebes (Merge '23) B+ - [B+(**)]
• Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note '23) * - [B+(*)]
• Nirvana: Live at the Paramount (Geffen) ** - []
• Okuté: Okuté (Chulo '21) A- - [B+(***)]
• Bill Orcutt: Music for Four Guitars (Palilalia '22) A- - [B+(**)]
• The Paranoid Style: The Paranoid Style Presents: The Interrogator (Bar/None '24) A - [A-]
• Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (Loma Vista '24) B+ - []

Music Week

Expanded blog post, February archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 51 albums, 2 A-list

Music: Current count 41828 [41777] rated (+51), 23 [21] unrated (+2).

I posted a long Speaking of Which just before bedtime late Sunday night. I didn't quite get through my usual rounds, so added some more stuff today, which in turn pushed this out late, again. Still unclear how far I'll get Monday night.

Fortunately, I don't have much to say about music this week. The rated count is down, but I hit up several boxes, including the big Mingus one I saw little point in but enjoyed anyway, and yet another iteration of the Massey Hall Quintet/Trio. Also, another big r&b oldies box, again not ideal but quite thoroughly enjoyed.

Very little progress to report on EOY lists, websites, book projects, or anything else. The links, of course, are in the usual place.

New records reviewed this week:

• Colby Acuff: Western White Pines (2023, Sony Music Nashville): [sp]: B+(***)
• Jim Alfredson: Family Business (2021 [2023], Posi-Tone): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions (2020-23 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B+(*)
• Alex Anwandter: El Diablo En El Cuerpo (2023, 5 AM): [sp]: B+(**)
• Atmosphere: Talk Talk EP (2023, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bad Bunny: Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Manana (2023, Rimas Entertainment): [sp]: B+(**)
• Barbie: The Album (2023, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(***)
• Berlioz: Jazz Is for Ordinary People (2023, self-released, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Jaap Blonk/Damon Smith/Ra Kalam Bob Moses: Rune Kitchen (2022 [2023], Balance Point Acoustics): [sp]: B+(*)
• Brothers Osborne: Brothers Osborne (2023, EMI Nashville): [sp]: B+(*)
• Burial: Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above (2024, XL, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Tré Burt: Traffic Fiction (2023, Oh Boy): [sp]: B+(*)
• Willi Carlisle: Critterland (2024, Signature Sounds): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jordan Davis: Bluebird Days (2023, MCA Nashville): [sp]: B+(*)
• John Dierker/Jeff Arnal: Astral Chronology (2022-23 [2023], Mahakala Music, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
• Drake: For All the Dogs (2023, OVO Sound): [sp]: B
• Ana Frango Elétrico: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua (2023, Mr Bongo): [sp]: B+(**)
• Andy Emler MegaOctet: No Rush! (2023, La Buissonne): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ilhan Ersahin/Dave Harrington/Kenny Wollesen: Your Head You Know (2023, Nublu, EP): [bc]: B+(*)
• Peter Erskine and the Jam Music Lab All-Stars: Bernstein in Vienna (2021 [2024], Origin): [cd]: B+(**)
• Greg Foat & Eero Koivistoinen: Feathers (2023, Jazzaggression): [sp]: B+(*)
• Hardy: The Mockingbird & the Crow (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ayumi Ishito: Ayumi Ishito & the Spacemen Vol. 2 (2020 [2023], 577): [os]: B+(*)
• Maria João & Carlos Bica Quartet: Close to You (2019-21 [2023], JACC): [bc]: A-
• Cody Johnson: Leather (2023, Warner Music Nashville): [sp]: B
• Ruston Kelly: The Weakness (2023, Rounder): [sp]: B+(*)
• Knower: Knower Forever (2023, self-released): [sp]: B
• Tony Kofi & Alina Bzhezhinska: Altera Vita (For Pharoah Sanders) (2023, BBE, EP): [sp]: B
• Ella Langley: Excuse the Mess (2023, Sawgood): [sp]: B+(*)
• Metric: Formentera II (2023, Metric Music International): [sp]: B+(***)
• Mokoomba: Tusona: Tracings in the Sand (2023, Out Here): [sp]: B+(**)
• Nickel Creek: Celebrants (2023, Thirty Tigers): [sp]: B-
• Old Crow Medicine Show: Jubilee (2023, ATO): [sp]: B
• Dave Pietro: The Talisman (2023 [2024], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(**)
• Dougie Poole: The Rainbow Wheel of Death (2023, Wharf Cat): [sp]: B+(*)
• Noah Preminger/Kim Cass: The Dank (2023, Dry Bridge, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
• Nicky Schrire: Nowhere Girl (2023, Anzic): [sp]: B+(*)
• Laura Schuler Quartett: Sueños Paralelos (2021 [2023], Antidrò): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sparks Quartet [Eri Yamamoto/Chad Fowler/William Parker/Steve Hirsh]: Live at Vision Festival XXVI (2022 [2023], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)
• Peter Stampfel/Eli Smith/Walker Shepard: Wildernauts (2024, Don Giovanni): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tani Tabbal Quartet: Intentional (2022 [2023], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(***)
• Truth Cult: Walk the Wheel (2023, Pop Wig): [bc]: B+(*)
• Turnpike Troubadours: A Cat in the Rain (2023, Bossier City): [sp]: B
• Morgan Wallen: One Thing at a Time (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: B+(*)
• Stephen Wilson Jr.: Søn of Dad (2023, Big Loud): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Tubby Hayes: No Blues: The Complete Hopbine '65 (1965 [2023], Jazz in Britain): [bc]: B+(***)
• Jeffrey Lewis: Asides & B-Sides (2014-2018) (2014-18 [2023], self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Lou Reed: Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007 [2024], Light in the Attic): [sp]: B+(**)
• Taylor Swift: 1989 (Taylor's Verison) (2023, Republic): [sp]: B+(***)
• Barbara Thompson: First Light (1971-72 [2023], Jazz in Britain): [bc]: B

Old music:

• The Paranoid Style: The Power of Our Proven System (2013, Misra, EP): [yt]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Alon Farber Hagiga With Dave Douglas: The Magician: Live in Jerusalem (Origin) [02-24]
• David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness (Origin) [02-24]
• Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru: Solo/Duo/Trio/Quartet (2004, JMood) [03-01]
• Zach Rich: Solidarity (OA2) [02-23]

Daily Log

Music Week got delayed. I did the cutover more/less on schedule, but thought I should catch up with some delayed bookkeeping, and it got the better of me: turns out I hadn't done the indexing not just for January but also for December and November of 2023. Those were all big months, and I still hadn't finished adding December to the artist directory when the clock ran out on Monday. Needless to say, hadn't written any text by they, either (although I did manage to add a postscript to Speaking of Which). Prospects for a Tuesday post are pretty good, which may even include the January indexing.

I noticed this post to the Expert Witness group on Facebook, from Elizabeth Nelson Bracy, auteur behind the Paranoid Style, with a new album out, The Interrogator.

I reviewed it last week, and liked it well enough to give it an A-, evidently without displaying the enthusiasm that grade usually denotes. A couple days ago, I heard from a frequent correspondent, who offered me a YouTube playlist of their 2013 debut, The Power of Our Proven System, a five-song EP I noted as unheard in my database. The letter included this: "I'm into Elizabeth Nelson's work even less than you are, and certainly less than Christgau and his brood." I played it three times, but only watched some of the videos -- which were collages of newsreel footage with bits of Nelson looking pensive and/or quizzical but not singing -- and wrote up a B+(***) review. So I wrote that just before the Nelson post appeared.

One more bit of background. Christgau's reviews are very favorable (grades: A-, A, A-, A-, A, A, A). He hasn't reviewed The Interrogator yet, but that's probably the only record I got to before seeing his review, so it's unsurprising that my reviews should trail and reflect his (my grades: ***, A-, ***, ***, A-, ***, ***, A-, A-; the reviews are more likely to note that the good music isn't that great, and that my slowness as grasping lyrics preclude analysis of her undoubtedly serious stances). I could write several more paragraphs here using Nelson as a prism for exploring where and why Christgau and I diverge (and after 50 years of engagement, I doubt I'm the only one who ever diverges, although his eight years of seniority seemed like much more at the start). For now, let me just quote from one of his early reviews, that pretty much established the theme for everything since (emphasis added):

Faster and louder, slower and more reflective, better recorded with a better drummer, this five-song EP is where Elizabeth Nelson fully vents her contempt for the 60s, structural injustice, the 60s, escapist liberalism, a charismatic mentor who brainwashed her with reason, the 60s, and the musical style she and her husband mean to be better at than anybody else in the world except maybe Sleater-Kinney. Her motto: "Don't think twice, it's all over now." Her self-promo: "Glam-rock for the end times."

The bold part there is the content, which I don't recall ever parsing (in the songs, that is, which might add some depth and/or detail beyond the review), which Christgau clearly admires, and which I have some doubts about (which 60s? whose 60s? and who was that mentor? -- Richard Hofstadter? mine was Robert Paul Wolff, and that makes a big difference). As for the music, don't get me started on Sleater-Kinney.

Anyhow, the post:

Hey gang,

Long-time member, first-time commenter here.

A lot of you are very nice people and I've enjoyed hearing your thoughts about music. A few of you are extremely toxic towards me, and that's enough for me to decide to leave the group. Before I do, I did just wanna say this:

No individual anywhere is under the remotest obligation to enjoy or even tolerate the Paranoid Style LP 'The Interrogator' or any of our other records. I couldn't be more okay with that. However: Weaponized comments like "I think she's just too smart for me" or "I just don't want to read a peer reviewed journal to understand a rock song" or "she talks pretty good, but . . ." are standard issue reactionary dog whistles. If that isn't clear enough you might need to do some reflections on yr group chat. It's basically the 2016 Trump campaign in microcosm.

For those special few: Have I taken screenshots of all of the ill-considered, misogynistic, potentially career-ending comments you've written about me? Of course. Will I do anything with them? Probably not. But trust and believe that I will remember all of the mean things you've said over the years regardless.

Mostly, I just want to say to Jon LaFollette that I DO think he is smart enough for the Paranoid Style. As someone who also went to ::checks notes:: Indiana University for grad school -- and I was a mediocre student!! -- I think he's actually in a uniquely good position to get my songs. That he doesn't like the material is totally groovy. That he chooses to dunk on any achievement my band and I have by pissing in the punch with his snarky slights just bums me out. To him I say: Respectfully, dude, you don't have to listen to my music. It's not a mandate. Last I checked, this is America. You can go and listen to any of the other zillions of albums released in the last ten seconds. Or pick up your guitar and work on your own alt-rock choogle. Write a better song than whatever I've put out. Release a record. Send it to me and I'll happily -- HAPPILY -- review it.

Nelson out.

Nelson gets a fair amount of press from the Expert Witness group, not just for her group's music but often for her writing. I haven't read a lot of the latter, partly because it seems like a lot of it is her catching up on stuff I'm old enough to have lived through, but mostly because I don't read much on music except for brief scans for prospecting. But I can remember when I was catching up myself, and how much I was into serious criticism at the time, so I liked seeing her on that track.

