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December 11, 2018
Open Thread 2018-67
Comments
Debsisdead raised an issue in an earlier thread that deserved serious traction but failed to get it. I’ll take it up here:
“Honestly I worry about the mirror image of the other side some commenters present here… Many posts reveal a human incapable of critical thinking who churns out the same cliches but opposite of the 0.001% who control the planet.”
As a philosopher and logician I’m not concerned with the foibles of individuals so much as with the fundamental underlying principle of the matter and so I ask: why be a stick-in-the-mud? Why not just give in and love faith-based sociopolitical Manichaeism that reflexively emits farcically simplistic inversions of ruling class talking points and won’t take being vomited upon for an answer? You know you want to! And remember: Soylent Green is people — people who’d have none of that “critical thinking” crap of yours either, so there.
Now that I’ve cleared that up, I’ll add, for those who need it (I’m sure The Notorious D.i.d. doesn’t): SNARK ALERT.
Posted by: drj | Dec 13 2018 7:37 utc | 101
DRJ @ 101:
I didn’t bother with replying to that comment (it was aimed at me among others) because I prefer replying to comments that have more substance to them.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 13 2018 10:37 utc | 102
In an interesting article one of the main developers of MMT, Bill Mitchell, talks about some of the problems associated with these ideas going mainstream.
MMT
He thinks some proponents are promoting the wrong ideas most notably:
“”There is a tendency in the social media to use the term MMT as a slogan rather than relating to it as a coherent and body of academic work in economic theory and practice that has been meticulously developed over more than 25 years.
This tendency manifests in claims that the essence of MMT is that the capacity of the government to fund programs is unlimited and so there is massive scope for all sorts of progressive policies to be introduced.””
He makes the point that fiat currencies have no value in and of themselves. It all relates to the power of these currencies to generate real resources. This is where taxes/fines/penalties come in. People need the currency to satisfy these government created liabilities. The government then supplies this currency.
So people are forced to sell goods to get this currency to satisfy their government created liabilities. This is the link between currency and resources. It is not that the government needs the currency. It is the government that creates the currency.
As a creator of currency the government can also hire labor. This is important considering the amount of work to be done to create a green economy re AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).
Green New Deal
Posted by: financial matters | Dec 13 2018 11:16 utc | 103
@103
Given current events it is important to note that this applies to governments that issue their own currency such as US, Australia, Canada, UK, China, Russia.
It does not apply to France who has relinquished this authority to the EU.
It is also important to note that as part of the neoliberal strategy of austerity most countries operate as if they are constrained similar to France anyway (unless it comes to war or bailing out the financial sector).
Posted by: financial matters | Dec 13 2018 11:43 utc | 104
Now that Poland has cashed EU and UN subsidies to organize the event, why bother with an agreement?
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46543704
Posted by: Mina | Dec 13 2018 11:49 utc | 105
Mina 105
Don’t forget the Big Coal sponsorship money. That shows where the UN and Big Green really are at.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/11/27/polish-coal-company-announced-first-sponsor-un-climate-talks-katowice
The COP24 has been the most shameless corporate front yet, though Paris 2015 was no slouch. And COP24 was used to further enhance the corporate gains at Paris.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/12/13/inside-tent-big-polluters-work-shape-paris-agreement-rules-un-climate-talks
Climate change activists are failing.
Not because people don’t recognize that climate change is real. Most do. Even energy companies have stopped calling it a “hoax”.
They are failing because governments are owned and run by elites that will suffer least.
How to remedy this undemocratic power imbalance?
Activists should push to make climate change inaction a crime against humanity. That way, there is a real cost to politicians if/when climate change causes deaths in the future.
That is the ONLY WAY that climate change will get more than lip service from politicians because THEY NO LONGER WORK FOR THE PEOPLE, they work for the money.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 13 2018 13:38 utc | 108
@ Mina 107
It would be funny if they couldn’t conclude a sham agreement because of squabbling between the dead-ender Trump types and the more flexible corporate-liberal type scammers who gave us Paris.
If I recall right, that kind of deadlock is what saved us from the US congress passing a big corporate welfare bonanza “climate” bill in 2010 and a few years earlier.
@ Jackrabbit 108
“Climate activists are failing.”
