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We missed this last week, as Dave returned to his old haunts—that is, the roof—at the Ed Sullivan Theater where with Stephen he managed to throw some melons directly into the CBS eye down below for revenge.

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New NYT/Siena poll today finds Trump at lowest approval overall ever, at 37%, and with this much opposition to his Iran war:

Paul Krugman on U.S. and China:

The global scene right now isn’t dominated by a conflict between a rising and a declining superpower, because the declining power is led by a man who has no idea what makes great powers great, is easily distracted by trivia, is focused on self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement, and fantasizes about himself as Jesus. If you want classical analogies, think of America right now as the Roman Empire under Caligula, although Caligula didn’t do anything like as much damage.

Heather Cox Richardson:

Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity…..

Rather than basing the United States on religion, the nation’s founders and framers, as well as Americans of later generations, sought to instill in Americans reverence for the nation’s core political values, especially the right of self-government and the checks and balances that made that self-government possible. In speeches and memorials, novels and poems, they emphasized the sacrifices Americans had made to protect the values embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

That civic religion unified the nation, but it did more than that. It also instructed Americans on the rights and duties of citizens who live in a nation that rests on “We the People.” They must think for themselves, question elected officials, and take an active role in their government.

Replacing Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys that vitally important understanding of the role of citizens in a democracy. Instead, it demands that Americans do as they are told, turning them into subjects.

The theme of obeying the leader runs deep in Trump’s politics, and in MAGA more generally. The Bible passage Trump read on video today emphasizes obedience, warning the chosen people that if they “forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you,” then they will be destroyed. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin read the same passage at the January 6, 2021, insurrection, suggesting that overturning democracy for Trump was obeying the Lord. Laura Jedeed of Firewalled Media reported that vendors at today’s event handed out buttons that said: “WIVES SUBMIT, HUSBANDS LOVE, CHILDREN OBEY.”

But blindly obeying authority has never been the story of America.

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Hot bird-on-bird action….

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“SNL” finale last night. Will Ferrell as ghost of Epstein.

Weekend Update:

Ferrell monologue with McCartney pop-up.

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Meanwhile, a future without Colbert. Mediaite:

Comic Byron Allen said his program that will soon be replacing Late Show host Stephen Colbert will have nothing to do with politics. Instead, he told CNN on Saturday that his goal is simple: “just be funny.”

Allen talked about his approach to late night during an interview on Michael Smerconish’s show. And he made it clear, he’s going in a much different direction than Colbert, who has been locked in a years-long feud with President Donald Trump and routinely bashes the president on his show.

But hey, tough luck for the Trump Ballroom. as the Senate Parliamentarian just ruled the $1 billion project will now require 60 votes for approval.

And CNN’s @KFILE reveals that the man leading the hantavirus response in the U.S. is a specialist in penile implants—with little public health experience—and hosted a podcast called “Erection Connection.”

Heather Cox Richardson:

Today, thousands of Americans, including eighteen members of Congress, traveled to Selma and Mongomery to call Americans to action to protect voting rights. Pastor Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow told Joseph D. Bryant of Alabama news site AL, “This moment is bigger than Democrats or Republicans. This is about democracy itself. This is about whether Black communities, poor communities, rural communities, formerly incarcerated people, and marginalized voices will continue to have representation and political power in America.”

Speakers united around the theme that those trying to gerrymander their way into control of Congress in defiance of voters had reawakened a movement. “They think they can draw us out of power,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told an audience in Montgomery.

“They do not know the sleeping giant that they just awakened. Because it is not a coincidence, and our whole country must understand, that it was not until voting rights were ratified in this country that we got the Great Society. Because when Black Americans have the right to vote and that vote is protected, our schools get funded. When voted rights are protected, healthcare gets expanded. When voted rights are protected, our country moves forward. And Montgomery, that’s what they’re actually afraid of. They’re afraid of us coming together. They’re afraid of us protecting one another.”

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Music Picks

…and an oldie, “Band on the Run.”

Taj Mahal on CBS yesterday, with a reggae-ish “Wild About My Lovin”

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From my camera to you, “The Last Lighthouse,” Provincetown, MA

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

Had to enjoy Colbert show, above, mocking pathetic Bari Weiss-installed anchor Tony “The Dupe” Dokoupil just as Stephen closes out his CBS-terminated tenure. Bill Carter, author of notable books on latenight TV, at the NY Times has this to say this morning:

In forcing Mr. Colbert out and shutting down a 33-year late-night franchise — while selling that post-local-news hour of airtime to a syndicated show instead of replacing him with an original program of its own creation — CBS is assenting to its own diminishment.

The biggest loss is to core America values, such as the right to speak freely, even in brutally mocking terms, about those in power. Then there is the opportunity, shared by everyone, to find and be entertained by voices like that on a free national platform, or to turn them off and watch something else.

As for next week? Tuesday’s episode brings Jon Stewart and Steven Spielberg, plus a performance from David Byrne (maybe “Psycho Life During Wartime”?). Wednesday has Bruce Springsteen, along with Colbert taking the Questionert himself before Thursday’s finale—guests remain a secret. Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon announced they’ll air reruns the night Colbert signs off.

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Trump, needed no Colbert to write his material, yesterday:

"They've closed the strait in the past. They use it as a weapon. They aren't using it as a weapon with me."

"President Xi said America is a nation in decline. And I said, 'You're right.'"

But at least:

Smithsonian Adds Back Impeachment Language to Label on Trump Portrait

The language had been removed from wall text in the National Portrait Gallery, but it’s back as the museum unveiled changes to its exhibition on U.S. presidents.