I don't recall any past hostility to her from the EW group: most are fans, some big (the new album has been getting advance hype for 3-6 months now), maybe the occasional reservation (I don't recall uttering any myself). But evidently what brought this to a head was a seemingly innocuous post by Steve Alter, linking to the Pitchfork review: "The score [7.4] is too low, but the words are pretty good." What kicked this off was a comment by Jon R. LaFollette:

Am I the only one who doesn't feel nearly smart enough to understand what the fuck this band is singing about half the time?

That was all I saw in the feed. I didn't recognize it as toxic at the time, but it did make me wonder whether talking about how smart Nelson is hasn't become some kind of cliché. Hadn't I just done that? (My summary line in my EP review: "straitlaced indie rock with copious smarts, a formula [they] have stuck doggedly with.") I'm reminded of people at parties who flip off a lot of names and concepts when they corner you: are they really so smart, or just being pretentious? I've never had that reaction to Nelson, but the more the cliché hardens into expectation, the more likely someone will turn it over.

So I took LaFollette's comment to be a harmless joke. (Four emojis weighed in: two hearts, two laughing/howling/hard to tell.) Hardin Smith responded with "I always keep a thesaurus and a big bottle of Prevagen handy when I listen to their stuff." LaFollette countered with "I just don't want to read a peer-reviewed journal in order to understand a rock song, ya know?" I'd score both of these as dumb (after having to google "Prevagen," so maybe add an esoteric to that): no one does that, and who even thinks such a thing? My rule of thumb on lyrics is if you get them, they're a plus or minus, but if you don't, they didn't matter.

None of this seems toxic, at least until Timothy Bracy -- Nelson's husband and the principal non-singer in the band -- jumps in with (directed to LaFollette): "Are you so smart that you got into law school (vaulting achievement that) or too dumb to grasp a fucking rock song? Clowntime." Further down, he explains:

With all due respect, Jon has been making the same nasty, belligerent, not very funny joke about every thing Elizabeth has released for seven years, and we have sat there and quietly consumed his abuse on the principle that "what is the point in engaging?" At a certain juncture, seeing your wife get repeatedly dragged by a mean, spirited anonymous (to me) individual gets hard to take- try it sometime. I think if you put yourself in my position you might be able to understand this. Why, exactly, does this person have license to throw snarky, personal-seeming elbows without consequences or pushback? Is that your definition of a healthy critical ecosystem? Having said that, not my best moment or rhetorical highpoint.

I perhaps should have ended that quote after the first line, but the rest backtracks a bit, so is fair to include. This elicited a thoughtful reply from Alter, and a reiteration from Bracy (which I will excerpt):

However, I think you are underrating the extent to which Jon's ongoing (and it has been ongoing) critique HAS been of a gratuitous and particularly personal nature. He obviously hates Elizabeth's music- which is fine- but he seems also to hate the very idea of the band even existing, and he's extremely caustic about it.

Adding the following on 02-15, but thematically this belongs here. LaFollette finally apologized:

I apologize to Elizabeth and Tim for my snarky comments about their music. I should have just kept my mouth shut as I know how hard the grind is for bands on the up-and-come. Far from my finest moment and I take responsibility for it. But to accuse me of dog-whistling for misogynists everywhere is a step too far. And as for supposedly being so damn smart, I went to the same school that gave Mike Pence a law degree. They let anyone in the club.

Joe Lunday, the group admin, also commented:

I second Barrett's comment. I also understand that the Bracys may have been added by a group member nearly nine years ago, and perhaps knowing nothing about the group, not considered that it would mean reading the chatter of people who are discussing your work. To respond to some of those comments with ad hominem attacks, macho bluster and empty threats isn't cool. If we're going to sometimes have artists in the group, they should consider that mobilizing the base in this way in a gang-up on a group member - based on the most ungenerous reading of slightly snarky criticism - isn't a fair use of their clout with a significant number of people in the group.

Given Facebook's "significance" algorithm, Barrett Whitener's comment appears after Lunday's seconding. Here it is:

As I said earlier, this sucks, and I'm truly sorry Elizabeth, whose work as a musician and a critic I admire like crazy, was unhappy with some comments. That said, this is a group where opinionated fans of a renowned music critic talk about music. Musicians (and certainly recording artists, and most certainly artists whose work is liable to come up here) shouldn't be too surprised if some sharp elbows get thrown sometimes.

I thought I might have had more to say about this, but a two-day-old Facebook rant suddenly seems like ancient history.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Speaking of Which

Blog link.

It's pretty exhausting trying to wrap this up on Sunday evening, early enough so I can relax with a bit of TV, a few minutes on the jigsaw puzzle, a few pages in my current book, and maybe a bit of computer Mahjong before I run make to get a jump on Monday's Music Week. After a night's sleep, chances are good that I'll think of some introductory text, and stumble across a couple stories I initially missed. If I do, I'll add them and mark them accordingly, with that red right-margin border.

But if you want a pull quote right now, it's probably this:

But if Biden can't get his wars under control by October, I fear he's toast -- and will be deserving of the loss, even if no one else deserves to beat him. After all, the ball is in his court.

Initial counts: 145 links, 5,485 words.

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Top story threads:

Israel:

Mondoweiss:

• [02-05] Day 122: Endless killings and despair in Gaza: "Biden urges Congress to 'swiftly pass' a $118bn bipartisan deal that includes $14.1bn in military aid to Israel after the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its ongoing attacks on civilians in Gaza."

• [02-06] Day 123: New testimonies emerge of Israel torturing detained Palestinians in Gaza: "Euro-Med publishes new testimonies of Palestinian detainees subjected to dog attacks, forced nudity, and sexual harassment in Israeli jails, as Israeli soldiers continue posting images and videos of themselves committing atrocities in Gaza."

• [02-07] Day 124: Hamas proposes 135-day truce to exchange captives and end war: "Potential ceasefire deal still at discussion stage, as U.S. President Joe Biden calls Hamas counter-proposal "a little over the top." Israel continues to bomb Rafah and Khan Younis in Gaza, as Israeli forces raid the West Bank, killing one teenager."

• [02-08] Day 125: Israel rejects ceasefire proposal, plans to expand ground invasion into Rafah: "Israel rejected a Hamas proposal for a ceasefire, which included the return of Israeli captives held in Gaza, and is preparing instead to expand its ground invasion to Rafah, where 1.9 million Palestinians are seeking refuge."

• [02-09] Day 126: U.S. claims it won't support 'unplanned' ground operation in Rafah, Israel escalates attacks anyway: "Even Joe Biden admits that Israel's conduct in Gaza is "over the top," while the Israeli army has continued to intensify its attacks following Netanyahu's rejection of Hamas's most recent ceasefire proposal."

• [02-10] Day 127: Growing international alarm over Israeli plans to invade Rafah: "Israel has announced its intention to push ahead with its plans to invade Rafah in the southernmost Gaza Strip, where 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering. Rafah's mayor, Ahmed al-Sufi, warns any military action there would result in a 'massacre.'"

• [02-11] Day 128: Israeli snipers kill Palestinians at Nasser Hospital; gear up for Rafah invasion: "Hamas says an Israeli attack on Rafah would end any exchange talks for captives. The siege of the Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis enters its third week, three patients die due to Israel blocking oxygen tanks from entering."

• Richard Hardigan: [02-10] Polls show broad support in Israel for Gaza's destruction and starvation: "Nearly 58 percent of respondents in one poll said they think the IDF is using 'too little firepower' in Gaza."

• Maryam Jamshidi: [02-05] Biden executive order on West Bank violence more likely to be used against Palestinians than Israeli settlers.

• Tarif Khalidi/Mayssoun Sukarieh: [02-04] Leader of the underground tells all: "Yahya al-Sinwar's autobiographical quasi-novel Thorns and Carnations shows the Hamas leader has lived a life focused on faith and an obsessive project to build an infrastructure of resistance in Gaza."

• Middle East Monitor: [02-11] Israeli soldiers steal over $54m from Gaza bank.

• Tamam Mohsen: [01-10] The Gaza genocide is just an instrument in Israel's larger colonial project.

• Loveday Morris: [02-10] Young Israelis block aid to Gaza while IDF soldiers stand and watch.

• John Mueller: [02-05] After a spate of warnings, Israel went down the 9/11 path anyway: "Overreaction has unleashed a fury that has sucked away sympathy and likely spawned a new generation of terrorism."

• Jeremy Scahill: Israel's ruthless propaganda campaign to dehumanize Palestinians.

• Richard Silverstein: [02-09] Netanyahu: IDF to expel 1.5 million Gazans in Rafah: "Ground invasion to start within two weeks." It's hard to imagine how this plan might work, other than to knock down the walls separating Gaza from Egypt, making it impossible for Egypt to control the border.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [02-09] Netanyahu's delusional, deadly quest for 'total victory'.

• Eric Toler, et al: [02-06] What Israeli soldiers' videos reveal: cheering destruction and mocking Gazans: "The footage provides a rare and unsanctioned window into the war."

• Sharon Zhang: [02-09] As Israel starves Gaza, 1 in 10 children under 5 are now acutely malnourished.

• Oren Ziv: [02-08] Meet the settlers targeted by Biden's sanctions -- and their victims: "Palestinians and Israelis who've experienced the settlers' attacks first-hand see the move as a positive but wholly insufficient step toward accountability."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Ben Armbruster: [02-08] Media downplays lack of evidence in UNRWA employee scandal. More on UNRWA:

  • Jehad Abusalim: [02-01] Why the U.S. must restore funding to UNRWA.

  • Emine Sinmaz: [02-09] UNRWA staff accused by Israel sacked without evidence, chief admits.

  • Daniel Warner: [02-09] Suspending funding for UNRWA is an indirect violation of the International Court of Justice's decision and morally indefensible.

• Zubayr Alikhan: [02-08] The unthinkability of slave revolt: "Those who say that Israel knew about the plans for October 7 all along are repackaging an old colonial trope which believes that the natives are too docile, too submissive, too cowardly, and too inferior to revolt against their oppressors."

• Donald Earl Collins: [02-11] Western narcissism and support for genocidal Israel go hand in hand.

• Masha Gessen: [02-07] The limits of accusing Israel of genocide: "Two recent court cases failed to stop the mass violence in Gaza, but they gave center stage to facts and historical interpretations that, in Western countries, at least, are often relegated to the margins."

• Omar Karmi: [02-01] Gaza genocide turns into PR disaster for US.

• Julianne McShane: [02-09] At Hillary Clinton's panel on sexual violence, a clash over the war in Gaza: Once again, she's stepping up to aid Israel's propaganda machine in its genocide promotion.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [02-09] Dehumanization and misinformation in service of genocide: "The dehumanization of Muslims and Arabs combined with outright misinformation about October 7 is the engine powering the genocide in Gaza."

