"When the Public Distrusts Police Officers, Criminal Defendants Benefit"

"Whatever one thinks about Simpson's guilt or innocence in the double murder, it's easy to understand why jurors in the case would have questions—even doubts—about a case investigated by officers whose colleagues had beaten Rodney King and by a detective whose racism was something he bragged about. The LAPD had forfeited its presumption of honesty."

Jim Newton at the Los Angeles Times discusses the most significant aspect of O.J. Simpson's trial during the 1990s.

March 2024 Acquisitions

Books:

Movies:

Arguing the World, .

Horror Noire, .

Weird, .

Music:

"We Presume We Understand It as Long as We're Not Asked to Explain It, but It Becomes Inexplicable as Soon as We're Put to the Test"

"As with climate change, however, the only thing more difficult than such an effort would be trying to live with the alternative. Whiteness may seem inevitable and implacable, and Toni Morrison surely had it right when she said that the world 'will not become unracialised by assertion'. (To wake up tomorrow and decide I am no longer white would help no one.) Even so, after 350 years, it remains the case, as Nell Irvin Painter argues, that whiteness 'is an idea, not a fact'. Not alone, and not without much work to repair the damage done in its name, it still must be possible to change our minds."

In a 2021 Guardian article, Robert P. Baird explores the "invention of whiteness."

February 2024 Acquisitions

Books:

Charles Ardai et al, Heat Seeker: A Gun Honey Series, 2024.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, Where the Body Was, 2024.

Bradley Golden et al, Shook! A Black Horror Anthology, 2024.

Movies:

American Grindhouse, 2010.

BlacKkKlansman, 2018.

Trading Places, 1983.

Music:

Brigitte Bardot, The Best of Bardot, .

Country Joe and the Fish, Collected, .

Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Concert, .

Devo, Greatest Misses, .

Jefferson Airplane, Crown of Creation, .

Wayne Kramer, The Hard Stuff, .

Gordon Lightfoot, An Introduction to, .

Mercury Rev, Deserter's Songs, .

Rev. Louis Overstreet, , .

Pogues, The Best of, .

Pogues, The Rest of the Best, .

Seven Seconds, Walk Together, .

Staple Singers, Freedom Highway, .

Stylistics, Best of, .

The Who, Live at Leeds, 1970, 2001.

Yo Le Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One, .

Various, The Disco Years, Volume 3, .

Various, The Gospel Tradition Roots and Branches, .

Various, Impossible but True: The Kim Fowley Story, 2003.

Various, Into Tomorrow, .

Various, Our Lives Are Shaped by What We Love: Motown's MoWest Story 1971-1973, 2011.

Various, The Sun Story, .

You Are So Good and They Are So Stupid

"In one of the film's most famous scenes, the White folk of Rock Ridge prepare en masse to shoot Bart. But Bart escapes by pretending to be both a ruthless bad Black stereotype and a helpless good deferential Black stereotype at once, putting a gun to his own head and edging away while talking to himself. The White denizens of Rock Ridge confronted with their own doubled prejudices, glitz out like bamboozled robots on Star Trek."

Noah Berlatsky at CNN notes the fiftieth anniversary of Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles.

"Class Not as a Thing but as a Relationship"

"Thompson's empathy with those forced to struggle on an inhospitable social terrain has lessons for us, too. Today, the issue is the enormous condescension not of posterity but of the present: the contempt for working-class people, the hostility to benefit 'scroungers', the derision of those forced to use food banks, the indifference to injustice. It is visible also in the scorn for the supposed bigotry and conservatism of the working class or in the disdain of those who voted the wrong way or have become disillusioned with the left. Thompson's insistence that 'their aspirations were valid in terms of their own experiences' is as necessary to acknowledge now as it was then."

Kenan Malik at The Guardian marks E.P. Thompson's 100th birthday.