Lucian K. Truscott IV:

We are far beyond worrying about any sort of normalization of Donald Trump. We are on a lost highway of wonderment at this point, looking around for signposts that might give hints of where we’re headed. But there are none. Trump does what he wants, and there is nothing to stop him. The law does not apply anymore. The Supreme Court took care of that.

We would be defenseless if we didn’t still have elections, but the Republican Party – aided and abetted once again by the Supreme Court – is trying to negate the right to vote along with the right to control your own body and your right to drive a car or walk down a street without being shot dead by an agent of the state wearing a badge that reads ICE or CPB.

It needs to be said that this country is in more trouble than it has ever been in. It can be saved by people of goodwill, but the question is, are there enough of them?

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First public showing of my film before coming to PBS was just announced this week for June 25. If you’re 24 hours from Tulsa or closer come on over and we will chat. You can also tour the Dylan and Guthrie museums. The poster itself is a highlight of my life:

Dylan talking and playing Woody here:

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Van Gogh’s Irises, at the Getty in Los Angeles

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Three shows next week and that is is…

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And the China bros-for-billions trip ends, not with a bang but with a…

Meanwhile, back in the ring, Heather Cox Richardson:

On May 11, Jonathan Allen, Peter Nicholas, Matt Dixon, Henry J. Gomez, and Allan Smith of NBC News reported that Trump is using the planned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event to be held on his birthday on the White House lawn as a new way for donors to funnel money to him. Although the UFC is paying for the event—and expects to lose as much as $30 million on it—and although tickets are technically free, Trump is picking who gets most of the tickets.

Sponsorship packages that include ringside seats have been selling for $1 million or more. Neither the White House nor the UFC would comment on where the money is going. A Republican lobbyist told the NBC News journalists: “It’s basically been added to the list of approved entities to give undisclosed money to and get credit with Trump. They are raising a sh*t ton of money and have used it as another unofficial vehicle for corporate donors to give and gain favor with Trump.”

If you’ve ever wondered (and you have) about Trump’s overnight vomit posts, The New Republic:

Through twilight-hour shifts, President Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp supplies the president with stacks of printed-out drafts and awaits his approval before hitting post. Her work has included posts of the Obamas as apes and an AI-generated image of Trump as Jesus Christ.

Cuba's energy minister said Wednesday night that the country had run out of fuel oil and diesel, and that blackouts could exceed 20–22 hours per day.

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Music Picks

The annual induction at the Library of Congress announced yesterday.

While it’s The Byrds version of Pete Seeger’s song getting the honor, here’s Judy Collins with Pete on Pete’s mid-1960sTV program:

Title song from Rosanne Cash’s “The Wheel.”

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Bourbon Street Blues, New Orleans

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Billions and trillions from Stephen one week from his show’s demise.

Headline of the Day: Trump Taps Don Jr.’s 38-Year-Old Turkey-Hunting Pal to Lead FDA. Kyle Diamantas is a lawyer, not a doctor, who will oversee products making up a quarter of the U.S. economy.

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Paul Krugman:

The Department of Defense is using bogus national security concerns to block essentially all development of wind power in the United States – at a time when many Americans are facing significant jumps in energy bills due to data center energy consumption.

In Congressional testimony yesterday Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior, insisted that solar farms are useless because “when the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity.” Rep. Jared Huffman responded, “Mr. Chairman, I request unanimous consent to enter in the record this amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of: It’s a battery. China’s figured it out. That’s why they’re cleaning our clock on clean energy.”

The Chinese are indeed cleaning our clock on clean energy. Last year solar and wind power accounted for the vast majority of the growth in Chinese electricity generatio.

New 30-second teaser for my PBS film on Woody Guthrie narrated by Rosanne Cash, coming July 1.

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Beautiful new tribute to Leonard Cohen released last night by Rodney Crowell.

And from Rodney’s old pal: Not a new song but a new video for Steve Earle’s “City of Immigrants” directed by Steve Buscemi. Earle said he was watching Bruce and Morello go to Minneapolis while he was “sitting on my ass” so he re-did this:

Inspiration as I ponder retirement from Paul Simon (who has all the money in the world with no need for income from touring) this week at Royal Albert Hall in London still delivering “The Boxer.”

Speaking of oldsters, the NY Times today marks the release of the new Stones singles with a look back at some of their earliest songs.

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Porcupine up a tree at Mohonk.

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Five shows left….

Jonathan Swan, NY Times:

New: Classified military intelligence assessments from early this month show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. Including: U.S. intel assesses Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, and ~90% of Iran’s underground missile sites are “partially or fully operational.”

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Lucian Truscott IV:

Elections have no meaning if your vote doesn’t count. We have seen what the Trump administration is attempting to do by making it easier for states to limit participation in voting by people they don’t like, however you define them – Black, Latino, Democrat, liberal. But the Callais decision is worse. The Supreme Court is telling Black people that they can live in Louisiana and Tennessee, just to name two of the biggest offenders, but they can’t vote to affect their status as citizens of those states.

The Callais decision cloaks its racism in the language of pure politics, holding that it’s okay to discriminate in drawing voting maps on the basis of political party, but not on race. But everyone in the deep South has known since the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Laws that there are two parties in the South: the White party and the Black party. And everyone knows what that means. Whites vote Republican. Blacks vote Democrat. When you draw lines creating districts that eliminate the power of Democrats to elect representatives to Congress and to state legislatures, you’re drawing lines that lessen or even eliminate the power of Blacks to elect people to represent their interests.

This is fixing elections, pure and simple.

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At least someone is willing to say it clearly, Heather Cox Richardson:

The biggest story in the country, today and always, is that the president of the United States is mentally unwell.

