The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 231, October 13, 2024 (V5 #23)
We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.—Neil deGrasse Tyson
A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.—Hannah Arendt
Books, Music, Art, Culture
‘Arshile Gorky. New York City’ Review: An Enigmatic Evolution: Hauser & Wirth marks the centenary of the Armenian artist’s arrival in the city where he spent most of his professional life with an exhibition of exquisitely mysterious paintings and works on paper, Karen Wilkin, Wall Street Journal, 10/7/24: “It’s an overview of mature paintings and works on paper largely made during the artist’s New York years.” (No Paywall). What a brilliant artist.
I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is: What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis, Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 10/11/24: “…a new framework is needed to describe this fracturing. Misinformation is too technical, too freighted, and, after almost a decade of Trump, too political. Nor does it explain what is really happening, which is nothing less than a cultural assault on any person or institution that operates in reality.” (No paywall)
How American Jews Created a Place For Themselves in Show Business: on the Early Years of Mass Entertainment in the United States, Richard Bernstein, LitHub, 10/9/24: “Show business was an escape from the soul-destroying weariness of the metal workshops, shirtwaist sweatshops, cigar sheds, pushcarts, and small retail establishments where most of the first generation of immigrants eked out their daily bread.” Book: Only in America: Al Jolson and the Jazz Singer
“Books Are Weapons in the War of Ideas.” The Incendiary Power of Literature in an Era of Censorship: on Book Bans, Reading as Exercising, and Turning to Shorter Books in the Age of Screens, Kenneth C. Davis, LitHub, 10/8/24: “Something is different about this well-organized and highly partisan onslaught. It is about more than a few books that are claimed to be unfit for young readers. It is a purge of ideas.” The World in Books: 52 Works of Great Short Nonfiction
What the Science of Memory Can (and Can’t) Reveal about Truth in Memoir: on the Power of Personal Story Alongside Objective Study, Debra Nystrom, LitHub, 10/9/24: “We need both personal voices and objective inquiry to achieve a deeper understanding of remembering.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates Corrects the Record: A trip to Israel and Palestine in 2023 made Coates rethink one of his most famous essays, Jonathan W. Gray, New Republic, 10/9/24: “In The Message, Coates confesses that “within days of publishing ‘The Case for Reparations,’ I began to feel the mistake.”
Autobiographical memory in the digital age: Our lives in the mirror of our data, Univ of Wurzburg, Science Daily, 10/7/24: “The fact that we draw on resources outside our own minds when remembering past events is not an invention of the digital age, but a constant in human history.”
I Fondled Salvador Dalí's Earrings, Eric Hellman, Go to Hellman, 10/10/24: “AI, wielded as a tool, can make art, in the same way that a Stradivarius, wielded by a musician, can make art, or that a camera, wielded by a photographer, can make art, or that computer program, wielded by a poet, can make art. Salvador Dalí was just ahead of his time.”
The Age of Depopulation: Surviving a World Gone Gray, Nicholas Eberstadt, Foreign Affairs, Oct/Nov Issue: “What lies ahead is a world made up of shrinking and aging societies.”
Luis Tiant, Crowd-Pleasing Pitcher Who Baffled Hitters, Dies at 83: Cuban-born and charismatic, with a personal tale caught up in politics, he was a dominant hurler with a quirky windup who helped lead the Red Sox to a pennant in 1975, Bruce Weber, NY Times, 10/8/24: “Tiant remains the winningest Cuban-born pitcher in major league history.” DW: And he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, dammit.
The gravedigger is noodling Melba, the widow-woman,
and a hognose is consuming a toy train on cemetery lane.
Let me resurrect beyond the bracken
fronds and the three-legged stool and catgut guitar
and this two-ton song from the mouth
of a wax museum troubadour.
—from “Folk Song,” Diane Seuss
Politics, Economics, Technology
About those New York Times headlines: Yes, I do care to explain, Margaret Sullivan, American Crisis, 10/13/24: “Historians: He’s a fascist. Political scientists: He’s a fascist. His own aides: He’s a fascist. The NYT: He shows a wistful longing for a bygone era of global politics. That, in essence, is the issue with these headlines.”
Press Breaks Record For Worst Week of Coverage Ever: 5 more corporate media fails, Scott Dworkin, Dworkin Report, 10/13/24: “1. Kamala had no teleprompter 2. Democrats are doing the work 3. Trump’s mental decline story disappears 4. Obama speech coverage was horrific 5. Corporate media is letting Trump hide from them.”