Proximately, the biggest reason for their personal failure is that almost all of them are frauds who don’t really want to change anything, as is proven both by their high-impact personal lifestyles (no changes) and their high-impact policy “solutions” (no changes, just cosmetics).
Substantively, they’re doomed to fail because none want to do anything near what’s necessary.
Of course you’re right, even if there existed a significant group who really wanted to do what’s necessary, all the elites would be against them. But at least they could try to convince the people.
As for the real climate crisis in the real world, there’s one and only one way to avert the worst:
Stop industrial-level emissions; stop destroying sinks; rebuild sinks.
Anything else, including everything touted by the same system which drives the crisis, is a lie.
You can’t think of a better time for exercising real pressures against the Saudis. Let them (and us) have a new oil crisis and skyrocketting prices. The masses will, in this case, understand the reason of their diplomatic fallout. Cutting people into pieces and dissolving the remains with acid is not supposed to happen in a consulate.
Posted by: Mina | Dec 13 2018 14:28 utc | 111
How Macron lets even normal people start to want him out
https://www.les-crises.fr/un-gilet-jaune-place-en-garde-a-vue-temoigne-on-nous-a-empeches-de-manifester/
Posted by: Mina | Dec 13 2018 14:47 utc | 112
Jeremy Corbyn has to hang in and not succumb to the media’s b.s. pressure. The media (Zio-owned) are in with May; it’s obvious. The media are trying to push Corbyn to either call for a non-confidence vote on May or another referendum. May would survive the non-confidence vote and it would weaken Corbyn and if the referendum overturns Brexit, May would benefit and if it doesn’t Corbyn would fall.
So the best thing is attack but hang tight and don’t get overly eager now. Don’t listen to the media screeching coward for not making a move. Grab on to this moment, let May flail and flounder around and go down in FLAMES! She so deserves a catastrophic fall. This outcome is a Conservative creation, so don’t put your stamp anywhere on it.
Corbyn hang tight. Don’t let them pressure you into snatching DEFEAT from the jaws of VICTORY!
Posted by: Circe | Dec 13 2018 15:47 utc | 113
The media would have us beleave that yesterday’s no confidence ballot called by her own party was a win/sucsess. So if the media say that the exact opposite must be true ! Let’s test it !!
She will have to put the EU deal back for a parlementry vote, early in the new year ! every one knows it will fail. It would have failed this last week !
Meenwhile the Tory party have lost ther voting majority ! they are now in every sense of the word a ‘ lame duck ‘ government. Weakened and ineffectual !!
Her own party know that, the opposition party’s know that ! The entire EU know it, Trump/USA know it !!!
So go on you all tell me ? Is that ‘your’ definition of success ? So what kinda credabilty has the bbc or MSM got !!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2018 16:20 utc | 114
Jeremy Corbyn has (Zio)enemies in his own party and should not listen to them on a no-deal vote.
Hang in and let it all implode. The end is near.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 13 2018 16:32 utc | 115
Russ: Stop industrial-level emissions; stop destroying sinks; rebuild sinks.
You’re falling into the same trap.
You’re lobbying for WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE but you have no leverage to get it done.
All climate change activists make the same mistake. They are failing because they are not doing what is necessary to make politicians respond to climate concerns. There is no accountability and a great incentive (energy company $$$) against serious action against climate change.
IMO most people care enough about the issue that they would support making inaction a crime against humanity. Then, if politicians haven’t done enough, they can be held accountable in 20-30 years.
IIRC, scientists say that once the frozen methane starts to be released, it’s all over. Such an occurrence, plus deaths attributed to extreme weather, could be the trigger for prosecutions.
Absent some means of accountability, little will be done.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 13 2018 16:34 utc | 116
It’s deeply disappointing to see people denying climate change here, I would think that because one is looking at alternative media they’d be able to see through obvious propaganda more than ordinary people (most of whom accept reality), but apparently there are still loads of people deceived by oil oligarchy PR crap, really depressing.
Posted by: Blooming Barricade | Dec 13 2018 16:45 utc | 117
@ 116
I’m doing something almost no one else is, stating clearly what needs to be done. Meanwhile the “climate activists” themselves take the lead in propagating the lie that anything can be done, even in principle, within the framework of capitalism, productionism, the extreme energy civilization.