Over the course of three hours last night, he posted on social media fifty-five times. Those posts accused a number of those Trump considers his personal enemies, including former president Barack Obama, of treason…reposted a fake quotation from Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) accusing Obama of making a personal fortune of $120 million from the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare…. He posted an AI image of Obama, Biden, and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) apparently swimming in a filthy version of the reflecting pool with the caption: “Dumacrats Love Sewage.” Then he posted an image of himself on the $100 bill. And then he was back to calling House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “Low IQ.”

After posting a number of AI images showing the U.S. military destroying the Iranian military, Trump posted: “When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement. They are aiding and abetting the enemy!”

Then he posted an image of a map with Venezuela overlaid with the U.S. flag. The caption read: “51st State.”

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Just hours after after completing a three-hour concert with Bruce at Madison Square Garden, Tom Morello was leading a protest on the streets, with “This Land Is Your Land.”

New from upcoming album by Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs:

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At Untermyer Gardens, Yonkers, N.Y.

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The countdown begins….

Jon really mocks/exposes the media here last night…..

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Historian/author T.J. Stiles: “Iran has defeated Trump. The dumbest war in American history proves that magical thinking is not a strategy, and ‘dominance’ is just geopolitical posing.”

Robert Kagan at The Atlantic on Iran “defeat” compared to past U.S. losses:

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure….

The American defeat in the Gulf will have broader global ramifications as well. The whole world can see that just a few weeks of war with a second-rank power have reduced American weapons stocks to perilously low levels, with no quick remedy in sight. The questions this raises about America’s readiness for another major conflict may or may not prompt Xi Jinping to launch an attack on Taiwan, or Vladimir Putin to step up his aggression against Europe. But at the very least America’s allies in East Asia and Europe must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.

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London Rooftop Where Beatles Played Last Gig to Become Museum

The townhouse at 3 Savile Row, where the band also recorded “Let It Be,” will open to the public next year, the group’s record label said.

So, one more time:

“Ghost of Tom Joad” at Madison Sq Garden last night….

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From my camera to you: “Heron Scare ‘em”

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John on the SCOTUS evil use of Shadow Docket.

The Daily Beast:

The sculptor of the 22-foot golden statue said he was told to get rid of the turkey neck and make the president thinner.

Wuerker:

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New York Times:

Lebanese Mourn Eight Members of One Family Killed in Israeli Strike

Israel has escalated attacks on Lebanon since Thursday, further unraveling a truce in its war with Hezbollah. Among those killed on Saturday was a 6-month-old infant, relatives said.

Nick Kristof posted this online explaining his article in today’s paper:

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so.

One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused.

Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape.

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Paul Krugman on the evil of the Tech Bros:

At this point, however, it’s clear that we are not experiencing a mere replay of the reign of the robber barons. We are living through something much worse. The tech bros make the “malefactors of great wealth” called out by Theodore Roosevelt look benign by comparison.

Some widely used measures of inequality suggest that income disparities, which soared in the 1980s and 1990s, have plateaued since then. But the concentration of wealth at the top is continuing to soar. Today’s oligarchs control a huge share of America’s wealth — much larger than their share even at the end of the 1980s:

Tellingly, unlike the robber barons of yore, many modern plutocrats show little sense of gratitude for their good fortune, little inclination to give back to society by devoting a significant part of their wealth to good works. Forbes reports that Elon Musk and Peter Thiel have devoted almost none of their wealth to philanthropy, while Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are only slightly better.

More important than the stinginess of the superrich, however, is the fact that their wealth has brought great political power, arguably more than the robber barons ever possessed — power that they abuse on an epic scale.

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Heather Cox Richardson:

As former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul noted in McFaul’s World, Putin’s war on Ukraine has now lasted longer than the Soviet Union’s war with Nazi Germany and has achieved none of the goals Putin set out for the conflict. He has not subjugated Ukraine and has not succeeded in regime change. He has not “demilitarized” Ukraine; indeed, Ukraine is more militarized than ever before and has become an important player in global weapons systems. And not only has Putin failed to stop NATO from expanding, but in response to his invasion of Ukraine, both Finland and Sweden have joined the defensive alliance.

Instead of achieving Putin’s goals, the war has killed or wounded more than 1.2 million Russian soldiers and eaten up the economy. As criticism of the regime has become more outspoken, the Kremlin has curbed access to the internet, not only exacerbating that criticism but also, as McFaul notes, making it harder for people to use mobile banking, order a taxi, or use other online services. Rumors are circulating that Putin is increasingly concerned for his own safety. Rather than walking to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to lay flowers as usual, yesterday he took an armored bus.

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Noah Kahan on SNL this week:

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Horsey predicted it — from 2017

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From my camera to you: Who says ground hogs have no dignity?

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Last night’s “Weekend Update”:

Heavy drinking cold open with Pete, Aziz again as Patel and Matt Damon as “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh:

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Surely you have seen unveiling of new Trump golden statue and religious worshippers already hailing. Nick Kristof: “I used to make fun of this kind of thing when reporting in North Korea.” Trump left, Korean fascist at right.

Then there was news of the “road trip from (MAGA) hell,” New York magazine:

Sean Duffy filmed road trip for seven months. Work, occasionally. The Transportation Secretary said he did manage to do ‘some work,’ while filming a full Trump-approved reality show with his family titled ‘The Great American Road Trip.’

David Dayen adds: “It was funded by close to a dozen corporations directly regulated by DOT.”

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Heather Cox Richardson:

While we celebrate the modern version of Mother’s Day on May 9, in this momentous year of 2026, it’s worth remembering the original Mothers’ Day and Julia Ward Howe’s conviction that women must have the same rights as men, and that they must make their voices heard.

