The Wild Reed

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Israel’s and the United States’ Rationale for War on Iran Is “All Bullshit”

Early this morning, Saturday, February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump released a video following the strikes saying they were necessary to “defend American lives,” while according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz the “preemptive” attacks were launched to “remove threats to the state of Israel.”

According to reports, among the sites struck in today’s joint U.S./Israeli attack on Iran were two schools, including an elementary school where 53 girls were killed and many more injured.

Iran has responded to the U.S. and Israel’s unilateral military attacks by targeting U.S. military installations across West Asia. The Irainian-backed Houthis announced that they would resume attacks on Israeli and U.S. commercial ships in the Red Sea.

There are also reports that Iran has closed the all-important Strait of Hormuz. About this development, Ahmed Eldin writes:

This is no longer a regional war, it is economic warfare on a global scale. The Strait is a narrow chokepoint, just 21–33 km wide at its tightest, between Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south. Roughly 20–30% of global seaborne crude oil – about 20–21 million barrels per day – moves through it. Major exporters including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar depend on this single route to supply global markets. A multi-day closure would guarantee that oil not only spikes past $100, it rockets. . . . [The closure of the Strai of Hormuz will] affect every single person on this planet who drives a car, heats their home, or buys anything that was transported by oil. The real weapon of mass destruction is control of the global energy arteries. Iran just reminded the world that while they may not have aircraft carriers, they have geography, leverage, and the power to make the entire global economy feel their pain.

In the 12-minute video below, Rational National podcast host David Doel discusses the “breaking news of Trump’s action on Iran, what Trump and those around him has said previously, how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is responding” and how this response betrays his previous remarks at Davos about U.S. power in the world.

Following this video is Bruce Fanger’s commentary, “Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War.”

Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War

By Bruce Fanger
February 28, 2026

Benjamin Netanyahu has been under indictment for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust for years. His corruption trial has staggered forward while he maneuvers politically to stay in power. Coalition deals. Judicial overhaul fights. Street protests. Every time the legal noose tightens, the security temperature rises.

Now missiles fly.

Donald Trump’s name resurfaces in Epstein reporting just as subpoenas and public pressure begin circling again. Old associations. Old photographs. Old questions that refuse to die. And what dominates the global stage instead?

Bombs over Tehran.

You do not have to invent conspiracy to notice pattern. Leaders under legal strain have powerful incentives to change the subject. War reshapes narrative. War demands unity. War makes critics hesitate. War compresses oxygen in the room until scandal suffocates.

Both men frame themselves as indispensable. Both cast themselves as guardians against existential threat. Both are allergic to personal accountability. Both now preside over escalation that risks igniting a region.

Netanyahu’s legal jeopardy is real. Trump’s legal exposure is real. So is the blood that flows when men in that position decide history must revolve around them.

This is not about defending Iran’s regime. It is not about minimizing real security threats. It is about recognizing when political survival and military force start to blur.

When leaders facing courtroom reckoning escalate militarily, citizens should not shrug. They should scrutinize. War cannot become a legal shield. Missiles cannot become jury nullification by spectacle.

History is littered with men who wrapped themselves in flags to outrun subpoenas.

We should not be so naive as to pretend that power does not calculate. And we should not be so timid as to stay silent when the calculation carries global consequences.

No one is above the law. Not in Jerusalem. Not in Washington.

– Bruce Fanger
“Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War”
via social media
February 28, 2026

Related Off-site Links:
“The Behavior of Rogue States”: Global Revulsion as U.S. and Israel Launch War on Iran – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
Israel Strikes Two Schools in Iran, Killing More Than 80 People – Al Jazeera (February 28, 2026).
“More Horrific Death and Destruction Will Come,” Warns U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib as Israeli Strike Kills Dozens of Iranian Children – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
Wait, Why Is Israel Allowed to Have Nukes? – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, June 20, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Phyllis Bennis on the “Stark Danger” Posed by Israel’s Attack on Iran (2025)
• Saying “No” to War on Iran (2020)
• Veterans for Peace Strongly Condemns U.S. Aggression Towards Iran (2020)
• Major Danny Sjursen: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2019
• Jeff Cohen: Quote of the Day – January 29, 2011

Friday, February 27, 2026

“Green Wave 2026 is Global”

Writes Butch Ware, Green Party candidate for Governor of California . . .