(And of course the necessary things I cite will be done, when the Earth imposes its inevitable correction, as it eventually does on any other berserk out-of-control infestation. How strange that you think humanity has any choice in the matter. The only question is whether humanity will take a hand in order to make the correction as least-hard as it has to be, or will hunker in the bunker and insist on doing things the very hardest way possible. Obviously so far there’s consensus, among the “civilized”, on the latter.)
But since by your own testimony you think nothing can be done, why are you bothering to talk about it, let alone presume to tell me what “traps” you weirdly think I’m falling into? Meanwhile your prescription is vastly more utopian, indeed impossible, than mine. Praytell what leverage do you have to “get that done”? And if we the people ever do have the power to hold the elites accountable like you say, why would we wait 20-30 minutes before stringing them up, let alone 20-30 years?
I of course already mentioned the methane in the comment above.
As of yesterday’s Tory vote where one third of her own MP’s had no confidence in ther leader.
The new Tory policy is—- hang on to nurse for fear of something worse (Corbyn)
Now bare in mind the Tory party are mass murder’s, defraurder’s of tax payers money and assets ect ect hell even one Tory came straight from court on sex offence charges, to vote !!
And bare in mind that Jeremy Corbyn has a track record of anti war ant curuption fair wages, supporting hospitals and the working class majority !
We can conclude if the Tory’s are ‘feared’ of Corbyn he must be —- a brilliant and b a very strong threat to there evil ways / and plans !!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2018 17:10 utc | 119
Jen @ 102:
Unfortunately I didn’t take time to find out who the comment was aimed at — too busy these days getting my butt kicked trying to learn Bartók’s 3 Etudes op. 18 (heard here in a scintillating and technically devastating performance by the late great Zoltán Kocsis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2E058Ep99Y) — but the sort of reflex inversion of establishment cliches that Debs appeared to be lamenting is something I’ve encountered many times myself, so I reckoned I’d lend some moral support. Of course I didn’t intend to do so at your expense, Jen. Your posts generally strike me as rational, measured and well-informed. If you want my advice, stop that! You’ll never sell out an arena that way.
Posted by: drj | Dec 13 2018 18:11 utc | 120
@98 pft… thanks…. i believe i understand your theory as you laid it out, but i am not buying it…
@117 Blooming Barricade… i agree… not sure what to say about that…
@120 drj… that is a challenging piece to work on!! thanks for sharing that as i continue to listen to it now… do you do anything other then classical piano??
craig murray has a new article up on intergrity initiative which is quite interesting..
Posted by: james | Dec 13 2018 18:21 utc | 121
Russ
My premise and my solution are very straightforward:
With respect to climate change, it’s much easier to win votes for a referendum that holds politicians accountable for a disastrous outcome than it is to use scientific arguments to convince politicians to do the right thing.
You want to keep arguing the correctness of your position when it is already clear that the politicians don’t give a hoot. They make small changes and excuses because energy company money means more to them than what a few thousand activists think about climate change.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 13 2018 18:52 utc | 122
james @ 121:
If you mean do I play anything on piano other than classical, yes, some jazz, but not so much these days. Very few pianists manage to pull off the classical-jazz double play at all convincingly. The great Keith Jarrett is a rare exception. Do you know his work? There’s plenty of it to check out on youtube.
Posted by: drj | Dec 13 2018 18:56 utc | 123
Jackrabbit,
Where’d you get the idea I’m trying to appeal to politicians? I gave up on the existing political system a long, long time ago. I write only for a (so far hypothetical) audience interested in building a movement completely against this entire culture and all its structures.
Of course that includes electoralism and referenda. I think history’s verdict is in on electoralism: It failed.
Clear example of what awaits Assange if he were ever to make it alive to Outlaw US Empire custody. Clearly a gross violation of the constitutional injunction against Cruel & Unusual Punishment. Yet further proof, as if more were needed, that the Outlaw US Empire is a criminal enterprise requiring the death penalty.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 13 2018 19:19 utc | 125
drj says:
Very few pianists manage to pull off the classical-jazz double play at all convincingly
if you’re not already familiar…please treat yourself to this gem this holiday season.
Posted by: john | Dec 13 2018 19:27 utc | 126
Russ
I’m not addressing what you are doing. You’re doing a great job in that. But it’s not nearly as effective as one might think.
