I just finished reading this book by Rajiv Chandrakeraran. It was pretty scary. It's about the Coalition Provisional Authority that administered Iraq during the first year of the occupation. It's a pretty damning portrait. The depth of the cronyism and isolation that went on in the Green Zone was absolutely spectacular. The number one criterion for a job administering Iraq: partisan loyalty to the Bush administration. Don't speak Arabic? Never been to Iraq? Have no experience in post war reconstruction or conflict resolution? No problem, as long as you have the correct opinion on Roe v. Wade and have had an internship at a conservative think tank.
The horrors are too many to count: Groups of three people assigned to do the work of thousands. A massive dearth of Arabic speakers. People promulgating flat taxes and free trade and other conservative economic agenda items while basics like electricity and security go neglected. And the complete lack of understanding of the sheer scale of the problem at the top.
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour - Oakland, Fox Theater, June 11, 2022
As usual I splatter my thoughts in no particular order: The whole darn show, recorded from within someone’s phone lock bag: https://youtu.be/nwK8kAVNrrI Better recording here: https://youtu.be/wrrPZU_-jjA (this one appears to have been removed) A recording of the previous night: https://youtu.be/P-yNR855s3g I loved the show. My attention was fixed the whole time. Oh my God they ended with a cover of Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil" which was amazing. (Better recording: https://youtu.be/YZj3pjskjPU Bootleg recording, from same source as above: https://youtu.be/TmNBhpQtqz8 ) From my post on Expecting Rain : Oh My God, they closed with "Friend of the Devil" on the June 11th Oakland show! Crowd went berserk! The version was absolutely beautiful, one of the best sounding songs of the evening. I was stunned. I was expecting "Every Grain of Sand" (and now I want to hear that live), because I'd read the set lists and I knew...
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