Congratulations to Hannah Spencer, Zack Polanski, and the U.K. Greens!*

They’ve proven that we can win by standing AGAINST genocide and corporate plunder and by fighting FOR immigrants, working people, rent control, human rights, and environmental sanity.

That’s why I’m polling better than any third party Governor candidate in California history. People everywhere are done with the duopoly.

People. Planet. Peace > profits.

Green Wave 2026 is global.

– Butch Ware
via social media
February 27, 2026

Remembering Carl Anderson

It’s the birthday of the late, great American vocalist and song stylist Carl Anderson (1945-2004). He would have turned 81 today.

In the past I’ve done whole series of posts celebrating Carl at around this time of the year (see, for example here, here and here). This year I’m opting to simply share an example of Carl doing what he did best – singing with heart and soul.

But first . . . I dare say that for most people, Carl Anderson is best remembered for playing Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film adaptation (right) and numerous stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar.

(For more about Carl’s groundbreaking portrayal of Judas, click here, here, here and here.)

Yet it would be remiss of me not to state the obvious: There is much more to Carl Anderson than Jesus Christ Superstar. Indeed, for over three decades Carl was an accomplished and well-respected song stylist, artfully blending jazz, soul, pop, and R&B influences into his own unique and unforgettable style.

Between 1982 and 1996 Carl released nine albums. In addition, he made memorable duets with other artists and provided solo guest vocals on a number of songs by others.

Artists Carl worked with included Weather Report, Nancy Wilson, The Rippingtons, Michael Paulo, Maynard Ferguson, Gerald McCauley, Eric Marienthal, Brenda Russell, Lisa Deveaux, and Linda Eder.

In honor of the 81th anniversary of Carl Anderson's birth, I share one of his many beautiful love songs – “Still Thinking of You,” a track from his 1985 album, Protocol. It's followed by a review by Chris Rizik of the 2010 reissue of Protocol. . . . Enjoy!

Carl Anderson – Protocol (Reissue)
A Review by Chris Rizik
SoulTracks.com (2010)

During the 1980s, Carl Anderson's immense talent was only matched by the wild inconsistency of the music he released. His debut album, Absence Without Love, was a major disappointment for fans who had waited nearly a decade after his seminal performance as Judas in the blockbuster movie Jesus Christ Superstar. And the follow up album, On and On, was only slightly better. Though he had teamed with first rate talent in making those albums, neither remotely did justice to his vocal stylings. But all the elements aligned in 1985 with Protocol, by far his best album of the decade and one of the most consistently enjoyable albums by a male soul vocalist that year. Teaming with producers Patrick Henderson, Al McKay (of Earth, Wind & Fire) and Gary Taylor, he fashioned an album that made good on the promise that was hinted at in his Superstar performance but was suppressed in his earlier solo work.

McKay brought the opening cut, "Can't Stop This Feeling," to the project and immediately created the greatest four minutes Anderson had ever recorded. The upbeat number was uber-infectious and Anderson tore it up with a a wonderful vocal performance. It was an auspicious opening to the album, but it was by no means the only high point. Unlike Anderson's earlier discs, Protocol included ballads that appeared tailor made for his expressive crooning. "Still Thinking of You" and "One More Time With Feeling" were top notch, and "Saving My Love For You" was a chillingly simple and beautiful coda to the disc. Some of the mid-80s Kashif-like production on "Let's Talk" and "Girl, I Won't Say No" sound a bit over the top now, but are more than offset by the subtler work on the dance number "What Will Happen Now" and the very nice "Love On Ice."

Clearly the material on Protocol was better than Anderson had had before, but there was also an obvious change in his approach to the disc – an increased comfort in driving the music where he wanted vocally – and it resulted in a great ride for listeners. Unfortunately, the album never received the promotion or attention it deserved, as for most popular music fans the introduction to Carl Anderson occurred a year later on the inferior "Friends and Lovers" duet with Gloria Loring and the accompanying slapped-together album. But Protocol did set the stage for the future direction Anderson would take with his career and several strong subsequent recordings over the next decade on MCA and GRP Records [the albums An Act of Love (1988), Pieces of a Heart (1990), Fantasy Hotel (1992), Heavy Weather / Sunlight Again (1994) and Why We Are Here (1997)].

