Yes, I just used Norman Blake, but... c'mon.  It's Norman Blake!  "Dry Grass On The High Fields," from Live at McCabe's ..read more

Yes, it's happening!  Some of the people who need to go away are going away.  Not all, but some.  Of course, my opinions regarding who needs to go away are... never mind. Time for a math refresher.  Let's shoot some arrows through the heart of democracy.  From the quiver of Kenneth!  A nobel man if ever there was!  Stop changing "nobel," you annoying spell-checker!  I meant to make it both -el and lower case. Kenneth Arrow.  Winner of the... oh, you get it.  And yes, the Economics prize is real.  He won the prize for his proof of the "impossibility theorem," which essentially states that the ..read more

As I continue my quest to step back from the lunacy of daily life in the Age of Trump, let's get through some of what is happening with the whiplash-inducing trade war. As I explained last week, I was rather skeptical that there will be a resolution any time soon to the trade war.  I wrote that I find it highly likely that continued escalation will lead to recession, eventually, and that broad consequences of Trump's behavior here are what might put him in competition with James Buchanan. And in the Age of Trump, do you wear a neck brace on a daily basis?  China now says they won't escalat ..read more

J. The Savage, "The Age Of The Superstar," from Songs From The Tree Of Live ..read more

Clifford Brown & Max Roach, "Time," from At Basin Street ..read more

Brazil seems appropriate.  Here's a bit of a live cut from Badi Assad, playing a... sure, we're calling this a... guitar(?)  (Checks notes...)  Yeah.  Guitar.  I can't play anywhere near this well, and neither can you, so we don't get to say anything about it.  They're like, out of wood, or something. What?  Too soon ..read more

I usually use album cuts, but with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, live versions are more appropriate.  From their most recent album, Signs, "When Will I Begin."  (In honor of the first day of the new school year.)  I can make the case that this is the best band working today ..read more

After some of my comments yesterday, and in preparation for inevitable upcoming professional discussions, it is time to revisit the all-important political science version of whether or not the Hulk can beat up Superman.  Yes, Superman is Superman, but the madder Hulk get, the STRONGER Hulk get!  In political science, of course, our version of this stupefying question is:  who is the worst president in American history?  On that point, I have to excoriate my fellow political scientists as often as those outside the discipline for making what I will call, today, the Rolling Stone mistake. I us ..read more

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