What have Trump and Putin been talking about on the phone? Lucian K. Truscott IV, Newsletter, 10/8/24: “This is evidence that Donald Trump is a traitor to his country, and it’s past time for the American press to start treating him like one.”
Why This Election Aftermath Will Be Even Worse (Maybe Much Worse): Brace yourself, Charlie Sykes, To the Contrary, 10/6/24: “It doesn’t matter if the race is close. It doesn’t matter if Harris wins 270 electoral votes or 420. No margin will prevent Trump from claiming victory and MAGA from embracing his claims.”
The FBI conducted a sham investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. Surprised? The bureau shamefully allowed itself to be used as a prop in political theater, orchestrated by the Trump administration, Moira Donegan, The Guardian, 10/10/24: “… The White House refused to authorize basic investigatory steps that might have uncovered information corroborating the allegations.”
Trump is a Whisker Away From the Presidency - How is this possible? This election may be America’s last stand against this country becoming, like Hungary and Russia, a full-on oligarchy run of, by, and for the morbidly rich…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 10/8/24
Trump’s Angry, Abusive New Tirade at “Stupid” Kamala Demands Response: As Trump unleashes a vicious stream of insults at Kamala Harris even as the media shrugs, a writer who tracks Trump’s misogyny breaks down how overtly anti-woman his strategy has become, Greg Sargent, New Republic, 10/8/24
‘Every day is a new conspiracy’: behind Trump’s ironclad grip on rightwing media: What rightwing outlets cover increasingly differs from the mainstream, furthering the bubbles a divided US lives in, Rachel Leingang, The Guardian, 10/7/24: “Half the time, when you listen to somebody who consumes nothing but rightwing media, you have no idea what they’re talking about.”
Steve Bannon Has Called His “Army” to Do Battle—No Matter Who Wins in November: Bannon, a self-declared general of global populists, wants to break the world order. And he’s tapped into something much bigger than Trumpism, James Pogue, Vanity Fair, 10/9/24: “To Bannon, and for pretty much everyone involved in his diffuse movement, resisting the empire is bound up in a project of preserving the spiritual character of a nation.”
How to Stop Fascism: Five Lessons from the Nazi Takeover, Timothy Snyder, Thinking About, 10/13/24: “Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic should also recall the past. A good start would be just to recall the five basic political lessons of 1933. 1. Voting Matters 2. Coalitions are necessary 3. Conservatives should be conservative. 4. Big business should support democracy. 5. Citizens should not obey in advance.
There Is No Liberalism Without a Healthy Democracy: Regardless of the outcome of this election, freedom can't survive in America without fixing the perverse structural incentives for extremism in its electoral system, Andy Craig, The Unpopulist, 10/11/24: “…systems which allow narrower coalitions to govern, up to the point of minority rule, are inherently illiberalizing. Unfortunately, our current system has come to increasingly resemble the latter.”
Why is JD Vance obsessed with your uterus? It's not just just a funny joke, there is a whole policy agenda behind it, Lyz Lenz, Men Yell at Me, 10/9/24: “It’s misogyny, pure and simple, that sees free women choosing lives outside of marriage and having children as a threat to American society.”
Peter Thiel's Game of Thrones: Forget Trump. He isn't the threat. JD Vance is, John Sundman, Sundman Figures It Out, 10/9/24: “Vance and the leaders of the cabal behind him are Nazis hellbent on establishing a new global Reich of which they are the paramount rulers, whatever the cost.”
Woman? Or Human Incubator? Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, 10/7/24: “The Court is telling us what its view is, as are Trump and Vance. And we should listen. Because the lives and the rights of people we love are at stake.”
The Eternal Election Season: Make it end, already! Sarah Kendzior, Newsletter, 10/10/24: “It will stretch beyond November 5 because there is no longer a firm winner, only contestation and violence and profiteering, swirling like storm water in a sewer.”
The Supreme Court’s Dark Money Crisis: Wyden’s Revolutionary Fix: How expanding and regulating the court could save America from GOP billionaires, Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 10/9/24: “Wyden’s legislation is breathtaking in its breadth and scope and is the perfect companion legislation to a binding and enforceable code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.” DW: click this article and read all about it. But for this to have any meaning, we have to elect a democratic Senate and House.
The Untold Link Between Justice Alito and Trump’s Election-Denying Efforts: Mark Martin floated fringe theories to keep Trump in power. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito taught with him — even after January 6, Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept, 10/3/24: “It was and continues to be a shock to the system knowing that the upper echelons of the legal community used their legal talents to subvert the will of the people.”