Why is that? Because politicians don’t respond to rational arguments backed by science. They respond to political power. And in the USA/capitalist West that means money more than voters.
The politicians are the gate-keepers. And they are not serious about the issue. They have no reason to be. They will never be held accountable – unless there is a law that holds them accountable.
I think a majority of people already believe in climate change but there is uncertainty about how bad it is / will be. The energy companies are playing on this uncertainty, and thereby giving politicians a excuse to respond weakly to climate change.
Consider:
1) Most people in America want government funded healthcare (aka “public option”) but that hasn’t happened either.
2) US political establishment allowed tobacco companies to sell cigarettes for 30 years after it was clear that smoking caused cancer. Did any of them go to jail? Did any tobacco company exec go to jail?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 13 2018 20:05 utc | 127
@flayer #45
The purpose of the sanctions against Iran is to force it to comply with the US’s demands, and thus neutralize it as a threat to the US-dominated economic order. Whether the current regime there capitulates or it’s replaced by a different (compliant) regime doesn’t matter to the supposed “powers that be”. The important thing to them is that Iran gets back on the proverbial reservation.
The notion that Iran poses a military threat to the US and its allies is ludicrous. It’s meant to distract the public from the real point of the conflict with Iran, which is about its untrustworthiness in the eyes of the US. This untrustworthiness comes from Iran’s refusal to completely acquiesce to US domination. Its refusal, in turn, goes back to the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Iran developing the ability to enrich uranium was a game-changer. If it can enrich uranium for use in nuclear reactors, then it can also enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. This capability greatly increases Iran’s ability to resist US hegemony. Of course, the supposed “powers that be” consider this state of affairs to be intolerable. Hence the sanctions regime against Iran, which has only been renewed by the Trump administration.
It’s important to note how narrow the window of disagreement is between the “neoconservatives” and the “neoliberals”. The JCPOA permits only a very limited amount of uranium enrichment by Iran. Even this very limited amount is unacceptable to the “neoconservatives”. But it’s still a very limited disagreement, and only about means, not ends. Both sides support the iron fist – the “neoliberals” just prefer to wrap it in a velvet glove.
Posted by: Cynica | Dec 13 2018 20:19 utc | 129
@123 drj… yes – keith jarrett is able to cross over and do jazz or classical… i used to have his Shostakovitch recordings… i am very familiar with his work and have seen him live a few times.. i am more into jazz, but much of the really good jazz that is happening nowadays is typically played by jazz players with classical training.. are you familiar with edward simon? i like his work, but it is more jazz then classical.. i like his compositions.. https://edwardsimon.com/
someone who i like here in canada is a guy named john stetch… he has lived in new york for a long time, but is back living between vancouver and new york now.. i saw nitai nershkovits last week while he was on tour with ari hoenig.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitai_Hershkovits his classical training is obvious… so yes – i am quite into this kind of music!! i don’t get to play it very often, as i am more immersed in commercial music.. i am doing a sam cooke tribute this weekend..
Posted by: james | Dec 13 2018 20:25 utc | 130
i see @126 john gave a link to brad mehldau… of course he is amazing and another pianist able to play both classical and jazz.. i haven’t seen him live yet.. i have some of his recordings with jeff ballard and larry grenadiar – trio stuff..
Posted by: james | Dec 13 2018 20:27 utc | 131
here is a cool original tune with nikai hershkovits and avashai cohen from 2012..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-81iAjGEk
Posted by: james | Dec 13 2018 20:29 utc | 132
Looks like Syria will be heating up.
The US is moving in the direction of creating an autonomous Kurdistan in Syria similar to what it achieved in Iraq following the Gulf War in 1990-91, and that’s a nightmare for Turkey.
So . . …from Hurriyet, Dec 12
Turkey will launch new military operation in Syria within days: Erdoğan
Turkey will start a military operation east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria in a “few days,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.
“It is time to realize our decision to wipe out terror groups east of the Euphrates,” Erdoğan said in a speech at the Turkish Defense Industry Summit held at the presidential complex in Ankara on Dec. 12.
“We will start the operation in east of the Euphrates in a few days to save it from the separatist terrorist organization,” Erdoğan added, referring to the YPG. “Turkey’s target is never the U.S. soldiers, but rather the members of the terror group.”