• Alex Skopic/Nathan J Robinson: [02-07] Islamophobia will poison this country: "The U.S. media is once again presenting the vicious dehumanizing caricatures that make it easier to oppress and wage war on people."

• Philip Weiss:

  • [02-09] CNN bias toward Israel starts at the top.

  • [02-11] Weekly Briefing: Biden buckles (under the weight of 28,000 Palestinian deaths): I've said all along that the genocide will stop only when Israeli authorities develops a conscience, or at least a sense of shame. No evidence of that in Israel, so we're looking at Biden, who thus far has remained politically subservient, but his complicity in genocide is taking a toll -- on his polls, if not necessarily on a conscience that has exhibited much flexibility over fifty-some years. It's hard to remember the last time any American president cajoled Israel into doing something its leader didn't want -- maybe GWH Bush dragging Shamir to the peace table at Madrid in 1991, only to endure endless haggling over the shape of the table (but enough Israelis took note of American displeasure to replace Shamir with Rabin, leading to the Oslo breakthrough). It would take a much clearer break to make any impression on Netanyahu or his voters, and Biden would need to grow a backbone as well as a conscience (something Eisenhower showed when he backed Ben Gurion out of Sinai in 1956-57 -- yeah, it took that long, even through a presidential election). But "buckled" is a bit optimistic here. But if Biden can't get his wars under control by October, I fear he's toast -- and will be deserving of the loss, even if no one else deserves to beat him. After all, the ball is in his court.

    PS: For an examples of Biden's "buckling," see:

    • Yasmeen Abutaleb/John Hudson/Tyler Pager: [02-11] Biden moving closer than ever to a breach with Netanyahu over war in Gaza.

    • Michael Sainato: [02-11] Biden warns Netanyahu against Rafah operation without 'credible' safety plan.

    • Karen DeYoung: [02-11] Biden presses Netanyahu on plans for hostage release, protecting civilians in Rafah.

  Netanyahu's already assured him there's no problem, but plans will go ahead. Something else he can buckle for.

• William Youmans: [02-08] The Sunday talk shows on Israel-Gaza: The blob still reigns: "Unsurprisingly, numbers show how one-sided and detached America's elite newsmakers really are."

America's expansion of Israel's world war:

• Spencer Ackerman:

  • [01-31] The Eighteenth Brumaire of the War on Terror.

  • [02-06] So how much of the Yemen war is Jim Mattis' fault? "The legendary Marine turned Pentagon chief was secretly working for the UAE as far back as 2015, the dawn of the devastating Yemen war. Wish I'd known that when I wrote my Rolling Stone profile!"

• Chas Danner: [02-04] Are the U.S. and Iran inching toward war?

• Dave DeCamp:

  • [02-06] US blocks Yemen-Saudi peace deal: "New sanctions on the Houthis will make it impossible for the first phase of the Saudi-Houthi peace deal to be implemented."

  • [02-08] Iraq repeats call for US forces to withdraw after Baghdad drone strike.

• Kareem Fahim/Mustafa Salim/Missy Ryan/Abigail Haushlohner: [02-11] U.S. strikes on militias, some backed by Iran, rile key ally in Iraq.

• Fred Kaplan: [02-05] What Biden's actually doing with those drone strikes in the Middle East.

• Simon Tisdall: [01-29] There is a mega-bomb waiting to explode in the Middle East. Biden must not light the fuse by attacking Iran.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Nicole Narea: [02-09] Nevada's primary and caucuses didn't change the race. They did wreak avoidable chaos. "Trump won, Haley lost, and Nevada botched its key role in the GOP primary."

  • Nicole Narea: [02-07] How Nikki Haley lost the Nevada primary to "none of these candidates".

• Isaac Arnsdorf: [02-09] Trump, using false comparisons with Biden, demands dismissal of documents charges.

• Devlin Barrett/Perry Stein: [02-11] The Trump trials: Double hearings Thursday, awaiting Supreme Court action.

• Jonathan Chait:

  • [02-06] Republicans killed the border deal to help Trump. Now they need a reason.: "Here comes the backfilled rationales." Since when do Republicans need plausible reasons? They got Democrats to embarrass themselves, then humiliated them further by double-crossing them anyway. If "owning the libs" is their highest commandment, this one will go into the textbooks.

  • [02-08] Trump says he'd encourage Russia to attack NATO allies who don't pay up: Chait adds the snark, "so much for Russia being afraid to start wars if he was in office." This is kind of silly, given how unlikely it is that Trump would stand up to the arms industry once he's in office, and how profitable that industry finds Russian menace to be. You might even say he's catering to him. For more, see Steve M.: [02-11] Trump's brain mostly works the way it always did, and that's the problem.

• EJ Dionne Jr: [02-11] Let's just say it: The Republican problem is metastasizing. The long-time columnist is a little slow on the draw, as he implicitly admits in citing a 2012 op-ed from Thomas E Mann/Norman J Ornstein: Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

• Tom Engelhardt: [02-06] A Trumpian Bacchanalia in 2024? The long-time editor wrote a prescient book in 1995 called The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation, and went on to found TomDispatch and edit a long list of books chronicling the political, economic, and moral decay of the American empire. Now, he envisions a sequel:

  And if Donald Trump were to be elected, we would also find ourselves in an almost unimaginable version of -- yes! -- defeat culture (and maybe that will have to be the title of the book I'll undoubtedly never write after I turn 80 and am headed downhill myself).

  But don't make me go on! Honestly, you know just as well as I do that, if the man who only wants to "drill, drill, drill" ends up back in the White House, you can more or less kiss this country (which already happens to be the biggest oil producer and natural gas exporter around) and possibly this planet goodbye. And if he doesn't . . . well, you may have to kiss it goodbye anyway.

  And that would be defeat culture, big time.

• Garrett Epps: [02-05] It's not just the border: The Trump-Abbott-Republican nullification crisis is here.

• Naomi Fry: [02-06] Donald Trump's chaos, straight to your in-box: "Political fund-raising e-mails are often touched by hysteria, but the former President's are unique -- wildly remixing favorite phrases into a fevered Surrealist cut-up."

• Margaret Hartmann: [02-08] Rudy Giuliani's most eye-popping claims from his bankruptcy hearing.

• Ed Kilgore: [02-09] Nikki Haley couldn't even win the Virgin Islands caucus: "Trump won big and swept the four delegates at stake."

• Noel King: [02-09] What the business community thinks of a Trump economy reboot: "The economy did well under Trump the first time around." Really? "Here's why some CEOs are worried about the sequel." Interview with Economist columnist Henry Tricks.

• Paul Krugman: [02-08] Can America survive a party of saboteurs? But Republicans aren't just saboteurs. They're extortionists. A big part of their campaign pitch is: elect us, or we'll make a stink and wreck government at every opportunity. But electing them doesn't end the sabotage. It merely shifts it into less public spheres, where they can ultimately do more damage. They are effectively nihilists, believers in nothing but their own infallible grasp of power. The only way to survive a party like that is to starve it of power, including publicity.

• Kelly McClure: [02-09] Trump brags to NRA about lax gun control during his time in office. Again, see Steve M.: [02-10] Trump on guns: The ad writes itself.

• Bill Scher: [02-08] Fear of immigrants has broken the Republican Party: "The Congressional Republican chaos over the border and how it's delaying, if not sinking, aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is more proof that the GOP's nativist turn is not the surefire political winner conservatives think it is." Another foolish defense of Washington orthodoxy, if you ask me. The nativism may be unpopular among the capitalists Republicans love to cater to, but it does energize the Republican base, and the rich are hard-pressed to gain votes for tax breaks and deregulation elsewhere, so they've developed a cynical tolerance for right-wing bigotry. Given that Trump has already rode the issue to the nomination, the "chaos" is nothing more than a dispute over tactics. On the other hand, anyone who thinks that support and encouragement for foreign wars is a "surefire political winner," which seems to be Scher's point, is a total fool. Republicans smell victory in November because the Democrats are playing these two issues exactly wrong.

• Margaret Sullivan: [01-25] We must start urgently talking about the dangers of a second Trump presidency.

• Li Zhou:

  • [02-07] Republicans' humiliating failed impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, explained.

  • [02-09] Trump's rumored VP shortlist, explained: Hard to imagine a clickbait article of less real interest, not least because it took so little intelligence to write. The shortlist, as if you couldn't list them yourself: Kristi Noem, Tim Scott, Elise Stefanik, J.D. Vance, Nikki Haley.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Michael Arria: [02-09] The Shift: Biden and Michigan. The "swing state" is especially crucial for Biden's reelection. Few broad-spectrum Democrats will leave Biden for Trump no matter how much they oppose Biden's support for Netanyuahu's genocide, but many Arab-Americans voted Republican before Trump's racism drove them away, and they know all too well how war against Muslims abroad comes home to harass them, so it's not implausible they could tilt the election. Also:

• Nadia B Ahmad: [02-08] Michigan Muslims and Arabs are over Biden.

• Yousef Munayyer: Is Joe Biden uniquely indifferent to Palestinian suffering?

• Sharon Zhang: [02-08] Sanders casts sole Democratic vote against bill to send $14B to Israel: He was embarrassingly slow to rise to the issue, but at least has. This vote throws into sharp relief the miserable argument that Biden would be just as good for all practical purposes. Genocide is not an issue that can be compromised at some midpoint.

• Stephen Zunes: [02-03] The political costs of Biden's support for Israel's war are mounting: "The president's Gaza policy is isolating the United States internationally and threatening his reelection prospects."

• Brakkton Booker: [02-06] South Carolina Dems wanted to prove they should be first. The turnout was underwhelming.

• Ross Douthat: [02-10] The question is not if Biden should step aside. It's how. Good title, but I have so little respect for the messenger I almost didn't bother. Sure, his notion that Biden should hold back and throw the nomination open at the convention, without endorsing anyone, has some merit. It would deny the rank and file any real say, but would avoid bruising primaries, and most importantly the scramble for donors that tends to be so critical. The nominee might not be the best possible, but not the worst, either. Still, it smacks of desperation, and few insiders would be willing to give up easily. I don't see it happening.

• Jill Filipovic: [01-22] Biden is whiffing it on the most important issue for Democrats: "He needs to campaign a lot harder on abortion rights -- and how it's inextricably tied to the threat Trump poses to democracy."

• Jonathan Martin: [02-04] Forget No Labels. Biden's third-party peril is on the Left.

• Andrew Prokop: [02-08] Biden and Trump are both old. Only one got a special counsel memory test. The special prosecutor's report seems designed to fend off Republican criticism for not indicting Biden by feeding them political talking points.

• Glenn Kessler: [02-10] What the Hur report says about Biden's 'willful retention' of documents.

• Jonathan Chait/Benjamin Hart: [02-08] How bad is the Special Counsel's report for Biden? Journalists interview themselves.

