Chatty Patti and New Springsteen

Smith meets Tweedy as Bruce hails MacGowan, and HCR interviews Krugman--plus our usual cartoons, Kimmel and Colbert, as Trump confronts dire Straits.

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Colbert cold open on Trump staffers seeking Doomsday bunkers:

Kimmel monologue: Iran may attack California?

CNN’s foreign correspondent Clarissa Ward speaking to Colbert last night on those Pentagon’s clips celebrating the Iran war with clips from Call of Duty video game: “I feel deeply ashamed. It just plays into the worst stereotypes about America.”

You can’t make this up. Trump yesterday boasted about his “stoppage of 8 wars with a 9th to come.” So I guess he started Iran war so he could get credit for stopping.” Also mind-addled Trump yesterday:

The only thing I admired about Barack Hussein Obama, which was nothing actually. But the only thing is the way he would bob down the stairs. You talk about unpresidential. He'd bob--and I couldn't believe that he made it without at least a noticeable major fall.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: “I feel good about our nation. We’re killing all the right people. Trump is my favorite president. We’ve run out of bombs. We didn’t run out of bombs in World War II.”

Thursday Update:

From one Twitter wag: “I keep seeing people ask about the 25th Amendment. Guys: His entire Cabinet is walking around in shoes that don’t fit because they’re scared to take them off. The 25th is never happening.”

Two of our regulars in one place yesterday: Heather Cox Richardson interviews Paul Krugman:

Heather Cox Richardson’s latest:

Yesterday, after Reuters reporter Phil Stewart reported that as many as 150 U.S. troops had been wounded so far in the Iran conflict, the Pentagon publicly revised its estimate of fewer than a dozen U.S. service members wounded upward to about 140. The wounds include brain trauma, shrapnel wounds, and burns. Seven service members have died.

Lawmakers and their aides expressed frustration that the Pentagon had not announced the casualty numbers without prodding. “Just own it and be transparent,” a congressional aide told Alex Horton of the Washington Post. “You owe it to the service members.”

Bora Erden and Leanne Abraham of the New York Times reported today that at least seventeen U.S. military sites and installations across the region, including air defense systems, have been struck since the war began.

Jeff Tweedy interviewed Patti Smith at an event in Chicago this week and sang a few songs together. She closed with:

We know what’s going on. We know people are suffering. It makes it very difficult sometimes. You feel safe tonight. Some people aren’t safe tonight. Friends of mine aren’t safe tonight. But we have to keep doing our work. We have to radiate good.

Springsteen at midnight dropped his new studio cover of Shane MacGowan’s “Rainy Night in Soho,” which he performed live in Ireland on last tour:

Since a king and queen (Richard and Linda) are his parents, Teddy Thompson must be a prince, and long a favorite here, now with brand new single:

From Tunes to Toons

Luckovich:

Davies:

Deering:

Ariall:

de Adder:

Photo Finish

“California Calla at Daybreak”: continuing my series of photos from earlier this month.