The Pentagon had announced on Dec. 11 that American observation posts in northern Syria, meant to prevent altercations between the Turkish army and US-supported YPG, have been erected, despite Ankara’s request to scrap the move. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 13 2018 20:49 utc | 133
Don Bacon | Dec 13, 2018 3:49:44 PM | 133
Interesting timing given that the Putin-Erdogan summit on Idlib set December 15 as the date on which operations against Idlib would re-commence.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 13 2018 21:12 utc | 134
James, thanks for the links and info. I’ll have to run down those references. I don’t know the commercial stuff so much but it sounds like you’re into some interesting projects yourself, and I wish you best of luck with them. I really don’t keep up with the contemporary jazz scene as much as I should but a good friend of mine does, and I recognize some of those names you mention (such as Edward Simon) from talks with him. Jarrett’s Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues are excellent by any standard. Some people make the mistake of thinking Jarrett’s impressive classical work is an auto-didactic anomaly, something that came out of nowhere, but he’s actually a highly trained classical pianist who studied with a terrific teacher, Eleanor Sokoloff of the Curtis Institute (currently 104 years old, I believe), among others. As regards jazz, I’m mainly into the late 40s to the early 70s — the usual suspects, Monk, Mingus, Miles, etc., plus some of the avant-gardists. Horace Silver in the 50s-60s was very cool (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0VUkQq3IE ) — so was Sun Ra in his own unique way — and I’ve listened to them recently. Thanks again for the info…
Posted by: drj | Dec 13 2018 21:52 utc | 135
Don Bacon @133–
Russia has set up a base @50K North of al-Tanf! Here’s Canthama’s report copied from SyrPers:
“All info regarding al Tanf coming from Damascus at this time, indicate that Russia and Syria are determined to reclaim al Tanf area as soon as possible, and all options are being considered, though a direct conflict is not likely. The main strategies are:
“1) Pressure by Jordan to clear the area from terrorists, even though Jordan is an occupied country, they do have legit concern of terrorist’s breeding ground in al Tanf under NATO protection. Jordan has reportedly cut water supply to al Rukban camp, it happened before and water was back later, but this time it seems the indication was a bit more clear, Rukban camp must be disbanded and Syrians should go back to their homes.
2) UN is well aware of the hostage situation in Rukban, UN’s branches are actually part of this arrangement to breed terrorists to support NATO’s gang in al Tanf, Russia and China are very active now, and they are having help from Jordan, Iraq and UAE to disband the terrorists groups from the area, pressure will mount in the up coming weeks.
3) Russia and Syria will establish a de facto NFZ in al Tanf, meaning every chopper or NATO plane will be painted in the allied forces radar and Russia & Syria will unleash a heavy EW over the area. Radars will cover Iraq and Jordan air space as well thus pushing coalition planes way out of CAS range, in fact rendering vulnerable NATO’s terrorists in the area. The message is clear, get out while it can, air support will no longer be possible to NATO’s terrorists.
4) Areas NE of the al Tanf pocket continues to have raids by ISIS, this is lesser and lesser nowadays, showing the counter terrorism is getting better in the T3-T2 road.
5) The target from Russia and Syria is the get al Tanf fully liberated by end of winter, this will also create new difficulties for the apartheid regime to use the area for future attacks against Syria under coalition of evil umbrella.”
IMO, it appears Russia, Turkey, and Syria at minimum are playing the Outlaw US Empire for the fool in a version of the Shell Game/3 Card Monte. The Checkmate described above is probably similar to the plan envisioned for Northeastern Syria–make the region 100% untenable for supporting Imperial Stormtroopers while avoiding a direct confrontation–unless Mattis really is a Mad Dog.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 13 2018 21:58 utc | 136
@ 135: “… Eleanor Sokoloff of the Curtis Institute (currently 104 years old, I believe)…”
Ambiguous. I meant Sokoloff is 104, not the Curtis Institute. Curtis was founded 1924 — a spring chicken by comparison.
Posted by: drj | Dec 13 2018 22:37 utc | 137
Mattis announced in November that the US military was in the process of installing observation posts at the Turkey – Syria border. “At the direction of Secretary (James) Mattis, the US established observation posts in the northeast Syria border region to address the security concerns of our NATO ally Turkey,” Department of Defense spokesman Rob Manning said Dec. 11.