Kudos to the gang at FunkyTownGrooves for reissuing this hidden gem of an album (with bonus cuts to boot [including the awesome "Light Me"). Protocol sounds as good [today] as it did a quarter century ago. It was a welcome addition to the soul world back then but, more than anything, Protocol answered the question that so many had been asking after Carl Anderson's first two album misfires: it showed that Carl Anderson really was a unique talent who could move beyond his Jesus Christ Superstar coming out party to become one of the most enjoyable male vocalists of his era.

– Chris Rizik

For more of Carl at The Wild Reed, see:
• Remembering Carl Anderson – 2025 | 2024 | 2022
• Carl Anderson: “Still One of the Greatest Interpretations of Judas on Film”
• Carl Anderson: “Like a Song in the Night”
• Carl Anderson: “One of the Most Enjoyable Male Vocalists of His Era”
• With Love Inside
• Carl Anderson
• Acts of Love . . . Carl’s and Mine
• Introducing the Carl Anderson Appreciation Group
• Forbidden Lover
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)

The Wild Reed’s February 2021 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering an Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire
• An Electrifying Spectrum of Emotions
• “Fare Thee Well, My Nightingale”
• “He Was Bigger Than Life . . . Very Philosophical, Very Warm and Honest”

The Wild Reed’s February 2020 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Carl Anderson: On and On
• Carl Anderson and The Black Pearl
• Carl Anderson in The Color Purple
• Carl Anderson: “Let the Music Play!”

The Wild Reed’s February 2019 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering and Celebrating Carl Anderson
• Carl Anderson: “Pure Quality”
• Carl Anderson’s Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: “The Gold Standard”
• Carl Anderson’s Judas: “A Two-Dimensional Popular Villain Turned Into a Complex Human Being”
• Carl Anderson: “Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire”
• Playbill Remembers Carl
• Remembering the Life of Carl Anderson: “There Was So Much Love”

Related Off-site Links:
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part I: A Broadway Legend with Lynchburg Roots – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org, May 12, 2015)
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part II: The Legend Lives On – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org,June 10, 2015)
Carl Anderson – Jazz Legend: The Official Website
Carl Anderson Memorial Page
Carl Anderson at AllMusic.com – Ron Wynn (AllMusic.com)
Carl Anderson Biography – Chris Rizik (Soul Tracks)

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Become the Sky

By Steve Taylor

This cage you’ve been trapped inside
for longer than you can remember
might seem so sturdy and secure
that you don’t even dream of escaping anymore
like a bird that used to beat its wings
but now just lets them hang limply by its sides.

But the bars of your cage aren’t solid.
They’re a mirage made up of fears and desires
projected by your restless mind
fueled by the attention you give them.

Just for a moment let your mind be quiet
and see how fears evaporate
see how desires withdraw
like the claws of an animal
that’s no longer threatened.

Watch the bars melt away
and let the world immerse you.

Let your mind-space merge with the space out there
until there is only space without distinction –
stretch your wings and become the sky.

– Steve Taylor
From The Calm Center: Reflections and
Meditations for Spiritual Awakening
New World Library, 2015
p. 12

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Smile
• “Window, Mind, Thought, Air and Love”
• Until the Light Returns
• What the Wind Says
• Secret Language of the Heart
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge
• Jesus and the Art of Letting Go
• Surrendering in Sacred Trust
• I Surrender to You
• The Act of Surrender
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Love’s the Only Dance
• Sweet Surrender
• Saved Me
• Learning to Fly
• “And Still We Rise!” – Part 1 | Part 2

Image: Artist unknown.

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

For Rep. Ilhan Omar, Silence Is Never an Option

Reports the group Occupy Democrats:

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar isn’t apologizing – and she isn’t backing down.

After interrupting Donald Trump’s State of the Union to confront him over the deaths of two of her Minneapolis constituents, Omar went on CNN and made it crystal clear: silence was never an option.

When asked by Wolf Blitzer whether she should have followed Democratic leadership’s advice to sit quietly or skip the speech altogether, Omar didn’t hesitate.

“No,” she said. “It was really unavoidable.”

Why? Because as Trump spoke about “protecting Americans,” Omar says he ignored the fact that two Americans – Renée Good and Alex Pretti – were killed under his administration’s watch.

