Cartoons Wednesday: Woody Approve?

Anti-ICE protests, commentary, music and humor....

Greg Mitchell has authored more than a dozen books (see most of them here) and directed four recent PBS films, including the current “The Atomic Bowl.” Subscribing to this newsletter is still FREE—so if you want to help fund, maybe purchase one of those books, thanks. Or recommend this Substack to a friend!

Colbert show had some fun with Trump’s Nobel obsession. Lego, we say.

Kimmel catches you up on the day:

He refers to this:

Trump Makes Obscene Gesture at Heckler in Ford Factory Tour

The workers, TJ Sabula, was fired by Ford. We imagine a lawsuit and action by his union coming.

Had to laugh, happily, at this though: “CBS Evening News,” under new empty headed anchor Tony Dokoupil, is down 23% in viewership compared with the same period a year ago. Somehow he got trounced last week by the NBC and ABC versions despite his gain in viewers simply curious about a new pretty face.

Apparently clueless, he then landed a ten-minute interview with Trump yesterday only to suffer mockery from his great leader and observers online. Perhaps one of the low points in anchor history as Trump (accurately) charges that Dokoupil only has his job because Trump won in 2024 and his people took over his network:

DOKOUPIL: When I travel the country, they tell me they don’t feel it because grocery prices are up--

TRUMP: They’re going to now. I’ve only been here for 11 months. I inherited a mess. If she got in, you wouldn’t have this job right now.

Meanwhile, the terror in Minnesota continues, as perhaps you have seen in viral videos. Heather Cox Richardson today:

Reality is crumbling the MAGA fantasy that their leaders could fix the United States if only they purged it of their opponents and stripped away the laws and governmental systems those opponents have created over decades.

Americans are demonstrating that they do not want to answer to ICE and CBP agents, decked out as if they are a war zone while parading in groups through the suburbs, cosplaying as military heroes. Rather than seeming as if they deserve respect, they look both lawless and foolish. Rather than hiding, Americans are forming squads to alert neighborhoods to their presence, escorting children to and from school, and helping feed neighbors who are afraid to leave their homes.

An Economist/YouGov poll released today shows that only 43% of American adults oppose abolishing ICE, while 46% support abolishing ICE. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024, today likened ICE to the Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s secret police.

Even Joe Rogan opposes the Gestapo tactics:

You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them. Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?

Uh, former Trump backer, yes.

Tom Joad Lives

Exclusive preview of linked musical inspirations for my next film, two-third’s done now, coming later this year…. Father, son and wholly Ghost:

From Tunes to Toons

Danzinger:

Brodner:

Marian Kamensky:

Bramhall:

Anderson:

Lukovich:

Photo Finish

From my camera to you: “Museum of World War II Resistance, Lyon, France””