• Josh Marshall: [02-06] Thoughts on the Hur Report:

  First off, this is another example of the universal rule: Republican special counsels are chosen to investigate Democrats. And Republican special counsels are chosen to investigate Republicans. It may not have been a great idea for Merrick Garland to have a two-time Trump appointee investigate Joe Biden. But here we are. Robert Hur totally slimed Biden with these gratuitous comments about his mental acuity and memory, referring to him as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Even if you assume they are the product of a good faith evaluation they are still wildly inappropriate.

• Heather Digby Parton: [02-09] Joe Biden falls victim to Democrats' special prosecutor delusion: "Special prosecutor is a Republican job, no matter what."

• Steve M.: [02-09] Kamala Harris needs to step up.

• Matt Stieb: [02-08] Marianne Williamson ends campaign in the most Marianne Williamson way possible.

• Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [02-04] Joe Biden's weird perception problem: "For the President and his campaign staff, the problem is tactical. How can he pull this off? There is no shortage of advice."

Lots of people have unsolicited advice for the Biden campaign, which frankly seems to need one, but New Republic came up with a bundle of them this week -- enough to break out from the news items above, so let's collect them here.

• Nancy MacLean: Warn voters about the radicalism beyond Trump: "The Republicans are plotting to literally rewrite the Constitution to eliminate core rights and protections."

• Alex Shephard: Trump pretends he's still president. Biden should treat him that way.

• Stuart Stevens: Just say it, Democrats: Biden has been a great president.

• Michael Tomasky: Fight like the fate of the nation is at stake. Because it is.

• Josh Marshall: [02-09] More angry Biden, please.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Kate Aronoff: The Supreme Court's big Chevron case could hamstring federal government. Here's how it got started.

• Benjamin Hart: [02-05] Why politicians will probably keep getting swatted: Interview with Kevin Hendricks.

• Dahlia Lithwick/Mark Joseph Stern: [01-30] A state Supreme Court just issued the most devastating rebuke of Dobbs yet: In Pennsylvania.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [02-06] The Supreme Court is about to decide whether to sabotage Trump's election theft trial: "The justices had their shot to hear Trump's immunity appeal. Now they need to stop delaying his criminal trial."

  • [02-06] Trump's legal arguments for staying on the ballot are embarrassingly weak.

  • [02-08] Can Colorado disqualify Trump from its ballot? 4 ways the Supreme Court might rule.

  • [02-08] The Supreme Court sure sounds eager to put Trump back on the ballot: "Trump's Supreme Court lawyer was a disaster, and it won't matter one bit."

• Julia Reinstein: [02-06] Everything to know about Jennifer Crumbley's involuntary manslaughter conviction: She and her husband, who will be tried later, bought and gifted the gun that their 15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley, used to kill four of his classmates.

• Livia Albeck-Ripka/Orlando Mayorquin/J David Goodman: [02-11] Boy is critically wounded in shooting at Houston church led by Joel Osteen: "Off-duty officers shot and killed her [the shooter]."

Climate and environment:

• Delger Erdenesanaa: [02-08] Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist, wins his defamation suit: I still don't approve of defamation suits, but anything that knocks Mark Steyn and National Review down a notch must be counted a win -- the other defendant, Rand Simberg, doesn't ring a bell, but Competitive Enterprise Institute sounds awful fishy. I'm aware of, but haven't read, Mann's books, most recently The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet (2021).

• Umair Irfan:

  • [02-06] How California's torrential, life-threatening storms got so bad.

  • [02-08] 2023 was the hottest year on record. It also pushed the world over a dangerous line: "Another analysis shows 2023 exceeded 1.5C of warming on average for the first time, a key limit in the Paris Climate Agreement." Article includes a link back to a 2014 article predicting this: Brad Plumer: Two degrees: The world set a simple goal for climate change. We're likely to miss it.

• Sarah Kaplan: [02-09] Why this is one of the planetary shifts scientists are most worried about: Disruption of the complex AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) system, which circulates water in the North Atlantic.

Economic matters:

• Ryan Cooper: [02-07] Why were inflation hawks wrong? "Economists like Larry Summers . . ."

• Paul Krugman:

  • [02-05] Immigrants make America stronger and richer: That's an old and familiar argument, with a lot of empirical support. However, that's not the same thing as making individual existing Americans richer. Immigrant labor mostly generates returns to the immigrants. (Sure, businesses may capture some by underpaying workers, but these days they mostly do that by operating abroad.) Some of that wealth may trickle somewhere, and the aggregate is undoubtedly positive, but matters little to most people.

  • [02-06] Trump, immigration and the lump of labor fallacy.

• Branko Marcetic: [02-08] Americans have good reasons to be unhappy with the economy.

Ukraine War:

• Connor Echols: [02-09] Diplomacy Watch: Putin heads to Turkey for new grain deal talks.

• David French: [02-08] Why MAGA loves Russia and hates Ukraine: I won't dispute this for the tiny number of MAGA-heads who keep track of their fellow assholes around the world -- they're not wrong to count Putin, Orban, Bolsonaro, Modi, and others as kindred spirits -- but I'd stress two other points much more: one is that the MAGA masses intuitively grasp how apoplectic their embrace of Putin makes Clinton-Biden Democrats, and they simply love doing that; the other is that they've heard so much guff about how America's foreign wars are humanitarian gestures meant to help freedom-loving foreigners, and they're just sick and tired of helping people, especially foreigners.

• Ellen Ioanes/Li Zhou: [02-09] Why Ukraine's new top general is known as the "butcher": Oleksandr Syrskyi.

• Anatol Lieven: [02-09] Zaluzhny firing not even a band-aid as Ukraine strategy bleeds out: "Zelensky's sacking of the popular army chief is a colossal political gamble and reflects increasing desperation in Kyiv."

Around the world:

• Ellen Ioanes: [02-08] Everything is chaotic about Pakistan's election -- except the outcome: "Pakistan's military drives its politics. And Pakistanis lose."

  • Jeffrey D Sachs: [02-09] The US toppling of Imran Khan.

  • Bret Wilkins: [02-11] Imran Khan's party surges in Pakistani election amid fraud allegations.

  • Ishaan Tharoor: [02-11] The powerful lesson behind Pakistan's stunning election result.

• Margaret Sullivan: [02-09] Tucker Carlson's Putin interview wasn't journalism. It was sycophancy: "The Russian president was waiting for the right stooge. With Carlson, he got just that." Also:

  • Masha Gessen: [02-09] Tucker Carlson promised an unedited Putin. The result was boring.

  • Fred Kaplan: [02-09] Tucker Carlson's Putin interview was even worse than expected.

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Other stories:

Al Jazeera: [02-02] Ex-CIA software engineer who leaked to WikiLeaks sentenced to 40 years: "Joshua Schulte had been found guilty of handing over classified materials in so-called Vault 7 leak.

Nicholson Baker: [01-31] No, aliens haven't visited the earth: "Why are so many smart people insisting otherwise?"

Harry Brighouse: [02-05] What's wrong with free public college? Some reasonable points, but I'm not much bothered that a right to free higher education would benefit the middle class more than poorer students. Lots of worthwhile programs do the same, but we shouldn't, for example, give up on airline safety just because the beneficiaries skew up.

Elizabeth Dwoskin: [02-10] How a liberal billionaire became America's leading anti-DEI crusader: Profile of Bill Ackman. Another rich guy with money to burn, but how does having donated to Clinton and Obama make him any kind of liberal?

Nicholas Fandos: [02-10] What to know about the race to replace George Santos: "The special House election in New York pits Mazi Pilip, a Republican county legislator, against Tom Suozzi, a former Democratic congressman." In other words, the Democrats nominated the most anodyne white guy possible, while the Republicans calculated that the best way to advance their racist, sexist, nativist agenda was by nominating a black female Jewish immigrant from Ethiopia.

Abdallah Fayyad/Nicole Narea/Andrew Prokop: [02-09] 7 questions about migration and the US-Mexico border, answered. More border:

• Rick Perlstein: [02-07] The REAL threat at our border: "Trump, Republican governors, and MAGA media have summoned their armed fanatics to the Rio Grande."

• Areeba Shah: [02-10] Experts alarmed after Texas border "invaded" by far right "God's Army" convoy.

Rebecca Gordon: [02-11] Banning what matters: "Public libraries under MAGA threat."

Joshua Keating: [02-06] Welcome to the "neomedieval era": "Nations like the US have more firepower than ever before -- but they also appear weaker than ever. The upshot is a world that feels out of control."

Clare Malone: [02-10] Is the media prepared for an extinction-level event? "Ads are scarce, search and social traffic is dying, and readers are burned out. The future will require fundamentally rethinking the press's relationship to its audience."

AW Ohlheiser: [02-08] What we've learned from 20 years of Facebook.

Nathan J Robinson:

• [02-06] More firefighters, fewer cops: "If we want to keep people safe, we need institutions more like the fire department and less like the police department."

• [02-08] Rethinking the concept of 'philanthropy': Interview with Amy Schiller, author of The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix It.

Jeffrey St Clair: [02-09] Roaming Charges: Comfortably dumb. Harsh on Biden. Quote:

• Sen. Chris Murphy on the failed Border/Ukraine/Israel deal: "They are a disaster right now. How can you trust any Republicans right now? They told us what to do. We followed their instructions to the letter. And then they pulled the rug out from under us in 24 hrs." ["They"? You got nothing but embarrassed.]

• It's instructive that MAGA has threatened to "destroy" James Lankford, the rightwing Senator from Oklahoma who wrote a border closure bill that gave them 99% of what they wanted and Democrats are lining up behind Biden for endorsing a bill that betrayed everything he'd ever promised on immigration.

Bryan Walsh: [02-10] Taylor Swift, the NFL, and two routes to cultural dominance: My minor acknowledgment of the week's overweening culture story, not that I have anything to say about it. Cultural dominance isn't what it used to be LVIII years ago, when the Chiefs I remember fondly -- Len Dawson, Otis Taylor, Ed Budde, E.J. Holub, Buck Buchanan -- got butchered by the Green Bay Packers (IV was much more satisfying), while the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and James Brown were regularly outdoing themselves. These days, even the largest stars seem much smaller than they did when I was fifteen, because we now recognize that the world is so much larger. I haven't watched football since the 1980s (or baseball since the 1990s), and while I still listen to quite a bit of popular music, I doubt that any new artist has occupied as much as 1% of my time since 2000. I've listened to, and clearly like, Taylor Swift, but I hardly recognize her song titles, and certainly couldn't rank them (as Rob Sheffield did, 243 of them). I suppose you could chalk that up to age, but I'm feeling the least bit nostalgic. I reviewed more than 1,600 records last year. In 1966, I doubt I heard more than 10 -- supplemented, of course, by KLEO and TV shows like Shindig! and Hullabaloo, but the universe I was conscious of extended to at most a couple hundred artists. Back then, I thought I could master it all. Now I know I never stood a chance.

I know I promised, but what the hell:

• Jennifer Weiner: [02-10] Why is everything suddenly Taylor Swift's fault?

• Kyle Chayka: [01-31] America's paranoid Taylor Swift super bowl MAGA fever dream.