“I just had to remind him,” she said bluntly. “His administration was responsible for killing two of my constituents.”

That’s not heckling. That’s accountability.

Omar brought four Minnesotans with her as guests to the address – people she says have lived through what she described as a federal “occupation,” traumatized by aggressive law enforcement actions in their communities. She said it was critical to “bear witness” and “hold the space” for neighbors who have suffered.

When Blitzer pointed out that Democrats previously criticized Republicans for interrupting President Biden’s State of the Union, Omar stood firm.

“I do not [have regrets],” she said. “It was important for my constituents to see me there.”

This wasn’t political theater, she argued. It was personal. Two families in her district lost loved ones. And as the president spoke about safety, she says their names deserved to be heard.

Omar framed her protest as a moral obligation – not a breach of decorum. In her view, failing to speak up would have meant abandoning the people who sent her to Washington.

Whether critics call it disruption or courage, Omar made one thing unmistakable: when she believes lives are on the line, party strategy takes a back seat.

And for her constituents in Minneapolis, she says, being present – and being vocal – mattered more than staying silent.

– Occupy Democrats
via Facebook
February 25, 2026

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Dayvon Love: “You Actually Don’t Care Where Jill Stein Is”

Dayvon Love serves as director of public policy for the Baltimore-based think tank, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. Last month, he spoke to the question “Where is Jill Stein?” and how it functions as a deflection, shielding liberals from confronting the Democratic Party’s long-standing, exploitative relationship with working-class Black voters.
___________

When people sarcastically ask the question “where is Jill Stein” it denotes a desire to deflect their complicity in the exploitative relationship between working class Black people and the Democratic Party.

The “lesser of two evils” analysis is often the pushback that liberals give to those of us who are committed to more radical approaches to electoral politics. The argument they make is that we need to be serious about who can actually win and develop an astute political approach that can deliver concrete results for our community. Additionally, not voting for Democrats – even if they are imperfect – just empowers the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

One of the critiques I have of people who share my perspective on the need for more radical approaches to electoral politics is that they often don’t have a serious answer to the concern of ceding political power to Republicans who have no incentive to do anything meaningful for Black people. Both parties are instruments of the White settler colonialism, even when there are non-White people at the helm. But they are not the same, and the differences matter.

The electorate that is necessary for Democrats to be politically viable are largely people of color. We are a captured electorate of the Democratic Party that are mostly pandered to, instead of being treated like a power base that can drive the trajectory of the party. While it may be objectively better to have a generic Democrat in office than a generic Republican, if we don’t simultaneously do the work to build the capacity to build credible electoral threats to the left of the Democratic Party establishment, then we are in effect co-signing a perpetual exploitative relationship to them.

Democrats have generally supported symbolic measures on police reform (ie body cameras, training) and rejected more radical policies like community control of law enforcement. Democrats will market their policies of making public investments in social programs, but oppose progressive taxes on corporations. The Democratic Party is interested in minimal changes to White corporate domination of the world, while wanting to appear to have engaged in the maximum amount of social change. The only way that Democrats have delivered any meaningful progressive/radical policies is with radical political forces outside (to the left) of the party. If the Democratic Party is not challenged by electoral forces to its left, it has no incentive to deliver anything to Black people besides watered down policies.

In a state like Maryland, that will go into the 2026 election cycle with a gubernatorial election that is essentially a one party race, there is an opportunity to test the effectiveness of developing credible electoral threats to the left of the Democratic Party. There is zero chance of Wes Moore losing to any of the other candidates who are running for governor. This means that if Marylanders vote in large numbers for a Green Party candidate it will send a message to Democratic Party that they need to run candidates with more progressive/radical policy platforms.

The leverage from folks voting for the Green Party candidate for governor of Maryland (which is the party on the ballot that is left of the Democratic Party) will be helpful in moving stronger policies that protect immigrants from ICE; the policy recommendations from the Maryland Reparations Commission; taking a stance against the genocide in Gaza; progressive taxation to make corporations in Maryland pay their fair share and other important policies that serve the interest of our community. Again, it is extremely unlikely that the Green Party candidate will win, but a 4 percent or 5 percent showing would be enough to send a signal to the Democratic Party that we are not satisfied with liberal reform, but instead we want revolutionary policies that can transform our community. Individual candidates that run for office as a Democrat will have an incentive to run on a more progressive policy platform if they see stronger than normal numbers of people who vote for the Green Party.