To address the security concerns of our NATO ally Turkey?
No. Just the opposite. The US is acting against Turkey (also Russia and Iran).
1. General Dunford has said that “35,000-40,000 local forces need to be trained to provide stability” in the territories occupied by the US in northeast Syria. So Ankara smells another autonomous Kurdistan on its border which would seriously harm Turkey national security, and they won’t stand for it. Erdogan rejected outright the US move on setting up OPs along Turkish border, saying, “It is clear that the purpose of US observation points in Syria is not to protect our country from terrorists but protect (Kurdish) terrorists from Turkey.” here
2. James Jeffrey, the neocon US special representative to Syria has been actively dumping on the Astana process which has been so successful. From his Dec 3 news conference: “let’s pull the plug on Astana.” here Jeffrey would like to split the Russia-Turkey-Iran alliance.
3. US forces are in the area, at the observation posts designed to keep Turkey from attacking the YPG in Syria, plus about 2,000 US military personnel in a dozen or more bases from Manbij to Al-Hasakah, including four airfields.The largest American military base in Syria covers more than five hundred acres. here
4. Washington has given an order to Turkey that US forces in their occupied atea of Syria should not be attacked.
CNN: US warns Turkey not to attack Syria
The US called on Turkey to not follow through on threats to attack US-backed forces in Syria Wednesday, an incursion the Pentagon warned could threaten US personnel and derail the fight against ISIS.
“Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern. We would find any such actions unacceptable,” Commander Sean Robertson, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, told CNN.
“We believe this dialogue is the only way to secure the border area in a sustainable manner, and believe that uncoordinated military operations will undermine that shared interest,” he added. . .here
So Turkey must forfeit its own national security because US personnel may be present or in the vicinity?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 13 2018 23:08 utc | 138
Don Bacon @138–
Sure. That’s as bogus a reason as saying its troops are only in Syria to fight terrorists. One of the dog that didn’t bark bits of evidence for my hypothesis is Assad and his minister’s great restraint shown Turkey, although an occasional bleat is allowed to surface for domestic consumption. That said, the Russian op plan must contain enough to convince Assad and Iran of its soundness. Khamenei’s recent public shows of confidence also reflect Iran’s agreement with the overall design–he’s been rather outspoken and active on Twitter and at his website.
I can’t help sensing a very major geopolitical reshuffling occurring soon revolving around Turkey. Oh, and Afghanistan ceded another province to Taliban. Quite exciting, the complexity and frequency of events! Makes me wish I was ten years younger while retaining all my current knowledge.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 14 2018 0:18 utc | 139
Reuters, Dec 12
Afghan forces abandon district after Taliban pressure
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Afghan forces abandoned a remote district in the west of the country, leaving the area to Taliban insurgents after the government failed to resupply dozens of troops stationed there, provincial officials said on Wednesday. Local officials said the Shebkoh district of Farah province, bordering Iran, has been under Taliban siege for months, making it difficult for the government to send reinforcements.. . here
Another message to the US from Iran, with recently stepped-up support of Taliban in western Afghanistan (Pakistan in the east).
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 14 2018 0:56 utc | 140
@135 drj.. thanks! horace silver is one of my favourites in a long list of favourites! i read his autobiography – lets get down to the nitty gritty… great book and an uplifting person whose music – most of it he wrote – truly great! the song you share ‘for heavens sake’, is an ellington tune i think… i am mostly into the modern stuff, but have spent a lot of time playing th at a jazz festival over 20 years ago.. i had not heard of this piano teacher you mention who teaches at curtis institute.. i have a close friend who was born in cleveland like her and i asked him about her, but he hasn’t got back to me yet.. his name is andrew homzy.. he’s a scholar on mingus and ellington music and was a tuba player, prior to teaching jazz full time for over 30 years at a university here in canada.. he will probably have heard of her!! recently i heard a percussionist who teaches at curtis institute – http://jameyhaddad.com/ he is a really great player and also from cleveland – born and raised!! good talking with you!