• David Corn: [01-31] Why the right-wing conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift is good for American democracy.

• Ross Douthat: [01-31] Taylor Swift, Donald Trump and the right's abnormality problem.

• Maureen Dowd: [02-03] Inside Trump's not-so-Swift brain.

• Alex Skopic: [02-09] The NFL is an abusive workplace.

Li Zhou: [02-06] The Grammys' Beyoncé snubs speak to a deeper problem: Beyoncé was snubbed? "They're emblematic of how the awards have failed Black artists." As someone who has never had any expectation of Grammy ever doing anything right, I find the very notion that anyone could be so certainly deserving of a win as to be snubbed baffling.

---

Sorry for doing this to you, but I'm going to quote a Donald Trump tweet (quoted by Matthew Yglesias, reposted by Dean Baker, my emphasis added):

2024 is our Final Battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, we will throw off the sick political class that hates our Country, we will rout the Fake News Media, we will Drain the Swamp, and we will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all!

Yglesias responded: "This stuff is demented but it also serves to deflect attention from the boring reality that what he's going to do is cut rich people's taxes, raise prescription drug prices, let companies dump more shit in the water, etc etc etc." There's a lot of hyperbole in this pitch, but who can doubts that there are warmongers in the cururent government, that they are pushing us into more perilous foreign entanglements, and that Biden isn't likely to restrain much less break from them. There's good reason to doubt that Trump can fix this, but if he wants to campaign on the promise, many people will find slim chance preferable to none. Moreover, the rest of his pitch is coherent and forceful, and is likely to resonate with the propaganda pitch much of the media -- and not just the shills at Fox -- have been pushing over the last decade.

Countering that Trump won't really do this just feeds into the paranoia over the Deep State -- which, to be sure, thwarted him in 2017, but this time he knows much better what he's up against. Worse still is arguing that his actual government will be boring, with a side of petty corruption, just shows you're not listening, and also suggests that you don't much care what happens. If Trump did nothing more than check off Yglesias's list, he'd still be a disaster for most Americans. But at the very minimum, he's going to do much more than that: he's going to talk, and he's going to talk a lot, and he's going to bring more people into government and media who are going to add ever more vicious details to the mass of hate and pomposity he spews. And even though lots of us are going to recoil in horror, we'll still have to stuggle to survive being inundated by it all, all the while suffering the glee of our tormenters.

Of course, the "Final Battle" and "once and for all" is as over the top as the Book of Revelation he's taken to heart. But that it can't happen won't make them any less determined, or dangerous, or dreadful.

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Daily Log

I was working on the "Reading Obits" piece and wondered whatever happened to my old minister, from the several years when we regularly attended Glen Park Christian Church. I heard a lot of sermons -- almost all based on verses from the Gospels -- and he baptised me, but I actually got to know him a bit when he counselled me toward the Boy Scouts God & Country Award. I found this obituary: Kenneth D. Cable, Manhattan, Kansas, Sept. 21, 2019, age 84. It says he had been "president of Manhattan Christian College for 25 years, retiring in 2005," and cites other experience in religious education, but doesn't mention previous ministry, or living in Wichita. I found several other obituaries for "Ken Cable," but this seems by far the most likely. I don't see a birth date, but 1935 would have made him 27-30 when I knew him, which seems about right.

---

I posted this comment on Facebook, about The R&B No. 1s of the '40s -- Clifford Ocheltree suggested that the first two discs were B+, the last two A.

The first two discs are more scattered, or idiosyncratic. One suspects that the separate race charts were created to reflect the segregated markets -- not the race of the artists -- so the mix starts very mixed (most egregiously with "White Christmas," although almost everything else is interesting). The third disc seems better because it's mostly Louis Jordan. Whether you need that or not is a separate issue. But the formalization of a black market gave black artists an opportunity they took advantage of, and thoroughly conquered. In the 1950s, blacks moved into the white market, and again excelled. Many of us who were born around 1950 were quite aware of the Jim Crow world, but saw it as decrepit, ignorant, and pathetic/vicious -- compared to which blacks seemed to be supremely talented. I noticed that first in baseball, then more generally in athletics, but music soon followed. While I didn't get back to the 1940s until much later, it soon became clear that this was the period when music changed history.

Ocheltree, who I've only known as a resident of New Orleans, replied:

Tom, you and I are roughly the same age and I certainly grasp the various issues of a Jim Crow world. But my experience was quite different. My next door neighbors at our home in Chicago were African-American (quite well to-do but still). My parents, hardly liberal, made it very clear we were to treat them with the same level of respect that we showed to all adults. On the other side we had a white family of hard core Civil Rights advocates. Just about every major leader in that movement spent time in their house. My parents insisted my brother and I meet and speak with them. And I will not mention our maid / nanny who was Otis Rush's aunt. My exposure to music and people was certainly unique for the time. As for a "period when music changed history" I'm in full agreement. Which may be why I favor sets like this which illustrate and provide a context for that change.

Monday, February 05, 2024

Music Week

Expanded blog post, February archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 34 albums, 6 A-list

Music: Current count 41777 [41743] rated (+34), 21 [16] unrated (+5).

Very late start here, but I don't have much to say, so let's just get it out of the way.

I published another Speaking of Which Sunday evening. Came out with more links than usual (141), but fewer words (4726), so I didn't do much commenting. Today I added another 1000 words of introduction, but only 5 more links. Look for the red stripe in the right margin. The new words try to explain why some of the things people say to frame what Israel and the US are doing in ways that further genocide and poison any prospect for peace.

I'm about 100 pages into Greg Grandin's The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America. I thought about quoting several sections that seem particularly relevant to the present, especially about how the notion of an expandable frontier, driven by new settlement, leads to racism at home, war abroad, and genocide for whoever gets caught in the middle. In America this is the dynamic of Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty," of Jackson's "Indian Removal," and of Polk's "Mexican War." Many people understand Israel (like America, South Africa, and Algeria) as an example of attempted Settler Colonialism, but few people have noted the significance of Ben Gurion's refusal in 1948 to declare or, even after defining armistices in 1950-51, define Israel's borders -- even though Ben Gurion had lobbied hard to get the UN to approve a partition plan with defined borders.

I'm struggling to revise an old blog post I wrote about "reading obituaries" for possible inclusion in a book some friends are intent on publishing, and I'm tearing my hair out over my inability to focus on that task, or indeed on much of anything. That in turn has left everything else on hold.

I figured I'd wrap up the EOY aggregate once I counted Robert Christgau's Dean's List: 2023. It's out now, and I've split it up into essay and list, but I haven't counted it yet. I also haven't updated the Consumer Guide database and added the links from the list file to the database. Later this week.

I did add a few things to the EOY aggregate, like the Free Jazz Collective Album of the Year and individual critic lists for their writers who didn't vote in the Francis Davis JCP -- I've taken names, 11 of them, compared to the 7 who did vote.

I'd also like to point out that Mark Lomanno is doing a very nice Month in Review series. It's perhaps a bit more mainstream than the monthly columns Phil Freeman writes for Stereogum and Dave Sumner for Bandcamp Daily, but is a very welcome development. I've been neglecting my 2024 music tracking file, but with both labels and release dates, it makes updating too easy to ignore.

Also note that Paul Medrano is making an effort to track all 2024 New Jazz Music Releases, also in very usable format. I hope some readers here will find a way to help him out.

I also want to recommend one of the very best EOY reports I've seen this year, Tris McCall's Pop Music Abstract 2023, which is basically a whole year's worth of well-written reviews. I added all of the albums cited to my EOY Aggregate (code: tmr:+), even after I realized that not all of them were positive reviews; e.g.:

Sigur Ros -- Atta Oh god no.

Which was even more to the point than even my own B− review. But also take a look at his Lemon Twigs review, which does a marvelous job of putting into words what I was thinking when I simply jotted down C+.

Rated count is significantly down this week, to which I can only say, "whew!" Two 4-CD boxes, though, that I actually bought, and possibly cut them some slack (certainly gave them more time) as a result.

Still lots of technical glitches around the office and home, but I did get my main computer's speakers working, so I'm able to start playing downloads and Soundcloud and YouTube links again.

One thing I didn't do last week was pay any attention to my demo queue, for for that matter to 2024 releases (although five snuck in anyway, including one A−).

---

New records reviewed this week:

• Ben Allison/Steve Cardenas/Ted Nash: Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols (2022 [2024], Sonic Camera): [sp]: B+(***)
• Chuquimamani-Condori: DJ E (2023, self-released): [bc]: B+(*)
• City Girls: Raw (2023, Quality Control/Motown): [sp]: B+(**)
• Isaiah Collier: Parallel Universe (2023, Night Dreamer): [sp]: B+(***)
• Craven Faults: Standers (2023, The Leaf Label): [sp]: B+(***)
• Charley Crockett: Live from the Ryman Auditorium (2022 [2023], Son of Davy): [sp]: A-
• DJ Danifox: Ansiedade (2023, Principe): [sp]: B+(**)
• DJ K: Panico No Submundo (2023, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [sp]: B+(*)
• Chad Fowler/George Cartwright/Kelley Hurt/Christopher Parker/Luke Stewart/Steve Hirsh/Zoh Amba: Miserere (2023, Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)
• Chad Fowler/Shanyse Strickland/Sana Nagano/Melanie Dyer/Ken Filiano/Anders Griffen: Birdsong (2022 [2024], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)
• Jayda G: Guy (2023, Ninja Tune): [sp]: B+(***)
• Tim Hecker: No Highs (2023, Kranky): [sp]: B+(***)
• Abdullah Ibrahim: 3 (2023 [2024], Gearbox): [sp]: B+(*)
• Jonas Brothers: The Album (2023, Republic): [sp]: B+(*)
• Lia Kohl: The Ceiling Reposes (2023, American Dreams): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jamie Leonhart: The Illusion of Blue (Side A) (2022, self-released, EP): [sp]: B-
• Jamie Leonhart: The Illusion of Blue (Side B) (2022, self-released, EP): [sp]: B-
• Bonnie Montgomery: River (2023, Gar Hole): [sp]: B+(*)
• Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y: A New Beat (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• The Paranoid Style: The Interrogator (2024, Bar/None): [sp]: A-
• Luciana Souza & Trio Corrente: Cometa (2023, Sunnyside): [sp]: B+(**)
• David Tamura + Toadal Package: Final Entrance (2023, JPN): [bc]: B+(**)
• Azu Tiwaline: The Fifth Dream (2023, IOT): [sp]: A-
• Mark Turner Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard (2022 [2023], Giant Step Arts): [sp]: B+(**)
• Wiki & Tony Seltzer: 14K Figaro (2023, Wikset Enterprise): [sp]: B+(***)
• Eri Yamamoto: Colors of the Night Trio (2022 [2023], Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Borga Revolution! Volume 1: Ghanaian Dance Music in the Digital Age, 1983-1992 (1983-92 [2022], Kalita): [sp]: B+(***)
• Borga Revolution! Volume 2: Ghanaian Dance Music in the Digital Age, 1983-1996 (1983-96 [2023], Kalita): [sp]: A-
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Live From the Northwest, 1959 (1959 [2023], Brubeck Editions): [r]: B+(***)
• Duke Ellington: All the Hits and More 1927-54 (1927-54 [2023], Acrobat, 4CD): [cd]: A
• Kantata: It's High Time Now (1986 [2023], BBE): [sp]: B+(***)
• Papa Yankson: Party Time (Odo Ye Wu) (1989 [2023], Kalita): [sp]: B+(***)

Old music:

• None.

