“…as Gilad Atzmon persuasively argues in Being in Time, a politics of reason has been thrown disastrously off course by the impact of a liberal discourse infected by the taints of ‘political correctness’ and ‘identity politics,’ which substitutes conformity and allegiance for truth-seeking and acknowledgements of the impurities of social reality. Without a suitable discourse respectful of the contingencies and unevenness of reality we cannot find the pathways to humane political behavior. To be sure, the Mammonite discourse of the Trump brand of right-wing politics is certainly no better, offering a greed-saturated form of materialism that feeds the limitless appetite of the very richest among us while manipulating and repressing the rest of us. As Atzmon provocatively insists, this absence of a trustworthy discourse by which to express grievances and aspirations is why it clears the air to admit that our epoch has become ‘post-political,’ at least for now.” (https://richardfalk.wordpress.com)

Fifty years on and it’s good to know that we have saxophone players in our midst like Gilad Atzmon who are not only brilliant in their own right, but are also capable of channelling the sound, the energy and the extraordinary creativity of jazz giant John Coltrane. Moreover, Atzmon has followed through on his enthusiasm for his muse by bringing out a celebratory album of – I want to say supreme – richness and quality. The Spirit of Trane is more than an exercise of paying homage to a great mentor, it is also a speculation about some of the places Trane might have gone had he lived longer. 

The list of NYC’s 100 worst landlords is, once again, overwhelmingly dominated by Jewish names. Naturally, I  wondered whether this bar mitzvah guest list quality also applies to the list of NYC’s 100 best landlords. If it does, problem solved. We would assume that since Jews are overrepresented in the NYC rental business, they are amongst the best landlords as well as the worst.

Jews are upset again. The latest kerfuffle is over a kids’ book called ‘P is for Palestine.’  According to the  New York Post  the book is infuriating some New York Jewish mothers — who charge that “it’s nothing but anti-Semitic propaganda disguised as a kids’ alphabet book...”

 "We're gonna have to get as organized as the mafia," Weinstein said in his 2015 acceptance speech for a ‘Humanitarian Award’ at the Simon Wiesenthal Center...

This is a really outstanding record that achieves the difficult task of acknowledging the spirit of Trane without being overwhelmed by his legacy - an authentically creative transformation that is a more fitting tribute than a host of imitators. 
 

The Prince’s observations are astute and accurate.  And for the Brits there is the clear message that by the 1980s the Prince was well- qualified to become their King as well as their Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. 

I admit that I can see how disturbing these lines must be to people who support ethnic cleansing and racist expansionist regimes. The Guardian might have done the right thing by deleting the lines.