Howe also gave us “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and the reference “the grapes of wrath.” So she is included in my upcoming Woody Guthrie film.

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Music Picks

The Waterboys return with a topical tune, “Don’t Even Have to Say His Name”

On Kimmel a couple of nights ago The Avett Brothers were joined again by Mike Patton:

Just came across this gem with pre-POTUS Obama introducing his favorite Illinois band Wilco at Farm Aid, with the group proceeding to do a Woody Guthrie co-authored song….

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A collection of Paul Noth cartoons coming, and for first time I see his most famous one (below) in color:

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For moms everywhere

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Stephen last night:

and Jimmy, like Stephen, has Pope content.

Heather Cox Richardson:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was at the Vatican today to ease tensions. The visit did not go particularly well. While Rubio gave Pope Leo a crystal football with the seal of the State Department, Pope Leo gave Rubio a pen made from the symbol of peace: olive wood. The Vatican’s statement did not suggest the men found much common ground….

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As we predicted:

Tennessee Approves New Map Aimed at Flipping the Last Democratic Seat

After a Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Republicans carved up a majority-Black Memphis seat as the national redistricting wars continue.

Meanwhile, around 8,000 bodies are still believed buried in the Gaza rubble. There's one working excavator for bodies and no DNA testing available in the territory, reports NPR's Anas Baba.

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Music Picks

Just dropped today, “Home to Us”: Couple guys named Ringo and Paul from album “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” coming on May 29. Is that home on Abbey Road?

and also new, '“You Never Know,” from Neil Diamond off another Rick Rubin-produced album out today.

And these giants (or dinosaurs?) still stalk the earth, here’s the second single off the upcoming Stones album:

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“Just Water Under the Bridge,” Paris.

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Stephen in his final weeks….

Jimmy still at it:

Colbert returned for a rematch with Obama and their famous Wastepaper Basketball contest from years back. You may remember that Stephen trounced him the first time around. But this time?

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A key thing to remember about Ted Turner: He liked hunting, and also wanted to protect the planet, so he bought more than a million acres of wilderness and ranch land, roughly enough to fill the state of Delaware, and set them aside as nature preserves. Read about how he revived ecosystems.

Heather Cox Richardson:

Sarah Fitzpatrick has published a new story today in The Atlantic reporting that Kash Patel travels with “a supply of personalized branded bourbon” with the label “KASH PATEL FBI DIRECTOR” and an FBI shield. She explains: “Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: KA$H. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with ‘#9’ there as well.”

In what sure reads like a journalist burying a subject with evidence, Fitzpatrick lists the places and occasions on which Patel has given out bottles of the whiskey and explains that he has transported the whiskey on a Department of Justice plane including to the Olympics in Milan, Italy. When a bottle went missing during a “training seminar” with Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes in Quantico, Virginia, Patel was angry enough that he threatened to make his staff take polygraphs and face prosecution.

Fitzpatrick notes that “[s]everal current and former FBI employees, including multiple senior leaders, told me that the director regularly handing out his own personally branded bourbon, including to civilians outside the bureau, was unheard-of.” They explain: “The FBI has traditionally had a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job and for its misuse while off duty.”

“Handing out bottles of liquor at the premier law-enforcement agency—it makes me frightened for the country,” George Hill, a former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst, told Fitzpatrick.

Ron Filipkowski of MeidasNews noted: “The journalist who is being sued by Kash Patel and reportedly being investigated by the FBI is out with a new story. Is there a Pulitzer for being a fearless badass? If so, she should win it.”

Meanwhile, David Rothkopf wrote yesterday in The Daily Beast: “Not since Vietnam have we seen a more systematic effort by an administration to lie about the nature, costs, consequences, and results of a war than we have seen from the White House on Iran.”

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Heavy on Colbert today, but here from last night Chris Stapleton covering Willie Nelson’s topical “Living in the Promiseland.” Plus they thanked Colbert for offering exposure to musicians over the years.

….and a report on Marco Rubio as DJ.

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Gavin Newsom posted this Trump as Marie Antoinette.

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Morning at the Inn, Massachsetts

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Stephen last night…..

And another NY Times account of what the end of Colbert show “means.”

The most obvious way “Late Show” remained counterprogramming involved current events: while “The Tonight Show,” led by Jimmy Fallon since 2014, has aimed for light apolitical fare, Colbert has responded to our moment by becoming forceful in his comic attacks on President Trump. The cancellation of Colbert’s show right before a deal that needed government approval has given his exit an additional resonance. In recent months, Colbert has leaned into Democratic political guests like James Talarico, Elizabeth Warren and (on May 5) Barack Obama….

Look at the replacement. Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” is as cheaply made as possible. It’s a panel of stand-ups peddling their jokes. CBS didn’t program this show. It leased the time slot to Allen, who is in charge of selling his own ads. This is the most low-risk, low-reward option the network could have taken. It can’t lose money or make much cultural noise with “Comics Unleashed.” Norm Macdonald once described appearing on the show this way: “You could not have been more leashed.”

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White House Insists Iran War Is Over, Even While Missiles Fly

Megan K. Stack: “In which a war ends not with a bang, nor with a whimper, but with blustering about how we are now fighting to fix the thing we broke when we started the war.”

Bernie Sanders last night:

3,375 people killed in Iran, 26,500 wounded

2,702 killed in Lebanon, 8,311 wounded

28 killed in Gulf states, 289+ wounded

26 killed in Israel, 7,791 wounded

13 US troops killed, 381 wounded

ENOUGH of Trump and Netanyahu’s endless wars.