---

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Duke Ellington: All the Hits and More 1927-54 (Acrobat, 4CD)
• Christian Fabian Trio: Hip to the Skip (Spicerack) [02-01]
• Gordon Grdina/Christian Lillinger: Duo Work (Attaboygirl) [02-16]
• Gordon Grdina's the Marrow: With Fathieh Honari (Attaboygirl) [02-16]
• Doug MacDonald: Sextet Session (DMAC Music) [03-01]
• The R&B No. 1s of the '40s (1942-50, Acrobat, 4CD)

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Speaking of Which

Blog link.

No introduction for now. I really need to be working on other things. This is driving me crazy. Right now, all I really want is to move it out of the way.

Initial count: 141 links, 4726 words. Revised: 146 links, 5723 words.

---

After posting, I ran into a couple items that merit additional comments, mostly because they exemplify the kind of shoddy thinking that promotes war (or vice versa).

Harlan Ullman: [01-31] We don't need a Tonkin Gulf Resolution for the Red Sea. Headline is ok, but the hawks don't need one because Biden is escalating the war on his own authority -- as presidents have tended to do ever since the "blank check" war authorization Johnson secured in 1964. But nearly everything else here is wrong-headed or at least seriously muddled. The bit that got to me was "Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, diabolically designed to elicit an Israeli overreaction." He seems to be saying that Israel had no agency in the matter. And now the Houthis, having "plagiarized Hamas' Oct. 7 attack," have tricked the US into bombing Yemen, risking escalation into a broader regional war -- for which, no doubt about this, Ullman will find sinister designs in Tehran.

Of course, there is a perverse kernel of truth to this: Israel and the U.S. are such dedicated believers in security through deterrence that they feel obliged to meet any challenges with overwhelming force, with scarcely a thought given to collateral victims, let alone to how the resulting atrocities damage their credibility and their own psyches. But given their massive investments in intelligence gathering, in war gaming, and in propagandizing, it's hard to accept that their warmaking is merely a conditioned reflex, something that a marginal ideologue with a martyr complex could simply trigger. (As Laura Tillem put it: "Bin Laden was a hypnotist who said look into my eyes, you will now pour all your resources down the drain.")

Rather, they must somehow believe that terror suffices to suppress the aspirations of the disempowered people who inconveniently occupy parts of the world they feel entitled to rule. Still, they feel the need to paint themselves as innocent victims -- a claim that is only plausible in the wake of a sudden outburst, which is why Netanyahu on 10/7, like Bush on 9/11, seized the opportunity to take the offensive and do horrible things long dreamed of but rarely disclosed.

By the way, Ullman lays claim to have been the guy who thought up the "shock and awe" strategy that promised to instantly win the war against Saddam Hussein. It didn't, perhaps because only the dead were truly shocked and awed. The rest simply learned that they could survive, and resolved to fight on. But imagine, instead, the kind of people who got excited by the Powerpoint presentation. Those were the people, from Bush to the Pentagon to their affiliated "think tanks," who, intent on proving their own superiority, brought death and havoc to 20 countries over 20 years. Most were genuinely envious of Israel, which they saw as the one government truly free to impose its superior power on its region and their unfortunate peoples. So now that Israel has finally moved from systematic discrimination reinforced withsporadic terrorism to actual genocide, they're giddy with excitement. Ullman advises them to "act boldly to cripple Houthi and Islamic militant capabilities," but he's also advising a measure of stealth, unlike the "real men go to Tehran" crowd.

The second piece I wanted to mention came from Democracy Today: [02-05] U.S. & Israel vs. Axis of Resistance: Biden Strikes New Targets in Middle East as Gaza War Continues. The transcript includes an interview with Narges Bajoghli, an "expert" who likes to throw about the term "Axis of Resistance." Evidently, this is enough of a thing that it has its own Wikipedia page (as does Iran-Israel proxy conflict, linked to under "Purposes for the Axis"). The term "Axis of Resistance" is internally incoherent and externally malicious. "Axis" implies organization and coordination of a power bloc, which hardly exists, and even where possible is informal. "Resistance" is something that arises locally, wherever power is imposed. Palestinians resist Israeli power, wherever it is felt, sometimes violently, mostly non-violently, but in Israeli-controlled territories to little or no effect. When Israel occupied Lebanon, resistance was generated there as well, most significantly coalescing into Hezbollah. Resisters may come to feel solidarity with others, and may even help each other out, but resistance itself is a limiting function of power. "Axis of Resistance" was nothing more than a rhetorical twist on Bush's "Axis of Evil." What makes the term dangerous is that it's being used to organize a coherent picture of an enemy that Israel can goad America into waging war against. (Israelis have no wish to be the "real men" invading Iran, but would be happy to cheer Americans on, especially as a hopeless war there would deflect qualms about genocide.)

Bajoghli isn't as fully aligned with the hawks as Ullman is, but inadvertently helps them by buying this significant propaganda line. A realistic analysis would see that there are obvious opportunities to breaking up this "axis": Iran wants to end its isolation, and be able to trade with Europe and America (as, it was starting to do before Trump broke the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions); Assad would do virtually anything except surrender power for stability; Yemen and Lebanon have been wracked by civil wars for decades, mostly because local power is fragmented while foreign powers have been free to intervene. These and many other problems could be solved diplomatically, but what has to happen first is to turn the heat down, by demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and beyond, along with discipline against the pogroms in the West Bank. Israel needs to see that their dreams of a "final solution" to the Palestinians are futile: there is no alternative to living together, in peace, with some tangible sense of justice. Not everyone on every side is going to like that, but a democracy of all should be able to come to that conclusion.

---

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [01-29] Day 115: Israel pushes Gazans further south; US threatens further regional violence.

  • [01-30] Day 116: Israeli forces carry out assassination raid inside Jenin hospital disguised as doctors.

  • [01-31] Day 117: Israel besieges Nasser hospital for tenth consecutive day.

  • [02-01] Day 118: Mass grave found of Palestinians tied up, killed 'execution-style'.

  • [02-02] Day 119: Israel vows to push forward into Rafah, leaving Palestinians with nowhere left to flee.

  • [02-03] Day 120: Gaza's economy in shambles amid fears of escalating regional tensions.

  • [02-04] Day 121: Israel kills more than 1,000 Palestinians since ICJ ruling; U.S. bombs Yemen.

• Shatha Abdulsamad: [01-30] War on Gaza: Defunding UNRWA is a war against all Palestinians. The speed with which the US and other nations acted to defund UNRWA shows that they could have acted with similar resolve to withdraw funding for Israel's genocidal war. That they haven't done so shows that they hold separate and extremely unequal values on Israeli and Palestinian lives. More on UNRWA:

  • Shane Harris/John Hudson/Karen DeYoung/Souad Mekhennet: [01-31] Israeli intelligence prompted U.S. to quickly cut Gaza aid funding: Israel claims to have identified 12 UNRWA employees in Gaza (out of 13,000) with ties to the Oct. 7 attack, which was enough to move the US and other nations to act in a PR coup meant to counter the ICJ's "plausible genocide" findings, something the US et al. have done absolutely nothing to act on. Well, actually what they've done is worse than inaction, as hobbling the UN's aid organization directly adds to the genocidal effects of Israel's war. As Norman Finkelstein has pointed out, all Israel has actually alleged is that some Hamas militants also have day jobs. Still, makes me wonder how many UNRWA employees are also working for Mossad or Shin Bet.

  • AlJazeera: [02-01] What is UNRWA and why is it important for Palestinians?

  • Ellen Ioanes: [01-31] The allegations against the UN's Palestinian refugee relief agency, explained.

  • Hasan Basri Bulbul: [01-29] Defunding UNRWA: With this act, western powers are likely complicit in genocide.

  • Ryan Grim: Republicans move to one-up Biden and permanently defund UNRWA.

  • David Hearst: [02-01] Why is the West falling for Israel's play to destroy UNRWA?

  • Alex MacDonald: [01-29] Israel, UNRWA and the West: A history of claims and cuts.

  • MME: [01-31] Netanyahu says UNRWA mission 'must be terminated'.

  • Mitchell Plitnick: [02-03] U.S. admits it hasn't verified Israel's UNRWA claims, media ignores it.

  • Dylan Saba: [02-02] A new phase for Gaza: The war on humanitarian aid: "Why the attack on UNRWA looks a lot like collective punishment."

• Alexei Sisulu Abrahams: [02-02] How the news cycle misses the predominant violence in Israel-Palestine.

• Ruwaida Kamal Amer: [01-31] 'My children are crying from hunger. This is a war of starvation': "With insufficient aid and skyrocketing prices across Gaza, Palestinians in the overcrowded city of Rafah are struggling to feed their families."

• Tareq S Hajjaj:

  • [01-30] Giving birth in the Gaza genocide.

  • [01-31] Testimonies describe forced displacement campaign in northern Gaza.

• Shatha Hanaysha: [01-30] Executed in their sleep: How Israeli forces assassinated three Palestinians in a raid on a West Bank hospital.

• Ibrahim Husseini: [02-03] Silwan faces escalating home demolitions in fight against messianic settlers. Title seems confused, in that the state is doing the demolitions, at the settlers' behest, so who's fighting them?

• Samer Jaber: [01-28] The Palestinian Authority's role has become to delegitimize Palestinian resistance. Well, more than that: "It is now a direct collaborator amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza."

• Shola Lawai: [02-03] How Israel's flooding of Gaza's tunnels will impact freshwater supply.

• Eitay Mack: [01-31] How Israeli settler terrorism set the stage for genocide in Gaza.

• Brad Pearce: [01-30] Western media's blackout of Israel's "Hannibal Directive".

• Shahd Safi: [01-29] Egyptian officials are charging Palestinians a massive ransom to escape the Gaza genocide.

• Margherita Stancati/Anat Peled: [01-29] Israel's far right plots a 'new Gaza' without Palestinians.

• Oren Ziv: [01-30] Turning Zeitoun into Shivat Zion: Israeli summit envisions Gaza resettlement. Isaelis are holding something they call "Conference for Israel's Victory," replete with maps of how they plan to divvy up the spoils of a depopulated Gaza.

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Khadija Quadri Al Jilani: [02-04] Following months of citywide protests, Chicago becomes largest U.S. city to call for Gaza ceasefire.

• Lori Allen: [01-29] The Rorschach test of Palestine in international law.

• Michael Arria: [02-01] The Shift: Pelosi says FBI should investigate Palestine protestors for links to Russia.