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and many other organizations are working during the Maryland General Assembly to pass HB 101. The legislation would require any entity that receives public funding and hosts statewide general election debates (like Maryland Public Television) to invite every candidate that appears on the ballot to participate. This will provide the general public with an opportunity to hear political ideas that typically fall outside of the frame of the corporate duopoly, and provide an opportunity to directly hold Democrats accountable publicly. This would help to put public pressure on the Democratic Party to move further left, while also helping to build radical electoral forces outside of the Democratic Party that can go beyond the watered down policies of the Democratic Party establishment.

For those who are asking “Where is Jill Stein?,” I say if you are serious about a political environment where Black people are more than just figures of incorporated resistance into the American mainstream, then you should be looking to support the Butch Wares and Andy Ellises of the world who are running to build electoral political power beyond the Democratic Party.

– Dayvon Love
“You Actually Don’t Care Where Jill Stein Is”
Afro News
January 30, 2026

Monday, February 23, 2026

Quote of the Day

The resistance in Minnesota is decentralized. No single leader. No central command. Just neighbors organizing neighbors. Block meetings. Mutual aid. Court support. Rapid response texts. Unions. Faith groups. Students. Elders. This is what scares them. You cannot crush a movement that lives in a thousand group chats and living rooms. The Twin Cities did not wait for permission. We built power.

– Voices Against Trump

Related Off-site Links:
Minnesota Is Still Under Seige – Jonathan V. Last (The Bulwark, February 21, 2026).
The Minneapolis Resistance Will Do Your Laundry – Deborah Copperud (Current Affairs, February 19, 2026).
Minnesota Clergy Sue Department of Homeland Security Over Access to Immigration Detainees – Matt Sepic (MPR News, February 23, 2026).
We’re All Minnesotans Now – William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Jim Swift (The Bulwark, February 18, 2026).
What We Can Learn From Minneapolis’ Model of Resistance – Gabriel Furshong (Common Dreams, February 13, 2026).
The Rise of the Rebel Loon Logos – The Nerd of The Rings (February 13, 2026).
The People of Minneapolis Will Simply Not Let the ICE Thugs Prevail – Dan Simmons (The New Republic, February 5, 2026).
Anti-ICE Organizing Is Creating Counter-Institutions Based on Care – Rashida James-Saadiya (Truthout, February 4, 2026).
“Backing Down Isn’t an Option”: Minnesota ICE Shootings Mobilize Americans to Join ICE Observer Groups – Lex McMenamin (The Guardian, January 31, 2026).
Letter From Minnesota: Details From an Occupation – Angela Pelster (Literary Hub, January 29, 2026).
Meet the Minneapolis Parents Patrolling Their Schools Amid ICE Operations – Elizabeth Shockman (MPR News, January 16, 2026).
The Women Holding Minneapolis Together – Anna Moeslein Glamor, January 7, 2026).