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President Trump reportedly pressured Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner, to quickly approve flavored vapes as a way to appeal to younger voters, and guarantee more illness and death. Paul Krugman:

Most Americans appear to be unaware of the fact that life expectancy in the United States is substantially lower than in other advanced countries; we’re on a par with poorer nations in Europe like Albania. Surely even fewer people know that this wasn’t always true. In the early 1980s Americans lived about as long as citizens of other rich nations. Now we die substantially earlier.

What changed in the 1980s? The obvious answer is politics: The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 heralded a sharp U.S. turn to the right. And there is a strong correlation between right-wing politics and increased mortality — stronger than many of the statistical associations that guide public health policy.

Taking population sizes into account, the trend line through the data points shows that there is there’s a strong, clear negative correlation between Trump-leaning orientation and low life expectancy at the state level. Deep red states like Alabama and West Virginia have life expectancy comparable to, say, Kazakhstan.

What drives this correlation? Part of the answer is that red states have weak social safety nets and are especially unwilling to provide healthcare to vulnerable populations.

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This Film Is My Film, This Film is Your Film

First trailer for my new film, narrated by Rosanne Cash, which starts nationally over PBS on July 1. Before that, “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today” will screen in Tulsa hosted by the Woody Guthrie Center and in L.A. at the Autry Museum, and receive its first broadcast airing over host station SoCal PBS in L.A. on June 25. Yes, the Springsteen song serves as the finale. This is my fifth film via PBS since 2022. As usual produced with Lyn Goldfarb. I wrote and directed, edited by Rob Burgos, and Barbara Bedway served as associate producer. If anyone wishes more information or even an interview, drop me a line.

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Music Pick

Yes, there’s a new Stones’ single, off an upcoming album. To think I was a mere teen when “Satisfaction” came out.

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Brodner:

Ohman:

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“Blue Heron, sunset, Rockland Lake.”

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Triple header of (grim) laughs today: Jon, Stephen and Jimmy.

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Trump, par for the coarse:

Soil at D.C. Golf Course Where East Wing Debris Was Dumped Contains Toxic Metals

The National Park Service said the dump of debris, between the fourth and ninth holes, does not exceed environmental limits. Opponents disagree.

On the other hand, happy to celebrate the Pulitzer winners. This was a big part of our job every Spring when I edited Editor & Publisher from 2001-2009. Just to single out a couple. Go here to see full list with links to the winning entries from our favorite opinion columnist, M. Gessen, at NY Times. “For an illuminating collection of reported essays on rising authoritarian regimes that draw on history and personal experience to probe timely themes of oppression, belonging and exile.” And below, winning photos from Gaza by Saher Alghorra.

Also good to see a “special citation” for Julie K. Brown, who broke the Epstein case and is still getting heat for that from some quarters.

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Headline this morning:

More Than 150 Wind Projects Stall as Pentagon Delays Reviews

Krugman comments today:

Last month, out of more than 11,000 new passenger vehicles registered in Norway, only around 150 had internal consumption engines. The rest were fully electric. In mainland Europe as a whole, EV sales are up 51 percent from a year ago.

Let’s not pretend that hostility to the energy transition has anything to do with faith in free markets or the desire to keep energy cheap. Trump and his minions are actively trying to stop the expansion of green energy even when it’s profitable.

Fortunately, America is not the world. We account for less than 20 percent of world electricity generation. So Trump’s policies can’t stop the global energy transition. Indeed, as a result of the Iran debacle, Trump’s presidency has been a net positive for the global green energy revolution.

Trump and the fossil-fuel cabal may be able to extract a few billion dollars in profits by keeping America stuck in a dirty-energy past. But in so doing they will also ensure that the United States is left behind, and that the future belongs to China.

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Music Pick

We’ve discussed last week’s sketchy NY Times list of the alleged 30 greatest living songwriters, American division. But with each mini-profile the judges picked “five essential” tracks. I have to say, I was amazed to see among the five for Dylan—for which there surely were dozens of worthy candidates—that one of the five listed was “Nettie Moore.” Now, I have been a Dylan fanatic for over 60 years but that song meant nothing to me. True, I have skipped various Bob albums over the years, and it turns out this comes from one of them, “Modern Times.”

So, as a public service, here it is. Spins quite a yarn. One of five best? No way, but you may enjoy it. Comment if you wish.

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From Tune to Toons

Goris:

Telnaes on gala host Bezos and wife:

Anderson:

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Peter Kuper, who we have used here in the past, found out he was a Pulitzer finalist yesterday, here are two of his entries:

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Yes, mom, I finally got to….Carnegie Hall.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. You can also show appreciation by pledging a small sum if we go partly “paid” one day.

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John Oliver last night on non-regulayion of boner pills and other alleged boosters at your local gas station and convenience store.

Stephen Colbert, now in his final three weeks at CBS show, is now rolling out brief web extras looking back at highlights and lowlights of past decade:

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From NY Times newsletter Mail Bag today:

Is it true that there will be an automatic draft registration for men between the ages of 18 and 25 starting in December? | Kathy Edelen | Cincinnati, Ohio

Yes, under a rule pending final approval. No one has been drafted since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 — and that’s not going to change anytime soon. But young men (yes, it’s only men) have been required to register for the draft, just in case the military needs them. Now, instead of filling out a form online, they’ll be automatically enrolled by the government.

And some shorts:

• The West Bank: With the world’s attention focused on war with Iran, extremist Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks on Palestinians in the territory.

• Russia: Recruiting companies are promising jobs to Africans who say they are then forced to fight in Ukraine.

• Taking away phones in school didn’t do much to improve academic achievement, a major new study found.