Posted by: james | Dec 14 2018 1:08 utc | 141
for heavens sake – Music and Lyrics by Don Meyer, Elise Bretton and Sherman Edwards
ellington wrote heaven… here is a live version of the song.. different song, lol..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjKCuwfaR8U
Posted by: james | Dec 14 2018 1:11 utc | 142
This is an answer to the question: What is an open thread?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 14 2018 2:42 utc | 143
@ 141, 142
James, thanks again for the info & links and glad to hear you’re into the “hardbop grandpop” himself, Horace S. (Some great footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8jFGFwOm7k ) Try as I might to chip away at my backlog of readings/recordings it somehow always manages to get bigger, but I’ll scarf it all down eventually. As you’re Canadian I should mention my long-standing fascination with Glenn Gould. One thing he and Jarrett have in common is strangely painful-looking posture at the keyboard. The Slipped Disc of High Virtuosity. Weird.
Posted by: drj | Dec 14 2018 4:22 utc | 144
I’m happy to announce that the killer of Strasbourg was found and neutralized yesterday not far from where he supposedly yelled ‘allah akbar’. Casually strolling down the street at first, while police helicopters were circulating high above, the suspect opened fire at approaching police officers who had no choice but to put a bullet through his head execution style. A picture of the dead suspect is circulating social media, a gun undeniably his neatly situated next to his corpse.
Hopefully with this chapter over, the good people of France can stop protesting over unfair wages and refocus their attention back to what actually matters; muslim terrorism.
Posted by: never mind | Dec 14 2018 7:05 utc | 145
@145
That guy is the symptom not the disease !
The problem is western greedy brutality distroying the Middle East !
How many millions of them has the west murdered ?
And yet he’s the terrorist ? You’v been conned ! I don’t condone what he did , I don’t condone what the west has done to him. If the problem is killing the salution won’t be more killing !!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2018 10:09 utc | 146
ISIS has been defeated in Syria — time for the US to leave.
Al Jazeera, Dec 14, 2018
Syria: SDF fighters capture ISIL pocket in Deir Az Zor
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have pushed ISIL fighters out of Hajin in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Az Zor.
A United States-backed Kurdish coalition has captured the last town held by fighters from ISIL in Syria’s eastern Deir Az Zor province.
On Friday, an unnamed military source and a war monitor said Hajin was retaken by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish as well as Arab and Assyrian fighters, in the early hours of the morning.
“After a week of heavy fighting and air strikes, the SDF were able to kick IS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL, or ISIS) out of Hajin,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.
Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group, confirmed that the remaining enclave was taken, adding that some ISIL fighters were still holed up in small pockets on the edge of the town. . . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 14 2018 15:22 utc | 147
New rules of engagement–Eye for an Eye–announced for Syrian forces regarding Zionist attacks:
“Henceforth, Damascus will be responding to any Israeli strike. If it damages a specific military target it will reply with a strike against a similar objective in Israel. Decision makers in Damascus said ‘Syria will not hesitate to hit an Israeli airport if Damascus airport is targeted and hit by Israel. This will be with the consent of the Russian military based in the Levant.'”
The noose is tightening, and about time, too!
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 14 2018 22:17 utc | 148
I fear the Storm Clouds are again gathering. Rumors of imminent UAF attack near Mariupol.
Rumors of imminent TSF attack near Manbij. Whether these are true of false, the next conflict will be one multi-vector, multi-theater with simultaneous flash points. May we survive it..
Posted by: Lozion | Dec 15 2018 0:28 utc | 149
james, drj & all jazz fans–
FYI–Outstanding female vocalist Nacy Wilson passed away yesterday. Caught several tribute shows on SirusXM’s Real Jazz & expect other jazz stations will do so as well. Pianist Ramsey Lewis related some memories of their times together and a few little known aspects of her life. In the early 1960s, Nacy was so popular her albums outsold The Beatles–an amazing feat for a jazz artist!
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 15 2018 0:58 utc | 150
@150 karlof1.. i am sorry to hear of that… jazz is one of the great cultural values that the usa has been very central and responsible for.. i wish the usa was more focused on bringing culture to other parts of the world and not bringing war.. i think the era of my kind of thinking is long gone..