UPDATE: Former ICE Lawyer Says Agency Is Teaching Recruits to “Violate the Constitution” – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, February 24, 2026).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts on the resistance to the Trump regime’s fascist occupation of Minnesota:
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Photo of the Day – December 5, 2025
• Susie Hayward on What’s Happening in Minneapolis
• Doing What We Can to Stop Unjust Arrests of Immigrants
• Great Event, Great Sign, Great Nails
• Christmas Eve Musings
• May We Do Likewise
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like” – January 7, 2026
• “It Was Murder”: 12 Powerful Responses to the Death of Renée Nicole Good
• Omar Fateh: “Folks Are Waking Up”
• A Good Faith Appeal and a Grim Response
• Why Minnesota?
• Chris Hedges on ICE: “I Have Seen These Masked Goons Before”
• Steven Donziger: “Let’s Get Real . . . ICE Is a Domestic Terrorist Organization”
• Historian Kyle Dekker: “It’s Not Nazi Ideology We Are Fighting. It’s American”
• Knowing Our Rights
• Mike Figueredo on Why Trump Might Be Pushing the U.S. to the Brink of Collapse
• A “Red Alert Moment for American Democracy”
• Dispatches from Occupied Minnesota
• Marianne Williamson on How to Psychologically Endure This Moment
• What Moral Clarity Looks Like in Minnesota This MLK Day
• Nemik’s Eulogy for Renée Nicole Good
• “It Was Never About Keeping America Safe”
• “ICE Out!”: The Minnesota General Strike – 1/23/26
• “This Was a Flat Out Execution”
• “Organized Sustained Systemic Resistance and Self-Defense Are Our Only Options”
• Honoring Alex Pretti
• George Conway: The Trump Administration Is a “Criminal Organization”
• In the Face of Fascist Lies, MN Governor Tim Walz Sets the Record Straight
• Adam Serwer on How “Every Social Theory Undergirding Trumpism Has Been Broken on the Steel of Minnesotan Resolve”
• “Trump Is Scared Shitless”
• “They Were Alive. Then They Were Not”
• Bruce Springsteen and the Streets of Minneapolis in the Winter of ’26
• Craig Mokhiber on the “Imperial Boomerang”: How U.S. War Tactics Abroad Are Now Used at Home
• January Vignettes (2026)
• Honoring Renée Good and the “Astonishing Surge of Courage” of Minneapolis
• A Luminous Celebration of Light, Love and Community
• More Dispatches from Occupied Minnesota
• Memes of the Times – February 2026
• Only the Beginning
• The North Remembers
• “It’s All Lies and Propaganda”
• What This Moment Feels Like in Minnesota

Image: Citizens gather at Whittier Park in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 21, 2026 to mark four weeks since Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents. (Photo: Tom Baker / MPR News)

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Classic Dusty

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you would know that the late, great Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) is one of my all-time favorite female vocalists.

Years ago I started a series that I called “Classic Dusty,” in which I shared songs and videos of the woman hailed as “Britain’s best ever pop and soul singer.” Dusty’s most sustained period of commercial success was between 1963 and 1970. Many memorable songs and TV appearances mark this time, one which I call her “classic” era. That’s not to say, of course, that Dusty didn’t have both artistic and commercial success after this time. She definitely did. But it wasn’t as consistent or recognized and celebrated as her output throughout the 1960s.

It’s been 16 years since I’ve shared a Dusty track as part of The Wild Reed’s “Classic Dusty” series. I resume this series tonight with its sixth installment, one which shows Dusty, looking utterly iconic in a beautiful gold gown and ornate necklace, singing her rendition of the classic pop ballad, “How Can I Be Sure.” This decidedly psychedelic clip is from a 1970 Dutch TV special that showcased Dusty and her music. . . . Enjoy!

How can I be sure
In a world that’s constantly changing?
How can I be sure
Where I stand with you?

Whenever I
Whenever I am away from you
I wanna die
’Cause you know I wanna stay with you

How do I know?
Maybe you’re trying to use me
Flying too high can confuse me
Touch me but don’t take me down

Whenever I
Whenever I am away from you
My alibi is telling people
I don’t care for you

Maybe I’m just hanging around
With my head up, upside down
It’s a pity, oh yeah, I can’t seem to find somebody
Who’s as wonderful, baby, as you

How can I be sure?
I really really really wanna know
Really really really wanna know, yeah

How’s the weather?
Whether or not, we’re together
Together we’ll see it much better
I love you, I love you forever
You know where I can be found

How can I be sure
In a world that’s constantly changing?
How can I be sure?
I’ll be sure with you

“How Can I Be Sure” was Dusty’s last Top 40 hit in the U.K. until her triumphant return in 1987 with the Pet Shop Boys and “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” In his indispensable book The Complete Dusty Springfield, Paul Howes notes the following about Dusty’s “How Can I Be Sure” recording:

Aware that her American recordings, with the exception of “Son-of-a Preacher Man,” had not been doing well in England, Dusty decided in 1970 to record a song specifically for the U.K. market. “It’s a song I’ve been in love with for some time,” she explained, “and that’s a good sign. I think it should go well because it’s a very European sound, although it is American, and that sort of thing is usually popular.”