Trump's disapproval just reached a new high in the Post-ABC-Ipsos poll. Disapproval of Trump on: 62% his job as president, 76% cost of living, 72% inflation, 66% situation with Iran, 65% relations with U.S. allies, 65% the economy, 59% immigration.

Gas prices jumped more than thirty cents a gallon last week. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), regular gas averages $4.44 a gallon. Two days before the Iran war began, the average price per gallon was $2.98.

Heather Cox Richardson:

On Wednesday, Trump talked to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for an hour and a half—the twelfth phone call between the two leaders since Trump took office a second time—and just hours later posted about removing U.S. troops from Germany. Putin has wanted to weaken the U.S. commitment to Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for a long time. As Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary, and Stefanie Bolzen of Politico note, European officials worry that Putin is making plans to attack a NATO country.

On Friday the Defense Department said it was pulling 5,000 troops from Germany and was cancelling a plan formulated under the Biden administration to put an artillery unit equipped with missiles in Europe. The U.S. had increased its European presence after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. These moves will take U.S. forces back to where they were before the invasion. As scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder wrote: “You can apply lots of normalizing frameworks or you can just make a timeline of his calls with Putin. We don’t have a sovereign foreign policy. We have superpower suicide.”

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Music Pick

For the annual marking of the Kent State massacre, Jason Isbell and David Crosby at Newport with a rousing “Ohio.”

We missed Pete Seeger’s birthday yesterday but will mark it today with this remarkable 1966 low-rent TV show he hosted with guests Johnny Cash and June Carter. Johnny, as usual, not bothered one bit by Pete’s politics, for which he was still suffering some Red-baiting and blacklisting.

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From Tunes to Toons

Sheneman:

Boris:

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From my camera to you: “The Louvre, After Dark, In the Rain”

Yes, it’s still somehow free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of four films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. You can also show appreciation by pledging a small sum if we go partly “paid” one day.

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Aziz Ansari last night guested on ‘SNL’ as their new Kash Patel. You’ll recognize his bulging eyes from “Parks & Rec.”

Weekend Update:

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Trump went wild again last night on Truth Social. Remember when he cozied up to Bill Maher and vice versa, and okayed Bill getting the Mark Twain prize? Now "Bill Maher is a MORON, though slightly more talented than Jimmy Kimmel.” Trump was mad Bill did not take on Gavin Newsom more strongly on Friday night on his HBO show—and that Fox, the MAGA home team, continues to allow Bill on as a visitor.

He also uploaded a meme of himself holding a handful of "wild" cards from the game Uno alongside the caption "I have all the cards" and then a photo of his own face superimposed at one end of Mount Rushmore, next to Abraham Lincoln.

But the topper was this A.I. image answering critics of his plan to paint the bottom of the reflecting pool in D.C. a bright blue. So here we see that he has trimmed 50 pounds off his waist, added J.D., Marco and Doug Burgum—and a shapely woman no one has quite IDed as yet.

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Good to see super serious historian Heather Cox Richardson having a little fun today, marking the Kentucky Derby, with this tribute to a famous horse from our youth:

Mr. Ed was a talking palomino in a 1960s television show by the same name. At a time when Westerns dominated American television, Mr. Ed was the anti-Western, with the main human character a klutzy architect and the hero a horse that was fond of his meals and his comfortable life, and spoke with the voice of Allan “Rocky” Lane, who made dozens of “B” westerns. But the show was a five-year hit as it married the past to the future. Mr. Ed offered a gentle, homely wisdom that enabled him to straighten out the troubles of the humans around him. The startling special effects that made it appear that the horse was talking melded modern technology with the comforting traditional community depicted in the show.

On the other hand, front page of the Vatican's official newspaper below, "South Lebanon Villages Razed to the Ground. After the bombings, Israeli bulldozers swing into action. As in Yaroun where in recent hours a Christian school was also demolished."

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Music Pick

Brand new from Beck, “Ride Lonesome.”

Bruce continues to close his arena shows with “Chimes of Freedom” but some may not know the arrangement is not based on Dylan but on The Byrds’ original cover, right down to Stevie playing a Rickenbacker. Here the Byrds do it live, with Ed Wynn as host.

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Bramhall:

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Tjard Royaards:

Homage to the new Banksy statue in London that we posted yesterday:

Brodner:

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From my camera to you: “ Sunrise Over the Hudson”

Yes, it’s still somehow free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of four films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. You can also show appreciation by pledging a small sum if we go partly “paid” one day.

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Well, this is different:

Cornell President’s Car Bumps Into Students After Confrontation Over Gaza

After a debate over the war, students say the university president hit them with his vehicle. He says he was the victim in the incident.

But I have to love this, from NY Times:

The Gift of Getting Weirder With Age

It becomes easier to embrace your authentic (and eccentric) self.

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But back to war and peace, with Heather Cox Richardson:

Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) said yesterday he would not challenge Trump’s novel interpretation of the War Powers Act, in part, he said, because Senate Republicans have given him no reason to. Republicans have no interest in voting to support Trump’s unpopular war, and yet don’t want to buck Trump. So they are choosing to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities.

…and Paul Krugman

I’m not a young kid and I remember Vietnam and body counts. And a lot of what Trump says is reminiscent of the body counts. We have destroyed—actually, it turns out that we were much less successful in destroying their missiles and drones than a lot of the claims. In any case, that is not what it’s about.

But Trump just has this, I have the ability to carry out violence, so surely I can’t be losing this war if I can do violence and they can’t do equivalent amounts of violence in return. Except the problem is that it’s not what they can do to America’s military. It’s what they can do to oil tankers that try to exit the Persian Gulf….

The moral, intellectual, emotional collapse of the Republican Party is in a way a bigger story than Trump. I mean, yeah, he’s a world-class, bizarre, dangerous person, but what makes him able to do this is the submissiveness of his party.