America’s Broken Constitution: While many argue that America’s founding document must be completely overhauled, reforming the Supreme Court may well be sufficient. And with the Electoral College and the Senate politically off-limits, bringing the Court into the twenty-first century may have to suffice, Nicholas Reed Langen, Project Syndicate, 10/11/24
The Christian Nationalism Behind “School Choice:” A Q&A with MSU Professor Josh Cowen, whose new book deconstructs the school voucher movement, Jon King, In the Public Interest, 10/10/24: “The effort to get school vouchers approved nationwide…is essentially a Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it.”
A Year of Conflict in the Middle East, From a War Reporter’s Perspective: A correspondent who has covered 18 wars reflects on the inhumanity of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Janine di Giovanni, Vanity Fair, 10/7/24: “At one time, if someone asked me where solutions lay for Israel and Palestine, I might have been able to analyze various strategies to end this war without end. I could talk about peacemakers. I could thread narratives. Now, one year after the infamous and terrible day of October 7, I can no longer do it. There has been too much blood.”
There is no purely military solution to Israel’s security woes: Israel is beating Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. But what is the endgame? Max Boot, Washington Post, 10/10/24: “Rather than expanding the conflict with Iran or falling prey to arrogant ambitions of reshaping the entire Middle East, the Netanyahu government would be better advised to focus on developing a strategy for ending the current conflicts against Hamas and Hezbollah. In neither case does Israel have a clear exit strategy.”
This Diné leader is using horses to bring ‘the greatest Native turnout ever’ to the polls: Allie Young, 34, started the Ride to the Polls campaign in 2020 to register new voters in person and online, Melissa Hellmann, The Guardian, 10/12/24
You are not wearing any spurs—you do not need any reins. The racing horse will take you to a place where the land that was once gone is ours now back and your horse’s neck and head are actually yours.
—from “this is what kafka really meant when he wished to be a red Indian,” m.s. RedCherries
Science, Environment
Keep yelling about climate change: It can feel demoralizing in the face of delay, but new peer-reviewed research suggests it's not always in vain, Emily Atkin, Heated, 10/8/24: “I came across new peer-reviewed research confirming that climate yelling really can lead to meaningful policy action, even under right-wing leaders, and even during unnatural disasters.”
What’s Causing the Recent Spike in Global Temperatures? Since early 2023, the world has seen a steep rise in temperatures that scientists are struggling to explain: Elizabeth Kolbert talked with Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s top climate scientist, about possible causes of the warming and why experts cannot account for the heat, Elizabeth Kolbert, Yale Environment 360, 10/10/24: “Things are behaving in a more erratic way than we expected, and that means the future predictions may also be more off.”
Earth’s ‘vital signs’ show humanity’s future in balance, say climate experts: Record emissions, temperatures and population mean more scientists are looking into possibility of societal collapse, report says, Damian Carrington, The Guardian, 10/8/24: “Climate change has already displaced millions of people, with the potential to displace hundreds of millions or even billions. That would likely lead to greater geopolitical instability, possibly even partial societal collapse.”
Earth’s wildlife populations have disappeared at a ‘catastrophic’ rate in the past half-century, new analysis says: The Living Planet Index tracks thousands of vertebrate species globally and found the worst declines were in Latin America and the Caribbean, Frances Vinall, Allyson Chiu, Washington Post, 10/9/24 (No paywall – I hope)
Fear: When It Helps, When It Hurts, Bill McKibben, Crucial Years, 10/9/24: “The fear of a planet where the old rules no longer hold is the ultimate fear—because then how do you even think about the future?”
What the Ocean Holds: Most of our planet’s biosphere exists in the dark of the deep ocean. Will we protect it? Or will we cash it in without concern for the harm we’re causing? Verlyn Klinkenborg, NY Review of Books, 10/17/24 issue: “Because of climate change, ocean temperatures are rising with shocking speed.”
How fossil fuels mutated Milton: Climate scientists tell HEATED the historic storm represents "the profound irresponsibility and culpability" of polluters, Arielle Samuelson, Heated, 10/9/24
Landscapes charred by wildfire can become ground zero for floods and mudslides: If you live in a wildfire-prone area, buy flood insurance, experts say, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 10/10/24
When the Arctic Melts: What the fate of Greenland means for the rest of the Earth, Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, 10/7/24: “I don’t know that it’s all doom and gloom. But from what I’ve experienced here in Greenland, at the center of the ice sheet, we’re approaching the point of no return.”