The song was “How Can I Be Sure” – yet another number with a title reflecting her insecurities [others include “Where Am I Going,” “Am I the Same Girl,” “See All Her Faces,” and “Mixed Up Girl”]. It was written by two members of the [Young] Rascals and had been a hit for them in the U.S. on Atlantic Records in 1967. Dusty’s treatment of the song is fairly similar. After a quiet start, the whole thing just takes off wih an accordian and string-driven melody that is so infectious it’s hard to believe it never became an enormous hit.

Despite being showered with accolades from the music press (“Dusty’s quality performance,” “Will she ever stop producing these brain-blowing goodies?” and “Another great record”), the disc barely charted. And this time it could not be put down to lack of promotion. The song had received its debut airing on ITC’s Des O’Connor Show [right] a few months before its release and Dusty did numerous television and radio dates when the record actually came out. But the British public was just not interested.

To add insult to injury, it was only two years later that David Cassidy took the song to the top of the UK charts, which must have dented Dusty’s already fragile confidence considerably.

– Paul Howes
Excerpted from The Complete Dusty Springfield
Reynolds and Hearn Ltd, 2001
p. 138

For more of Dusty at The Wild Reed, see:
• Classic Dusty | II | III | IV | V
• Remembering a Great Soul Singer
• Remembering a Subversive Pop Singer
• Dusty Springfield: Queer Icon
• Time and the River
• Dusty: “Wasn’t Born to Follow”
• The Other “Born This Way”
• Something In Your Eyes
• The Sound of Two Decades Colliding
• Home to Myself
• Remembering Dusty, 25 Years On
• Soul Deep

Recommended Off-site Link:
Woman of Repute – My archived website dedicated to the life and artistry of Dusty Springfield.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

What This Moment Feels Like in Minnesota

This past Sunday, February 15, my friend Dave and I walked along the Mississippi River from the Franklin Avenue Bridge to the Lake Street-Marshall Avenue Bridge. We first walked along the east bank, and then back along the river’s west bank. Midway, at Lake Street, we had a delicious lunch at Longfellow Grill.

It was a beautiful day to be out and about. But it’s Minnesota in February, so neither of us were fooled into thinking the winter is over.

In fact, as I soaked in the sunshine, the beauty of the frozen river and blue sky, and the warmth of the air, I was reminded of a piece published Saturday by 50501: Minnesota is a non-profit dedicated to “upholding the Constitution and ending executive overreach.”

I share this piece this evening, along with some of the photos I took on Sunday when walking along the banks of the Mississippi River.

In Minnesota, we are all too familiar with false spring. You get a handful of warm days, melting snow, everyone exhales. You think maybe winter’s finally over . . . until the cold snaps back, sometimes even harder.

That’s what this moment feels like. You may hear that ICE is “leaving.” They’re not, they’re shifting, spreading out. They’re moving into suburban and rural areas with less media and thinner rapid response networks.

The quiet isn’t relief. It’s redistribution. Don’t mistake a brief thaw for safety.

Above and left: At CorAzoN Gifts, next door to Longfellow Grill, Dave and I picked up a couple of free decals that honor Alex Pretti and Renée Good, two U.S. citizens shot to death by federal immigration agents last month in Minneapolis. These decals read: “Pretti Good.” Dave put his on the back of his truck once we got back to my place. I need to clean my car first before I put mine on.

___________________

Postscript: Yep, Sunday was indeed a “false spring.” Yesterday afternoon (February 18) and all through last night into today, much of Minnesota has received the biggest dumping of snow so far this winter.

Above: During yesterday’s heavy snowfall, Micah Stewart, a volunteer caretaker and protector of the memorial for Alex Pretti, clears the street and shovels a message in the snow around the area where Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents during ICE operations on Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis. (Photo: D. Guttenfelder / New York Times)