Posted by: james | Dec 15 2018 2:24 utc | 151
@150 karlof1
I second what James said @151. I remember Nancy Wilson’s early album with alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, backed by (among others) a 20-something Joe Zawinul on piano and Louis Hayes on drums (same man seen in the Horace Silver “Senor Blues” footage I linked to @144.) Here’s a track from it called “A Sleepin’ Bee”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l551wZvo6zU
James’ point about jazz as a U.S. “cultural value” and the importance of “bringing culture to other parts of the world” reminded me of this Charles Lloyd album from ’67 with a young Keith Jarrett: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lloyd_in_the_Soviet_Union
And by the same band (except w/ Cecil McBee on bass instead of Ron McClure) there’s this from ’66, which I’ll throw in for good measure simply because I dig it a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rU5cWvaHHI
Posted by: drj | Dec 15 2018 6:10 utc | 152
Qatar has left OPEP… unnoticed
https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/saudi-arabia-between-rock-and-hard-place-opec-after-qatar-s-exit-1143611310
Posted by: Mina | Dec 15 2018 13:02 utc | 153
Below is a link to a posting by Elijah Magnier that shows new rules of engagement in the Levant
NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN SYRIA AND ISRAEL, AS RUSSIA CHANGES ITS POSITION
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 15 2018 20:44 utc | 154
Michael Hudson gives a really excellent interview on “The Vocabulary of Economic Deception” (among other things) on Bonnie Faulkner’s Guns and Butter: https://soundcloud.com/guns-and-butter-1/the-vocabulary-of-economic-deception-michael-hudson-395
The show aired December 12 (but where exactly? — didn’t they drop G&B from Pacifica?) and looks like it was posted at soundcloud today or late last night. I’m including the description from the page not only because it’s a good synopsis of the interview, but because (IMO) these topics, as treated by Hudson, are the real keys to political economy as a whole; and this is probably the best compact, accessible treatment of them I’ve heard. The book at issue (J is for Junk Economics) is not Hudson’s latest but the interview appears to be new. A little under an hour total. (Props also to Faulkner for doing a great job.)
“We discuss Michael Hudson’s book, J is for Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception, with an emphasis on the degradation of economic vocabulary that hides the real state of the economy; language affects peoples’ perception of reality; history of economic thought no longer taught; classical political economy focused on society’s unearned income or rent; the rentier landlord financial class; fictitious capital; the real reforms of the progressive era; classical political economists expected capitalism to evolve into socialism; classical economic concepts of value, price and rent; productive versus extractive economic sectors; public financing of infrastructure a windfall for the private sector; effects of the tax deductibility of interest; monetary policy and the Federal Reserve; economics is political – politics has always been about who is going to get what; National Income Accounting; fiscal policy and Modern Monetary Theory; the three stages of debt leveraging.”
Posted by: drj | Dec 16 2018 0:07 utc | 155
… but listening again to the start of the interview I notice it can’t be new. Apologies for that, but still highly recommended.
Posted by: drj | Dec 16 2018 0:21 utc | 156
Strasbourg attack
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the Strasbourg rampage. This is a horrible tragedy, an attack on the diversity that is our greatest strength.
If we learn any lessons from this we dishonor the memory of the victims. We must continue as if nothing happened. Muslim attacks on Christmas markets are a part of life in the city and something we have to get used to.
My biggest fear is a backlash from “racists” against the many innocent invaders.
Strasbourg gunman, identified as a 29-year-old who has a criminal history, shouted “Allahu Akbar,” according to public prosecutor.
The mating call of the Religion of Peace. You know something “enriching” is about to happen when you hear this desert war-cry from an immigrant. This is a transformation Europe must make if it is going to survive.
The (((chosen ones))) will be at the center of this process. Ask Barbara Lerner Spectre if you don’t believe me
The 29-year-old has been convicted 27 times for several offenses committed in France, Germany, and Switzerland. That aside, he was shadowed by DGSI, France’s homeland security agency, for harboring extremist views.
27 convictions. But never removed or put down. He was allowed to run wild across dying countries too cowardly and demoralized to defend themselves from obvious threats.
This pattern of weakness finally culminates with “gun violence.” We better give up more of our rights and the foreign conquerors should start behaving themselves once they realize we’ll do anything to appease them.
I trust you all have your candles lit. Let’s have a song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS797lGsa2M
Posted by: ida | Dec 16 2018 10:00 utc | 157