The celebration of a guy who is an absolute disaster at presidenting—he has led, more or less single-handedly, on his own decisions, his own faith, his own judgment, he has led America into one of our worst strategic defeats in our history. He took on this relatively small military power in Iran, figuring that he could destroy the regime and install his people in a few days, and he lost the war….

I mean, Marie Antoinette had nothing on Trump. Here we are, people are complaining about gas prices, there’s a war, and he’s always obsessed with his gilded ballroom. And yeah, I think that for him, it’s an escape. He fantasizes about giant ballrooms.

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Music Quicks

First cut from forthcoming Peter Gabriel album, “Won’t Stand Down.”

This is not new but a fun classic from the “anti-folk” days, “Damn, I Wish I Was a Man,” by Cindy Lee Berryhill and inspired in part, she said, by reading Woody’s “Bound for Glory.”

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Molina:

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We host several hummingbirds every spring and summer, who visit our deck thanks to feeders managed by my wife and several firecracker plants. We certainly look forward to their return, and yesterday one or two surprised us with their first visit—eerily on exact same day as last year. Hummingbirds do (occasionally) migrate back to familiar spots but we like to think they are all old friends. Photo from last year below. There will be many new ones coming.

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Progress?

California Police Can Start Ticketing Driverless Cars

However,

Jeffrey Epstein’s Possible Suicide Note Hidden From Public View

Hoorey, for one of my heroes:

The artist Banksy appears to be taking credit for a large statue that was erected in London under the cover of darkness. It displays a man in a suit marching with a flag that billows onto his face, covering it entirely.

The statue, interpreted by many observers as a comment on blind nationalism, depicts the man striding off the edge of the plinth on which he stands. It appeared in Waterloo Place, a street in the St. James’s section of London, where there are many statues of 19th-century British military and colonial figures.

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Meanwhile, Maine’s governor has dropped out of the race for a Senate seat that Democrats think they can flip in November. That paves the way for Graham Platner, a progressive if controversial newcomer, to challenge Susan Collins.

Millions of Americans appear to be dropping Obamacare coverage in the months since Congress let subsidies expire.

Heather Cox Richardson on the Supreme Court’s horrid gerrymandering decision:

The decision means that states are now free to redraw district lines to undercut the power of minority voters, a demographic that tends to vote for Democrats.

Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, immediately declared a state of emergency, suspending the primary elections in the state in order to gerrymander the state to grab one or two more Republican seats. More than 100,000 absentee ballots had already been sent out—some have already been returned—and voting was due to start within days.

Democrats have already filed a lawsuit against the governor’s attempt to stop an election that’s already underway and to let the election proceed. The lawsuit notes, among other things, that the Constitution gives to state legislatures, not the governor, the responsibility for deciding “[t]he Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives.”

Lawmakers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama are also considering redistricting in the wake of the Callais decision.

See our cartoonists’ response down below.

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One of the earliest country music “outlaws,” David Allan Coe, who wrote “Take This Job and Shove It” and other hits, was real thing, with prison time and obscenity-laden performances. He died at 86.

Great live version of McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It,” this week from two of our faves, Jason Isbell and Susan Tedeschi:

Joyful and fitting “This Land Is Your Land” two days ago from two more of our faves, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings—and it was on the Guthrie Green in Tulsa. Heading there myself for June 25 premiere of my new Woody film.

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de Adder again:

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From somewhere in Italy….oh wait, actually at the Getty Museum overlooking Los Angeles….

Yes, it’s still somehow free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of four films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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No Colbert show this week, but a new NY Times piece on how he is approaching the final three weeks of his show.

Authoritarians don’t like anybody who doesn’t give them undue dignity. Comedians are anti-authoritarian by nature. And authoritarians are never going to like anybody to laugh at them. The number of newspeople who have said to me or Jon Stewart or any of the guys who do this, “God, I wish I could say what you say on air.” And we can. I think that upsets them. I think it might be upsetting that we really do not live in their world of principalities and powers.

And what’s next?

People have called to say, “Do you want to do X, Y or Z?” And I would say, like: “Hey, that’s great. I don’t think I could give you a good answer until I can really think about it.” It literally took me years to think enough about writing one script. And I put a lot of thought into it. And I feel good about what we’re doing, and I want to feel that good about everything I do. So when this is over and I have a little time to breathe, probably after turning in the first draft, too, of this thing, I’ll know then.

And now ponder, according to the Wall St. Journal, Amazon executives are discussing a reboot of :The Apprentice”, with the possibility of casting Donald Trump Jr. as the host. Full Story: https://on.wsj.com/49dw7FJ

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Fade away or radiate? Axios reporting last night: “President Trump is slated to receive a briefing on new plans for potential military action in Iran on Thursday from CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, two sources with knowledge tell Axios.”

Widely mocked for their list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, the NY Times today adds 11 more which adds some worthies plus some headscratchers.

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Music Picks

Lucinda Williams rightly picked as one of 30 greatest American songwriters in that sketchy NY Times “survey” this week. One of her greatest songs, though, was written with….Woody Guthrie.

Songwriter/producer Jack Antonoff yesterday named the greatest recording ever—and the greatest segment of any song ever. Hint: guns and rosaries.

Sounds like a Johnny Cash song. Wonder why. John and Rosanne.

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From my camera to you: Great Egret seemingly staring across the Hudson at a train speeding north across the water.

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Jimmy still hanging in there, blasts Trump’s non-sense and a “false flag.”

Mike Luckovich:

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Then there’s the ludicrous new Comey prosecution: He photographed seashells by the the seashore.