"He Showed the Way to the Modern World"

"Wilson championed—and came to symbolize—progressive reform at home and liberal internationalism abroad. So long as those causes commanded wide support, Wilson's name resonated with the greats of American history. In our time, however, the American left has subordinated the causes of reform and internationalism to the politics of identity, while the American right has rejected reform and internationalism altogether. Wilson's standing has been crushed in between."

David Frum at The Atlantic calls to "Uncancel Woodrow Wilson."

January 2024 Acquisitions

Books:

Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty, Ms. Tree Vol. 5: Heroine Withdrawal, 2023.

Joel Dinerstein, The Origin of Cool in Postwar America, 2018.

Kelley Puckett et al, The Batman Adventures Vol. 1, 2014.

The EC Archives: Crime Suspenstories Volume 1, 2014.

Movies:

Cecil B. Demented, 2000.

Music:

Gang of Four, Peel Sessions, .

Inspiral Carpets, Revenge of the Goldfish, .

Mighty Clouds of Joy, , .

Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa, 2024.

Primitives, , .

Purple Hearts, Beat That, .

Radio Birdman, , .

Rolling Stones, Made in the Shade, 1975.

Various, Dance Craze, 1981.

Various, Losing Touch with My Mind, .

Various, There Will Be No Sweeter Sound, .

"Dark Counterprogramming to the American Story"

"The most persistent conspiracy theories can survive on the fringes for decades, before suddenly reappearing with new details, villains and heroes, often at a time of social upheaval or economic dislocation. Sometimes, these beliefs can erupt into action, as they did on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol."

David Klepper of the Associated Press writes that "Even Before The Revolution, America Was A Nation Of Conspiracy Theorists."

"Our Values Tend to Cluster Around Certain Poles, Described as 'Intrinsic' and 'Extrinsic'"

"When a society valorises status, money, power and dominance, it is bound to generate frustration. It is mathematically impossible for everyone to be number one. The more the economic elites grab, the more everyone else must lose. Someone must be blamed for the ensuing disappointment. In a culture that worships winners, it can't be them. It must be those evil people pursuing a kinder world, in which wealth is distributed, no one is forgotten and communities and the living planet are protected. Those who have developed a strong set of extrinsic values will vote for the person who represents them, the person who has what they want. Trump. And where the US goes, the rest of us follow."

George Monbiot at The Guardian calls Donald Trump "a walking, talking monument to extrinsic values."

"Let the People Rule"?

"'The whole Trump phenomenon isn't because of our reforms,' he says. 'It's not just our fault, I think.' GOP gerrymandering and changes to state primaries happened on their own, he notes. He also points to many other new factors involved, including social media, generational change and Covid. He adds that in the years since Trump has entered politics, the former president has succeeded in co-opting the GOP establishment: 'If the Republican Party had superdelegates today, they would be on his side.'"

Michael Hirsh at Politico asks, "Did a Young Democratic Activist in 1968 Pave the Way for Donald Trump?"

"The President Has Got to Do Something That's Very, Very Hard"

"'He should be proud of his accomplishments, but he's also got to say that he understands that there is a housing crisis, that people can't afford healthcare or prescription drugs or childcare–that he's trying, but he hasn't yet succeeded.'"

At The Guardian, Ed Pilkington interviews Bernie Sanders about the 2024 election.

2023 Favorites

The Late Adopter selects...

Albums:

Durand Jones--Wait Til I Get Over (Dead Oceans)  

Tom Meighan--The Reckoning (Destruct)  

Jenny Lewis--Joy'All (Blue Note)  

Death Valley Girls--Islands in the Sky (Suicide Squeeze)

Rain Parade--Last Rays of a Dying Sun (Flat Iron)   

Clientele--I Am Not There Anymore (Merge) 

Hives--The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (Disques Hives)  

Marty Stuart--Altitude (Snakefarm)  

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds--Council Skies (Sour Mash)

Blind Boys of Alabama--Echoes of the South (Single Lock)     

Songs:

Durand Jones--'Lord Have Mercy'

Tom Meighan--'Rise'

Coi Leray--'Players'

Rain Parade--'Angel Sister' 

Johnny Marr--'Somewhere'

Jenny Lewis--'Psychos'

Fifty Fifty--'Cupid (Twin Version)'

Lathums--'Struggle'

Marty Stuart--'Sitting Alone'

Boo Radleys--'How Was I to Know?'