Related Off-site Links:
Creative Dissent and Mutual Aid: Lessons From Minneapolis for Surviving the Polycrisis – Richard Heinberg (Common Dreams, February 17, 2026).
Minneapolis March Planned for Saturday to Mark Four Weeks Since Alex Pretti Killing – Riley Moser (CBS News, February 19, 2026).
Four Lessons From the Fight Against Trump and ICE in Minneapolis – Sou Mi (Left Voice, February 16, 2026).
Terrorized By ICE, Unable to Pay Rent, Minnesotans Are Getting Ready for a Rent Strike – Rebecca Burns and Sarah Lazare (In These Times, February 19, 2026).
The Sambusa Underground: How Minneapolis’s Somalis Feed Community and Resistance – Kate Nelson (The Guardian, February 18, 2026).
The Inhumane Treatment of Immigration Detainees Requires More Coverage – Dan Froomkin (Press Watch, February 18, 2026).
Courts Have Ruled 4,400 Times That ICE Jailed People Illegally. It Hasn’t Stopped – Nate Raymond, Kristina Cooke and Brad Heath (Reuters, February 17, 2026).
White House Official Says Hundreds of Federal Agents Are Leaving Minnesota, “Small” Security Force Will Remain for a Time – The Associated Press and MPR News (February 15, 2026).
What Minnesota Really Thinks of the End of Trump’s ICE Surge – Jennifer Bendery (The Huffington Post, February 13, 2026).

Above: Tipis stand at Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring), a sacred site for the Dakota and other tribes, across from the Whipple Federal Building on February 10. (Photo: Kerem Yücel / MPR News)

UPDATES: Lawmakers Omar and Craig Describe Empty Whipple Detention Center; Feds Say Less Than 500 Agents Remain – Jennifer Bendery (MPR News, February 20, 2026).
Federal Judge Accuses White House of “Terror” Against Immigrants in U.S. – The Guardian (February 20, 2026).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts on the resistance to the Trump regime’s fascist occupation of Minnesota:
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Photo of the Day – December 5, 2025
• Susie Hayward on What’s Happening in Minneapolis
• Doing What We Can to Stop Unjust Arrests of Immigrants
• Great Event, Great Sign, Great Nails
• Christmas Eve Musings
• May We Do Likewise
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like” – January 7, 2026
• “It Was Murder”: 12 Powerful Responses to the Death of Renée Nicole Good
• Omar Fateh: “Folks Are Waking Up”
• A Good Faith Appeal and a Grim Response
• Why Minnesota?
• Chris Hedges on ICE: “I Have Seen These Masked Goons Before”
• Steven Donziger: “Let’s Get Real . . . ICE Is a Domestic Terrorist Organization”
• Historian Kyle Dekker: “It’s Not Nazi Ideology We Are Fighting. It’s American”
• Knowing Our Rights
• Mike Figueredo on Why Trump Might Be Pushing the U.S. to the Brink of Collapse
• A “Red Alert Moment for American Democracy”
• Dispatches from Occupied Minnesota
• Marianne Williamson on How to Psychologically Endure This Moment
• What Moral Clarity Looks Like in Minnesota This MLK Day
• Nemik’s Eulogy for Renée Nicole Good
• “It Was Never About Keeping America Safe”
• “ICE Out!”: The Minnesota General Strike – 1/23/26
• “This Was a Flat Out Execution”
• “Organized Sustained Systemic Resistance and Self-Defense Are Our Only Options”
• Honoring Alex Pretti
• George Conway: The Trump Administration Is a “Criminal Organization”
• In the Face of Fascist Lies, MN Governor Tim Walz Sets the Record Straight
• Adam Serwer on How “Every Social Theory Undergirding Trumpism Has Been Broken on the Steel of Minnesotan Resolve”
• “Trump Is Scared Shitless”
• “They Were Alive. Then They Were Not”
• Bruce Springsteen and the Streets of Minneapolis in the Winter of ’26
• Craig Mokhiber on the “Imperial Boomerang”: How U.S. War Tactics Abroad Are Now Used at Home
• January Vignettes (2026)
• Honoring Renée Good and the “Astonishing Surge of Courage” of Minneapolis
• A Luminous Celebration of Light, Love and Community
• More Dispatches from Occupied Minnesota
• Memes of the Times – February 2026
• Only the Beginning
• The North Remembers
• “It’s All Lies and Propaganda”

Images: Michael J. Bayly, unless where otherwise noted.

The Wild Reed

Saturday, February 28, 2026

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Friday, February 27, 2026

“Green Wave 2026 is Global”

Remembering Carl Anderson

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Become the Sky

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

For Rep. Ilhan Omar, Silence Is Never an Option

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Dayvon Love: “You Actually Don’t Care Where Jill Stein Is”

Monday, February 23, 2026

Quote of the Day

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Classic Dusty

Thursday, February 19, 2026

What This Moment Feels Like in Minnesota

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