He thrives in the chaos and constant distractions

I’m in the strange situation of enjoying a book but recognizing it will likely have limited appeal. I finished the book On Minimalism by Kerry O’Brien and William Robin. Minimalism is a musical style that originated in the 1950s by La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It’s major characteristic is frequent repetition of small musical ideas. When one isn’t bored the effect can be hypnotic, so it is also called trance music. The 400 pages of the book (plus listening list, notes, bibliography, and index) covers music associated with minimalism (a term all the composers hated, but we’re stuck with it now) from the earliest pieces in the late 50s to wide acceptance in the 1970s to what is happening today (as of 2021). The movement pulled in ideas from jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and Indian ragas. It influenced Donna Summers and disco. The fathers of the movement are all still alive (I think) and are in their late 80s. Back about the turn of the century when I started my master of music program the first class I had to take was how to do research into music. Of course, a term paper was required, practice for writing papers for music history and theory classes. I wanted to start my paper by saying “I love the music of John Adams. I hate the music of Steve Reich.” The professor said that’s much too provocative. I settled on something like, “I play CDs of John Adams’ music frequently. The music of Steve Reich rarely gets a second hearing.” The paper then explored the differences in their music which might lead me to like one and not the other. I will not go into that here. Composer John Adams is about a decade younger than Reich and Glass. He took many features of minimalism, combining them with more traditional aspects of Western music. If you want to explore this style of music I suggest: Steve Reich: Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians, also Different Trains (it has a backstory). Philip Glass: Music in Twelve Parts. Terry Riley: In C (be sure to read up on how this one is constructed). John Adams: Harmonium, then Harmonielehre, and Hoodoo Zephyr. There are also works by Arvo Pärt to enjoy. If you’re into it both Glass and Adams have written operas. While reading this book I listened to a couple of Reich’s pieces. One of them was Six Marimbas. While listening I though this is rather nice, why did I hate it decades ago? After listening to the second piece I was reluctant to play a third, and went to another composer. Then in this book I read an unfavorable critique of Reich and realized my term paper all those years ago was correct. When I listened to it recently I enjoyed it because I was also doing something else. Just listening to it is boring. Alix Breeden of Daily Kos reported that the nasty guy has been talking about a third term, even as he barely begins his second. Breeden discussed how he might beat the two term limit: Repeal the 22nd Amendment, the source of that two term limit. But a repeal needs 38 states, requiring some blue states, which isn’t going to happen. Run as vice president and after the election the guy elected president steps aside. But the Constitution says if you aren’t qualified to be president, you aren’t qualified to be VP. Simply run again and rely in the Supreme Court that gave him broad immunity. Repeat the 2020 post-election and not leave. Commenters note his age and physical condition and the high possibility he won’t live to the end of this term, or if he does will be too senile to run. iWalkthetalk added another possible way for him to attempt to stay in office. That is to create a national emergency – bird flu, invading another country, a financial collapse, whatever – with the assumption that he mobilizes all of American defense and declares the end of the rule of law for the duration of the everlasting emergency. Oliver Willis of Kos reported:

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is being accused of manipulating Google search results to give the impression that the Trump administration’s immigration raids are more effective than they truly are.

Those manipulations are based on getting old (as in perhaps more than a decade old) news article of a raid to come to the top of a search. Sometimes that includes giving an old article a new “update” date. This is at a time that raids are falling short of the nasty guy’s campaign promises (which is a good thing). Willis also reported on the first actions on Pam Bondi the new Attorney General. She will follow her boss’s suggestion to instruct lawyers of the Civil Rights Division to no longer investigate and prosecute, you know, civil rights violations, but find ways to prosecute companies that still have diversity initiatives. She’ll also deemphasize white-collar crimes. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a couple interesting quotes. The first is from the Israeli news service Haaretz, discussing the nasty guy’s desire to turn Gaza into the Middle East Riviera without the Palestinians:

So what does Trump want? Distraction. He thrives in the chaos and constant distractions he creates. Did he not impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and then grant them a 30-day extension since they promised they would do the things they are already doing? Trump is a preeminent agent of chaos. That's a trademark he has always paraded, boastfully and defiantly. As he said he would, he is actively generating and promoting chaos in America, discord within alliances, and is out to undermine the world order. Agents of chaos sow chaos. It's that simple. They instill discordance, confusion, controversy and uncertainty. That's a modus operandi, not a tailored policy or crisis management technique. Agents of chaos and anarchy are by definition out to disrupt the status quo by floating outrageous ideas, based on a simple principle: Everyone viscerally understands the status quo has exhausted its usefulness, more-of-the-same doesn't work anymore.

I had mentioned the nasty guy ordered the opening of a couple dams in California to show he was doing something about the supposed water crisis that impeded fighting the Los Angeles fires. The Mercury News reported the amount of water released was 2.2 billion gallons.

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season. “They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”

Agriculture at risk means food prices at risk. Down in the comments Stuart Hardwick posted a cartoon of several red states saying, “Every state, no matter its size, gets two senators. It’s only fair!” California replies, “That’s fine. It just sounds like D.E.I. and affirmative action for red states, which I though you hated.” The caption says, “The Electoral College is D.E.I. for Red States.” Morgan Stephens of Kos reported the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions, launched a campaign called the “Department of People Who Work for a Living” or DPWL. Yeah, this is a spoof and direct challenge to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

“The government can work for billionaires, or it can work for working people—but not both,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in a press release. ... “We will hold DOGE and Elon Musk accountable because we are certain that the people who keep our food and medicine safe know more about how to make government efficient than an outsider whose companies benefit from the very agencies he is infiltrating,” she added.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted late night commentary. A sample:

“Anyone who’s ever had a toddler knows this feeling. You leave the room for one second, and when you come back everything from the bookshelves is on the floor, the walls are covered in ketchup, and when you ask who gave the dog a haircut with safety scissors, your kid says it was DEI.” —Stephen Colbert