• James Bamford: [01-31] The anti-defamation league: Israel's attack dog in the US.

• Khalil Barhoum: [01-28] White guilt and Biden's support for the genocide in Gaza.

• Amos Barshad: [02-01] Inside the Israel Lobby's new $90 million war chest: "Internal AIPAC materials reveal huge gifts from moguls -- and the strategies lobbyists used to score the cash."

• Nick Burbank: [02-01] We deserve the truth about what happened on October 7: Well, sure, and Burbank has a website called Oct 7 Factcheck to try to cut through the Israeli avalanche of propaganda spun around that day, but the exact details of which horrifying acts were perpetrated by which fighters have since paled compared to the mass destruction and genocide Israel has unleashed on Gaza and elsewhere, which continues to mount. While there is still much happening that is poorly and only partly reported, there is more than enough evidence to see that Israel is overwhelmingly at fault, both for creating the conditions which led to armed resistance, and for exploiting the event to escalate their long project to reduce Palestinians to "an utterly defeated people."

• Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: [01-29] Two days after ICJ ruling, Euro-Med Monitor says Israel has maintained its rate of killing in Gaza.

• Sean Jacobs: [01-26] South Africa sees its moral conscience in a genocide case.

• James North: [02-04] The 'Guardian' exposes how CNN slants the Gaza news. The piece cited here is:

  • Chris McGreal: [02-04] CNN staff say network's pro-Israel slant amounts to 'journalistic malpractice'.

• Jonathan Ofir: [01-29] The ICJ just took the Holocaust monopoly away from Israel.

• Philip Weiss:

  • [01-28] Weekly Briefing: Biden's voters say it's genocide, by 50-20, but Biden can't.

  • [02-04] Weekly Briefing: Biden's backing of Israeli 'genocide' is now a political liability (even NBC says).

America's expansion of Israel's world war:

• Dan Lamothe/Alex Horton/Missy Ryan: [02-03] U.S., Britain launch new wave of military strikes in Yemen: "The operation follows a large-scale attack on Iranian forces and their affiliates in Iraq and Syria, retribution for the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan."

• Marco Carnelos: [01-30] War on Gaza: Why the US refuses to learn the lessons of history.

• Andrew Cockburn: [01-30] Admiral Fabuloso thumps his tub. The tub-thumping admiral is James G Stavridis, outspoken but hardly alone among Washington's "bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran" chorus.

• Melvin Goodman: [02-02] Why are our regional experts expecting more war in every corner? Starts by quoting said experts on Korea, Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine, and everywhere ("The world war potential is really, really significant" -- Michael Mullen, former joint chiefs chairman, who since retiring has joined multiple corporate boards).

• William Hartung: [01-31] Tone deaf? Admin brags about 55% hike in foreign arms sales.

• Joshua Keating: [01-29] America no longer has a monopoly on deadly drones.

• Ken Klippenstein: [2023-11-16] Pentagon won't say where it's sending U.S. troops -- to avoid embarrassing host nations: "Details about the rapid U.S. military buildup since the start of Israel's war on Gaza are largely unknown to the public and risk war with Iran, experts say." Some background, with Jordan the first-mentioned example.

• Helen Lackner: [02-03] What Yemen's Houthis want.

• Joshua Landis: [02-01] US troops should have left Syria and Iraq long ago.

• Daniel Larison: [02-02] White House still denies Mideast turmoil linked to Gaza.

• Oliver Milman: [02-03] US House to vote next week on standalone $17.6bn bill for aid to Israel: They should call it the Genocide Support Act.

• Ben Quinn: [02-04] Russia, China and Iran could target UK via Irish 'backdoor,' thinktank warns: The paranoia lobby is hard at work in the UK, too, tapping old fears to shore up ever more ominous defense spending.

• Richard Rubenstein: [02-02] The new bipolarity: Tom Friedman prophesies a new global conflict and mostly gets it wrong. You may recall how strange it was after Oct. 7 when the long-reigning world's worst pundit had a brief moment of clarity, and advised that Israel might be better off by not overreacting and plunging head-first into genocide -- as they in fact did. But within a month or so, his reprogramming kicked in, bringing him back to "a titanic geopolitical struggle between two opposing networks of nations and nonstate actors over whose values and interests will dominate our post-Cold War world." He dubs these networks the Includers (where Israel leads America, and America drags along Ukraine, Taiwan, and their few allies) vs. the Resisters (anyone who defies the dictates of the Includers). Still, he seems to still be missing a module, as he still views China and others who doubt the Includers' omniscience as merely neutral.

• Ishaan Tharoor:

  • [01-22] What Netanyahu sees from the river to the sea.

  • [01-30] The Middle East's arc of conflict is spiraling.

  • [01-31] Behind Biden's Middle East crises is the long tail of Trump's legacy: Trump, at Israel's behest, wrecked the nuclear arms agreement with Iran, provoked further hostilities by imposing new sanctions (which, conveniently enough, boosted the Saudi and Russian oil cartel -- as did sanctions that took Venezuelan oil off the world market) and escalating further by assassinating IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani. Beyond that, Trump "also encouraged the acceleration of Israel's far-right drift." And his substitute for the long-frustrated and half-hearted "peace process" was the so-called Abraham Accords, where Arab states were offered arms and business incentives for giving up their concerns for Palestinians, and giving Israel a free hand to do with them what they will. What's happened since October is almost purely the ultimate consequence of Trump's policy shifts in the region. On the other hand, this hardly excuses Biden, who hastily reversed Trump foreign policy elsewhere (especially re Ukraine and NATO), but did virtually nothing to reset or even review policy in the Middle East.

• Nick Turse: [01-30] Remote warfare and expendable people: "Forever War means never having to say you're sorry."

• Robert Wright: [02-02] The Iran retaliation calculus: The real calculation is that Biden and Netanyahu believe they have the power (and therefore the right) to punish Iran for what basically boils down to reckless gun-running -- which the US and Israel also does, much more broadly than Iran does -- and that they have so much more power that Iran won't dare retaliate. That's a very arrogant position to take, one that requires constant punitive reinforcement, especially as it mostly works to harden resistance.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Karla Adam: [02-01] U.K. High Court throws out Trump lawsuit over Steele dossier.

• Isaac Arnsdorf/Lauren Kaori Gurley/Tyler Pager: [01-31] Trump outreach to Teamsters sparks tensions over his anti-union record.

• Eleanor Clift: [02-03] There's barely any political daylight between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.

• Matt Ford: The Republicans are performing for an audience of one.

• Sarah Jones: [01-30] Why is the right so weird about Taylor Swift? It's tempting to think that they've finally gone too far and picked an enemy much bigger than themselves, but their audience for this nonsense is pretty isolated, and most other people have learned to tune out their hysterical bloviations. More:

  • Lorraine Ali: [02-03] What's behind the right's attack on Swift-Kelce romance? Fear of a powerful woman.

  • Margaret Hartmann: [01-30] Trump is in a one-sided popularity contest with Taylor Swift.

  • Amanda Marcotte: [02-02] Taylor Swift, Stanley cups and a brewing backlash to MAGA's sexist snobbery.

  • Nikki McCann Ramirez: [01-29] Right-wingers say Super Bowl is rigged so Taylor Swift can endorse Biden.

  • Asawin Suebsaeng/Adam Rawnsley: [01-30] Trump allies pledge 'holy war' against Taylor Swift.

  • Li Zhou: [01-31] Why conservatives are melting down over Taylor Swift: "Swift represents a constituency they're losing big time: Young women."

• Ankush Khardori: [02-01] Inside Trump's costly outburst: 'Like an 8-year-old having a temper tantrum': "Roberta Kaplan's strategy delivered E. Jean Carroll $83 million from Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors may want to take note."

• Mattea Kramer/Sean Fogler: [02-01] When in doubt, strip search and restrain the unwell: "'Helping' people by shaming them -- and canceling their civil rights."

• Paul Krugman: [01-29] MAGA is based on fear, not grounded in reality. He inadvertently reminds us that Nikki Haley is on the same page, when he quotes her as saying, "we've got an economy in shambles and inflation that's out of control." Krugman followed that column with what he intended as a "reality-based" corrective: [02-01] Our economy isn't 'Goldilocks.' It's better.

• Chris Lehmann: [01-30] GOP border theatrics have escalated threats of civil war.

• Patricia Lopez: [02-03] Some GOP governors would let kids go hungry to spite Biden.

• Andrew Prokop: [02-01] The chances that Trump will be a convicted felon by Election Day have dropped: "It could still happen -- but the four prosecutions of Trump have been beset by delays and challenges."

• Nikki McCann Ramirez:

  • [01-29] Trump trashes auto union leader after losing endorsement.

  • [01-30] Trump spent $50 million in donor money on legal bills last year: "The former president's PAC are operating as slush funds to help him fight off a mountain of civil and criminal cases."

• Andrew Rice: [01-30] Trump's reckoning begins: "His major loss in the E. Jean Carroll case is nothing compared to what could be coming."

• Matt Stieb: [02-03] Truth Social could still make Trump billions -- if he wins. On the other hand:

  • Drew Harwell: [02-03] The wild probe into investors of DWAC, Trump Media's proposed merger ally: "Three people were indicted, but the investigation continues."

• Asawin Suebsaeng/Adam Rawnsley: [01-29] Trump's secret plan to expand presidential immunity to 'King George' levels.

Biden and/or the Democrats: I meant to note this, but wasn't sure which piece to link to. But, for the record: [02-04] Biden nets landslide victory in South Carolina Democratic primary, over 95% of votes. That compares to about 55% in New Hampshire, where his opponents actually campaigned, but he needed an unofficial write-in campaign.

• Politico: [02-02] 30 things Joe Biden did as president you might have missed.

• Perry Bacon Jr: [01-30] Biden shouldn't sound like a conservative on immigration policy.

• Dylan Gyauch-Lewis: [02-02] Biden should begin the tax wars now: "He needs to highlight his positions against the Republicans'. And not give away too much in interim deals."

• Ezra Klein: [02-01] The Democratic Party is having an 'identity crisis': "Biden's best argument is his record." Then: "Biden's worst argument is himself."

• Ryan Lizza: [02-03] 'A strategic mistake on the part of my party': A top Dem speaks out on the border: Interview with Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX).

• Murshed Zaheed: [01-31] Why are major progressive orgs silent on Biden's lurch toward war?

• James Zogby: [01-31] Biden's erasure of Arabs is part of a painful history I know too well: "For decades, we have faced death threats, political exclusion, and discrimination for our pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian work."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Erwin Chemerinsky: [01-29] Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is defying a U.S. Supreme Court order. That's frightening.

• Ian Millhiser: [02-02] The Supreme Court weighs whether to end affirmative action at West Point.

• Jeffrey St Clair: [02-02] Execution as advertisement: Killing Kenneth Smith.

Climate and environment:

• Stan Cox: [01-28] As climate chaos accelerates, governments avert their eyes: "The onrush of other crises is no excuse for ignoring climate change."