PFAS levels increasing in Arctic animals, study finds, Douglas Main, New Lede, 10/8/24: “Concentrations of toxic pollutants known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are continuing to increase in Arctic animals such as polar bears despite efforts to rein in their use.”
The emissions path for China that will shape our planetary future, Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 10/6/24: “What experts are now debating is whether we may be witnessing the moment at which emissions in China peak. If so, it would mark a true turning point in global climate history.”
Big Oil knew monster storms were coming. We have the receipts: Internal documents over the last 45 years reveal the fossil fuel industry has long known their products would supercharge extreme weather, Arielle Samuelson, Heated, 10/11/24
An overlooked solution for climate-friendly buildings: Better floor plans: When researchers auto-generated small apartment floor plans to make them efficient and comfortable, they found they could often reduce carbon emissions more than by changing the building exterior, Sarah DeWeerdt, Anthropocene, 10/8/24
Klamath River dam removal: before and after images show dramatic change: Dam removal concluded a decades long fight on 2 October, which also saw Chinook salmon return to the waters, Cecilia Nowell, The Guardian, 10/8/24: “…scientists with the non-profit California Trout captured images of a 2.5-ft-long Chinook salmon migrating upstream for the first time in more than 100 years the very next day.”
AI scans RNA ‘dark matter’ and uncovers 70,000 new viruses: Many are bizarre and live in salt lakes, hydrothermal vents and other extreme environments, Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 10/11/24
Cells From Different Species Can Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA: Long known as a messenger within cells, RNA is increasingly seen as life’s molecular communication system—even between organisms widely separated by evolution, Annie Melchor, Wired, 10/13/24
Even a Single Bacterial Cell Can Sense the Seasons Changing: Though they live only a few hours before dividing, bacteria can anticipate the approach of cold weather and prepare for it. The discovery suggests that seasonal tracking is fundamental to life, Elizabeth Landau, Quanta, 10/11/24
Scent
the simple
the perfect
order
of that flower
water lily
—from “Wintergreen Ridge,” Lorine Niedecker
Health, Wellness
Covid-19 may increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths for three years after an infection, study suggests, Brenda Goodman, CNN, 10/9/24: “If you’ve had Covid, we have to be especially attentive to making sure that we’re doing everything possible to lower your cardiovascular risk.”
Why everything you think about living to 100 might be wrong: While healthy eating and regular workouts are certainly good for us, many scientists now believe that genes rather than lifestyle are the determining factor in how long we live, Miriam Frankel, The Guardian, 10/13/24
Can We Prevent Cancer With a Shot? Vaccines designed to prevent cancer for high-risk groups are in early human trials, Brianna Abbott, Wall Street Journal, 10/10/24 (No Paywall)
Birds, Birding
Surprising Ways That Birds Migrate, Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman, Birds & Blooms, 10/5/24: “Wintering within walking distance; Swimming to new waters; Molt migrators—feeding before flying; Constant fliers—always airborne; Long-distance migration—marathon masters…”
Obituaries
Robert Coover
Ella Leffland
Lore Segal
Ethel Kennedy
you had planned to pray
with some insects down at
a secluded creek that day
—from “Atonement,” David Lehman
Election countdown: 23 days until the most consequential election of our lifetimes.
As Steve Schmidt most recently wrote “What Trump is calling for is fascism.”
Democracy is truly at risk. We must do everything we can to get out the vote. Consider signing up for Indivisible’s phone bank effort (includes training before you make calls).
Tuesday, October 15 - Call voters in Washington and Oregon at 6pm ET/3pm PT.
Monday, October 21 - Call Ohio voters for Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT.
Tuesday, October 22 - Call voters in Pennsylvania at 6pm ET/3pm PT.
We’re running out of time and we’re not getting help from the media or anyone else. It’s up to all of us to fight for the future we believe in.
And in the midst of it all, please continue to keep in touch. We need each other, now more than ever. Our connections are what matters. We can, we must work together.
Love is always the place where I begin and end.—bell hooks
We need to hold our nerve, do the work, and see if we can bring America safely through Hurricane Trump. That won’t deliver us to safety, but it’s a start.—Bill McKibben
Love always—David
I appreciate your courage in reading all the truly terrifying analyses of our conjoined political and climate crises and thank you for doing the work to curate them and share them with us. And thanks for mixing in a few lighter and hopeful stories as well. You're doing us all a valuable service.