Steve Brodner:

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Heather Cox Richardson:

The administration’s focus on the ballroom seems to echo Trump’s insistence after his first inauguration that the crowd at that inauguration was bigger than that at President Barack Obama’s. Anyone could see that was a lie, but Trump and his administration officials clung to it. Forcing supporters to accept a lie as reality is a key tool of authoritarians, making it harder for them to reject the next lie, and so on. The claim that Democrats are calling for violence, when in fact it has been Trump calling for executing those he believes are his enemies, follows that pattern exactly.

Matt Wuerker:

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From Status media newsletter:

New Nielsen data obtained by Status shows Tony Dokoupil’s “Evening News” sinking to historic lows, with veteran TV news executives casting the network as a “sinking ship” and blaming its woes on Bari Weiss.

“This isn’t what a turnaround looks like. This is what a train wreck looks like.”

That was how one veteran television executive put it to me Tuesday, after I asked about new ratings data showing that Tony Dokoupil’s “CBS Evening News” has continued to hemorrhage viewers and sink to new lows, as Bari Weiss’ hand-selected anchor struggles to hold the audience.

Indeed, according to Nielsen data obtained by Status, Dokoupil’s most recent week, beginning April 20, marked the lowest-rated stretch in total viewers since he took over the broadcast. The program averaged just 3.7 million viewers—slipping below the once-unthinkable 4 million threshold. In the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic, the show averaged only 467,000 viewers.

And from The New York Times:

A military correspondent for The Times of Israel, Emanuel Fabian, began receiving death threats last month. His offense: reporting that an Iranian ballistic missile had struck Israeli soil on March 10. Gamblers on the prediction platform Polymarket had wagered more than $14 million on whether Iran would strike Israel on that day, and those who stood to lose flooded Mr. Fabian with demands that he change his story — that he reframe the missile as intercepted debris and let them collect. Some offered him a cut of their winnings. Mr. Fabian refused and contacted the police.

The story seems absurd, but it may become typical…

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Music Pick

Is it too late for the King to take us back??

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Davies:

Zyglis:

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Tower at Mohonk, above the lake, spring time.

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Feeling oddly energized by the Saturday night attack, Donald followed the lead of Melania Trump yesterday in demanding that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about the dinner, delivered two days before it. We waited breathlessly for ABC’s response all day and Jimmy’s response last night. Nothing from ABC, but Jimmy fully stuck to his guns, don’t miss:

Ann Telnaes commented:

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A few takes on the dinner’s aftermath:

Jon Stewart:

Jack Ohman:

Clay Bennett:

Longtime, now former, Republican Norman Ornstein:

Trump has called the left: - Enemy within - Scum - Terrorists - Vermin - Radical - Lunatics - Demonic - Evil - Fascists - Marxists - Communists - Garbage - The enemy of the people - The enemy within - Treasonous - Animals - Degenerates - Jew haters - Lowlives

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Meanwhile, over at Bari Bari bad CBS: She has removed London bureau chief Claire Day following tensions with Weiss over the network’s Middle East coverage. Day, a nearly 25-year CBS veteran, had pushed back on editorial calls with the ultra-pro-Israel Weiss over coverage of Iran and Gaza, sources said.

And from Lucian Truscott IV:

The Secretary of Defense, who calls himself the Secretary of War, treated his friend Kid Rock to a joyride in an Apache helicopter at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Apache helicopters have only two seats, for the pilot and co-pilot, but Hegseth and Kid Rock were given rides in the co-pilots’ seats in two helicopters, apparently so they could go up on their joyrides at the same time and talk to each other through their helmet communications headsets.

That’s what Hegseth did today in the middle of an ongoing war, where a third aircraft carrier just arrived on station in the Arabian Sea. Pentagon figures show that it costs between $5,000 and $5,500 an hour to operate an Apache helicopter….

The last time I checked, Kid Rock was not a government employee, but who knows? Maybe Hegseth appointed him Secretary of the Navy. He needs a new one.

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Film Pick

Just announced, my new film will be debuting on PBS nationally on July 1, narrated by Rosanne Cash, with songs by Woody and….Bruce Springsteen.

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Music Picks

Please have a go in comments on NYT posting alleged list of our current greatest American songwriters, thankfully unranked. Still plenty to critique. Yes, they left off Canadians Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, but also from the lower 48 folks like Jason Isbell, Jeff Tweedy and Gillian Welch. (Well, no wonder, my ex-Crawdaddy colleague and decades-long NYT music savant Jon Pareles was not even on the judging panel.) Please weigh in with YOUR reactions and picks in Comments. Here’s how they set it up at their newsletter:

Good morning. You know what’s a good way to start a conversation that’s going to last a while? Publish a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. The Times just did that.

First, we polled hundreds of pop stars, critics, historians, industry executives, D.J.s, music supervisors and choreographers. They gave us 700 names. (Look at some of their ballots.) Then, during long and often heated conversations, six Times music writers edged the list down to 30 artists.

And now we need to talk about it! There’s much to discuss. Because, sure, Bob Dylan’s on the list, and Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen, too. But Billy Joel didn’t make the cut. Nor did Garth Brooks or Randy Newman. Yes to Stevie Wonder. No to Stevie Nicks. Everyone’s going to have feelings about this. Everyone’s going to cheer for some, bark at others, harrumph in complaint or declare vindication. (I was bummed about Nicks, but the methodology’s sound. Here’s how they did it.)

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From Tunes to Toons

Bramhall:

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The view from abroad on King Charles’ visit:

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Brodner on Hegseth:

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From my camera to you, Jazzfest is underway in New Orleans but….every day is a jazz fest in New Orleans.