Greg Mitchell has authored 14 books and directed four PBS films since 2022. His latest, “The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero—and Nuclear Peril Today” has been airing over PBS stations and now streaming for free (key links to watch now and more here). A companion book is available, and you can read more or order here.. And subscribing to this newsletter is still somehow FREE.
Stephen last night:
Trump yesterday: “I’m just a little busy. I’d love to go to Argentina. I’d like to be like Biden. I’d like to go to the beach. My legs are not quite as thin as his. My legs are slightly heavier, my arms are slightly larger. My body is a little bit larger than his. I’m not sure it would be appreciated on the beach.”
If you missed this yesterday, from Politico, on Charlie Kirk’s biggest fan club:
Today, Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo of Politico reported on 2,900 pages of messages exchanged on the messaging app Telegram between leaders of the hardline pro-Trump factions of Young Republican groups in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont. In the edgy messages, the leaders used racist themes and epithets freely and cheered slavery, rape, gas chambers, and torturing their opponents. They expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. One of them wrote to the others, “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked [for real for real].”
The New Yorker offers an all-too-plausible parody of real ICE job posrings, such as:
ICE wants YOU to follow ORDERS and never think for YOURSELF again. ICE feels like YOU might be INTO that sort of THING.
ICE wants YOU to enter SCHOOLS and HOSPITALS. YOU will be JUST like THE ROCK or some OTHER celebrity who visits CHILDREN and the SICK, except YOU will be TAKING them with YOU.
ICE wants YOU to put on a MASK to do your JOB. But NOT like during COVID when YOU didn’t WANT to wear a MASK. This time, it’s NOT for protecting OTHERS from HARM—it’s for protecting your IDENTITY while YOU harm OTHERS.
If you are any kind of birder, even if like us, the very casual, amateur variety, you are sure to enjoy this new hot fun film (free via You Tube), as two newbie brothers set off in a van to count as many varieties as they can in one year to try and challenge a record:
We promoted Warren Zevon for the increasingly dubious Rock Hall of Fame, and now that he’s made it, we learn that old pal and rare non-musician chosen to do the induction honors is David Letterman. Here is a collection of 90 minutes or so of music and chat featuring each of Warren’s appearances on the show, up to his tragic end:
From Tunes to Toons for Today
Trump has blasted the photo chosen for his TIME cover this week celebrating his ceasefire accord, and now here’s Steve Brodner’s take:
Ann Telnaes: “Speaker Johnson announces campaign to get Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Coming this Saturday:
Photo Finish
Continuing my new feature, from my camera to you, let me know what you think. Afternoon on the Pacific, Bodega Bay, CA.
Ah Bodega Bay! So fortunate to be nearby:)
Greg, your picture of Bodega Bay reminds me of the area I went fishing for monkey-faced eels during the ultra low tides that happen twice a year there. Thanks for the memory!