December 2023 Acquisitions

Books:

Connor, Blondie: Against the Odds, .

Julius, The Art of Big Hero 6, .

Judy Katschke and Maike Plenzke, The Beatles: A Little Golden Book Biography, 2023.

Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head, .

Enrico Marini, Noir Burlesque, 2023.

Thurston Moore, Sonic Life: A Memoir, 2023.

Eddie Muller, The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir, 2014.

Robert Smigel et al, X-Presidents, 2000.

Szabo, The Rebel's Wardrobe, 2023.

Tyler, Batman: The Detective, .

Tynion, Batman: Secret Files, .

Hal Leonard Gospel Hymns, .

The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, 2017.

Music:

Primal Scream, Demodelica, 2021.

Primal Scream, Reverberations Travelling in Time, 2023.

Various, Come Together: Adventures On The Indie Dancefloor 1989-1992, 2023.

Various, A Very Special Christmas, 1987.

"As a Result, Students Need to Pay (and Borrow) More"

"The past decades have seen huge increases in costs at public institutions of higher education. Measured in constant dollars, in the 1963–1964 academic year, tuition, room and board at four-year public institutions was $8,491. By 2021–2022 that figure was $21,878—almost three times as high. Declining state support is a major contributor to rising fees—and not just in 'red' states. At the University of California, San Diego—where I taught for many years—the share of revenues that came from state support declined from 32 percent in 2002 to 15 percent in 2020; similar patterns can be found broadly. According to the National Education Association, 'across the U.S., 32 states spent less on public colleges and universities in 2020 than in 2008, with an average decline of nearly $1,500 per student.'"

Naomi Oreskes at Scientific American writes that "[t]he net effects of decreased public funding are an increased burden on students and, except for the very wealthy, diminished educational opportunities."

"So It Goes"

"At the very least, we can learn from Kissinger, who unhesitatingly supported Gulf War One and Gulf War Two, and every war between and since, that the two defining concepts of United States foreign policy—realism and idealism—aren't necessarily opposing values; rather, they reinforce each other. Idealism gets us into the quagmire of the moment; realism keeps us there while promising to get us out; and then idealism returns anew both to justify the realism and to overcome it in the next round."

Greg Grandin at The Nation provides "A People's Obituary of Henry Kissinger."

November 2023 Acquisitions

Books:

Thomas Byrom, Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha, 1993.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ, 2007.

Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, 1981.

Tini Howard et al, Catwoman Vol. 3: Duchess of Gotham, 2023.

Evie Nagy, Devo's Freedom of Choice, 2015.

William Novak and Moshe Waldoks, The Big Book of Jewish Humor, 2006.

Stanley Tucci, Taste: My Life Through Food, 2021.

Lynd Ward, God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts, 2004.

Joshua Williamson et al, Dark Ride, Vol. 2, 2023.

The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Volume 1, 2017.

Movies:

Bring It On, 2000.

LA 92, 2017.

Music:

Beatles, "Now and Then," 2023.

Black Pumas, Chronicle of a Diamond, 2023.

Boo Radleys, Eight, 2023.

Chemical Brothers, For That Beautiful Feeling, 2023.

Chemical Brothers, Loops of Fury, 1996.

Clientele, I Am Not There Anymore, 2023.

Johnny Marr, Spirit Power, 2023.

Nada Surf, Lucky, 2008.

Supertramp, The Very Best of Supertramp, 1990.

Waves, Shock Horror, .

Various, The Disco Years Vol. 1, .