Greg Mitchell has authored more than a dozen books (see most of them here) and directed four recent PBS films. Subscribing to this newsletter is still FREE—so if you want to help fund, maybe purchase one of my books, thanks!
As you may have heard:
8 Senators Break Ranks With Democrats and Advance G.O.P. Plan to End Shutdown
Two of them are retiring, and none of the others face re-election in 2026.
As pundit/poet Leonard Cohen might have put it: “It looks like freedom / but it feels like death / It’s something in-betwee, I guess / It’s closing time.” And that’s an Ann Telnaes cartoon up top.
However, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has what he calls a somewhat “counter-intuitive take,” feeling that if you look at the full 40-day picture the Democrats stood strong for a change and came out ahead (despite the collapse) in public opinion.
Democratic voters demanded fight. When the time came Democrats fought. They held out for 40 days, the longest shutdown standoff in history. They put health care at the center of the national political conversation and inflicted a lot of damage on Trump. At 40 days they could no longer hold their caucus together.
That’s a sea change in how the congressional party functions. And that’s a big deal. Many people see it as some kind of epic disaster and are making all the standard threats about not voting or not contributing or whatever. That’s just not what I see. It’s a big change in the direction of the fight we need in the years to come that just didn’t go far enough. Yet.
And this just in…
Trump Pardons Giuliani and Others Involved in Effort to Overturn 2020 Election
But we did enjoy Trump getting roundly booed yesterday when he became the first President since 1978 to attend a regular season NFL game, for the Commanders:
And you have to chuckle in amazement if not surprise:
Kristi Noem reportedly tried to buy 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own
DHS secretary arranged purchase to expand deportation flights and for personal travel, Wall Street Journal reports
Now our final takes from the Rock Hall of Fame inductions on Saturday night. Here’s Olivia Rodrigo doing the White Stripes, “We’re Going to be Friends,” which you may recall was featured long ago in “Napoleon Dynamite.”
The Soundgarden induction just made me think of Johnny Cash’s late career “comeback” being aided by his incredible cover of their “Rusty Cage.”
From Tunes to Toons
Ann Telnaes’ take on the proposed Trump federal coin:
Sheneman:
Rob Rogers:
Two from Tjeerd Royaards:
Photo Finish
Today from my camera: “Home-Grown Oyster Shrooms.”
Wow, those last two cartoons were hard to look at; I wish the Rs saw it that way! Johnny Cash’s voice is always what it should be. 🩶
Nice shrooms