• Jason Hickel: [11-15] What would it look like if we treated climate change as an actual emergency?

• Umair Irfan: [01-30] The great American natural gas reckoning is upon us: "So, Biden paused LNG exports. Does this . . . fix climate change?"

Economic matters:

• Oshan Jarow: [01-31] We can still make a good economy much better.

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [02-01] Diplomacy Watch: NATO membership still on the table? "Meanwhile, EU approves $54 billion funding plan, with Senate possibly voting next week."

• Steven Erlanger/David E Sanger: [02-03] Germany braces for decades of confrontation with Russia.

• Masha Gessen: [01-29] Ukraine's democracy in darkness: "With elections postponed and no end to the war with Russia in sight, Volodymyr Zelensky and his political allies are becoming like the officials they once promised to root out: entrenched."

• Jonathan Guyer: [02-02] How war has transformed Ukraine, and Zelensky: Review of two new books: Yaroslav Trofimov, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence (Penguin); and Simon Shuster, The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky (William Morrow). Both appear to be very solidly in Zelensky's camp, with Trofimov faulting "America's cautiousness in getting Ukraine more powerful weapons as a 'self-imposed taboo' that has prolonged the war."

• Andrew Higgins: [02-01] For Orban, Ukraine is a pawn in a longer game: "His real aim is to lead a populist and nativist rebellion against Europe's liberal elite, though that campaign is showing signs of faltering."

• Lara Jakes/Christina Anderson: [01-29] For Europe and NATO, a Russian invasion is no longer unthinkable: "Amid crumbling U.S. support for Ukraine and Donald Trump's rising candidacy, European nations and NATO are making plans to take on Russia by themselves."

• Harrison Stetler: [02-03] Two years into the Ukraine war, Europe has no strategy . . . but they are coughing up €50 billion to keep it going.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [01-29] Ukraine's hopes for victory over Russia are slipping away.

Around the world:

• Dylan Scott: [02-01] From Gaza to Sudan, conflict is driving a rise in hunger worldwide: "In the 21st century, famine isn't inevitable. It's a policy choice."

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Other stories:

Emily Bazelon: [02-01] The road to 1948: A panel of six historians -- Nadim Bawaisa, Leena Dallasheh, Abigail Jacobson, Derek Penslar, Itamar Rabinovitch, and Salim Tamari -- offer insights into the 1920-48 period, when Palestine was a League of Nations mandate trusted to Britain, which had occupied it during WWI, displacing the Ottoman Empire. I'm most familiar with this period from Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (2001), although I've read numerous other books on the period. There are things I'd quibble with here, but it's generally useful information.

Jules Boykoff/Dave Zirin: [01-29] Israel and Russia have no place in the 2024 Paris Olympics: I'm tempted to say the US should have no place either, but I'm not totally sure whether that should be due to US support for genocide in Gaza, for US agitation for war elsewhere, and/or simply for commercial crassness and nationalistic yahoo-ism. But note that South Africa was banned from 1968 until the end of the apartheid regime, and Israel has long crossed that line.

Mike Catalini: [01-31] Man accused of beheading his father in suburban Philadelphia home and posting gruesome video online: The father is Michael F. Mohn, a civil servant working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The son is Justin Mohn:

Mohn embraced violent anti-government rhetoric in writings he published online going back several years. In August 2020, Mohn published an online "pamphlet" in which he tried to make the case that people born in or after 1991 -- his birth year -- should carry out what he termed a "bloody revolution." He also complained at length about a lawsuit that he lost and encouraged assassinations of family members and public officials.

In the video posted after the killing, he described his father as a 20-year federal employee. He also espoused a variety of conspiracy theories and rants about the Biden administration, immigration and the border, fiscal policy, urban crime and the war in Ukraine.

Aside from the murder, sounds like a pretty solid Republican. The lawsuit he lost, by the way:

In 2018, Mohn sued Progressive Insurance, alleging he was discriminated against and later fired from a job at an agency in Colorado Springs because he was a man who was intelligent, overqualified and overeducated. A federal judge said Mohn provided no evidence to indicate he was discriminated against because he was a man -- in the length of his training or in being denied promotions to jobs. Progressive said it fired him because he kicked open a door. An appeals court upheld the finding that Mohn did not suffer employment discrimination.

Maybe we should start a regular feature on right-wing crime, and how Republicans have encouraged and/or rationalized it:

• Jonathan Edwards: [01-30] Man sentenced to 18 years for bombing church that was hosting drag event.

• Carl Gibson: [02-03] Gunman says Republican who lost election paid for drive-by shootings on Democrats' homes.

Fabiola Cineas: [02-01] Conservatives have long been at war with colleges: "A brief history of the right's long-running battle against higher education." Interview with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, author of Resistance From the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America.

David Dayen: [01-29] America is not a democracy: "The movement to save democracy from threats is too quick to overlook the problems that have been present since the founding." On the other hand, focusing on structural faults that were build into the Constitution directs attention to issues that have no practicable solution, while ignoring what is by far the most pervasive affront to democracy, which is the influence of money, how the system caters to the rich while confusing issues for everyone else. The simplest test of whether government is democratic is whether it is reflective of and responsive to the needs of the vast majority of its citizens. America's is not.

Rebecca Jennings: [02-01] Everyone's a sellout now: "Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to." One result: "You're getting worse at [your art], but you're becoming a great marketer for a product which is less and less good."

Whizy Kim: [01-31] How Boeing put profits over planes: "The fall of Boeing has been decades in the making."

Dylan Matthews: [02-01] How Congress is planning to lift 400,000 kids out of poverty. The House passed a bill 357-70 which revives the child tax credit, which has the headline effect, but the bill also includes tax breaks for businesses, which is what it took to become "bipartisan."

China Miéville: [01-31] China Miéville on The Communist Manifesto's enduring power. Interview with the author of A Spectre Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto. I read the book recently, right after Christopher Clark's massive Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World: 1848-1849. It didn't add a lot of detail on the role of the proletariat in the 1848's revolutionary struggles, but it did remind me of the synthesis of clear thinking and human decency that informed the founding of the socialist movement.

Kevin Munger: [01-29] "The Algorithm" is the only critique of "The Algorithm" that "The Algorithm" can produce: A bookmark link, as this seems possibly interesting but requiring more attention than I can muster at the moment. It ties to Kyle Chayka's book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Chayka has a previous book (2020), The Longing for Less, where the subtitle has changed from Living With Minimalism to What's Missing From Minimalism in the recent paperback edition. Shorter is Munger's "The Algorithm" does not exist.

Brian Murphy: [01-31] Anthony Cordesman, security analyst who saw flaws in U.S. policy, dies at 84: "Dr. Cordesman saw the seeds of defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan planted by U.S. policymakers." Of course, I prefer critics who were more prescient earlier, but insiders -- "he described himself as a tepid supporter of the Iraq invasion" -- who are willing to harbor doubts are better than those with no doubts at all.

Timothy Noah: That judge is right. Elon Musk isn't worth what Tesla pays him. For more (and the actual numbers are jaw-dropping) on this:

• Dean Baker: [02-01] Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package nixed as unfair to shareholders.

Christian Paz: [02-02] What we're getting wrong about 2024's "moderate" voters: "The voters who could decide 2024 are a complicated bunch." Paz tries to salvage the term "moderate" by splitting the domain -- by which, less prejudically, he means people with no fixed party affiliation -- into three groups: the "true moderates," the "disengaged," and the "weird." The prejudice is that any time you say "moderate," you're automatically contrasting against some hypothetical extreme that you can thereby reject. But while the people who use the term -- almost never the "moderates" themselves, who prefer to think of themselves as sober, sensible, respectful of all viewpoints, and desiring pragmatic, mutually satisfactory compromises -- like to think they complimenting the "moderates," they're implying that they don't truly believe in what they profess (otherwise, why are they so willing to compromise?).

Rick Perlstein: [01-31] A hole in the culture: "Why is there so little art depicting the moment we're in?"

Brian Resnick: [01-31] The sun's poles are about to flip. It's awesome -- and slightly terrifying.

Ingrid Robenys: A professor of political philosophy at Utrecht University, has a new book: Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, leading to:

• [01-29] No more billionaires? We can be more ambitious than that. No one needs more than $20 million.

• [01-17] The case for capping wealth at $10 million.

• [01-21] Limitarianism: why we need to put a cap on the super-rich.

• Tim Adams: [01-21] 'No one should have more than €10m': he author of Limitarianism on why the super-rich need to level down radically.

Nathan J Robinson: Including interviews at Current Affairs:

• [01-19] A final conversation with Ed Broadbent on the continuing struggle for democratic socialism.

• [02-01] Beware government bullshit: "Government spokespeople aren't always lying. Usually they are using as many meaningless words as possible to avoid having to answer a question directly."

• [02-02] Astra Taylor on what "security" really means: An interview, relating to her book, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart.

• [02-02] A response to Hughes: Further thoughts, replying to Coleman Hughes's response to Robinson's "highly critical review" of Hughes' book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America.

Thursday, February 01, 2024

I marked my mother's birthday (Jan. 31, 1913) by posting a photo of my mother on Facebook. John Chacona commented: "My mom was born three years later in Little Rock. 8-11-1916. Your mom was older when you were born wasn't she, Tom?" I responded:

She was 37. My father was 28. They were married 28 months before, in June, 1948, and had two more children after me, Steve and Kathy, the latter when Mom was 45. All but one of my parents siblings got married between ages 18-22 (10 of them, the other odd one was Allen, at 30, whose wife Freda was two years younger than Mom). My mother's family moved to Oklahoma in 1929, with three kids still at home (Allen was 20, then Edith, who soon married, then Mom at 16). Her father died in 1936, after which her mother lived with Edith or Lola (their oldest daughter, who had moved to Oklahoma in 1926). The other daughter, Ruby, moved to Augusta, KS in the 1930s, and at some point Mom moved in with her, before getting a job at Beech and moving into Wichita in 1942 (when the picture was taken, age 29). We know very little about that period in her life. When my niece tried to interview her, she was very evasive, so, of course, we're much intrigued.

I also contributed this comment to a Greg Magarian Facebook post about Nancy Pelosi trying to sic the FBI on anti-genocide (a more accurate term than "pro-Palestinian") protesters to root out alleged financial ties to Putin.

Pelosi has a long history of being a tool for Israel. Back around 2004, JVP produced a set of eight very informative videotapes with academics doing what we used to call "teach ins" about Israel (Joel Beinin and George Bisharat were especially good). We did a series of events, where we would play a tape, then open for discussion. They were produced in the Bay Area, and the last tape had Stephen Zunes, who had a book at the time called "Tinderbox," and who many times decried Pelosi as an Israel agent. That was well before she moved up the party leadership. Since then she's added full-on Russia paranoia and gotten deep in bed with the China hawks. The recent mental gymnastics of people (mostly but not exclusively Democrats) trying to link Putin and Hamas are truly mind-boggling.

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Jan 2024