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. His latest film “Woody Guthrie and The Ghost of Tom Joad Today” is now streaming everywhere via PBS.
Jimmy still on vacation and Stephen long gone (maybe we can get him to run for Lindsey’s seat in his native S. Carolina) but we did have return of Jon Stewart this week.
A third ICE killing in past week yesterday, this time in St. Augustine, FL. So we have a new round of cartoons as most commentators and editorial pages remain mealy-mouthed.
Sutton:
Goris:
And another:
Davies:
Paul Krugman warns, on Trump moving on from Iran:
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that just as Trump essentially gives up, not gives up in the sense of abandoning his war, but gives up on trying to achieve anything he can even spin as a positive outcome, that we now have an announcement that this Thursday he’s going to have a primetime speech, which reports say is going to be about election fraud in 2020. Some reports hinting that he might try to declare the two Democratic senators from Georgia somehow illegitimate.
Okay, that’s not going to actually work. And nobody’s going to be convinced by the claim that he actually won the 2020 election. But what is happening is that effectively he’s setting up the pretext, the groundwork for massive interference in the vote this November. That we’re basically seeing the stage set for some kind of attempt to block fair elections, maybe block elections entirely.
I don’t know how this is going to play out. But we are really now at the point where it’s pretty clear that Trump and the people around him have given up on actually winning the election. They’ve decided instead that somecombination of propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and possibly massive illegality is their way forward.
And don’t say they wouldn’t do that. That has been famous last words every step of the way. The proposition that there were some things that even Trump and company would not do has been the best way to be wrong about everything, every step of the Trump administration.
So in a peculiar way, the fact that Trump is back to bombing Iran is really bad news, not because of the bombs. Yes, it’s terrible and all that, But not because I have any real fear that America is going to be at risk from a foreign power, but because I think it signals an enormous risk to us from our own president, our own government.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Jim Acosta yesrerday: “Update from the reflecting pool! The pool has been drained, and there are no signs of the giant gash that Donald Trump has been lying about. No indications of major vandalism. Just a bad paint job. The only thing that’s been exposed is that Trump has been lying about this.
Love the way NY Times refers to Trump’s blatant and ultra corruption as a mere “minefield.”
Somehow the Hollywood Bowl just finished three nights of music from Wes Anderson films. Here are few selections.
First, Beck with the L.A. Philharmonic brought us Love’s “Along Again Or” from their classic cult album “Forever Changes.”
Jackson Browne revived his “These Days” which was written back in his days of….60 years ago.
Jim James with a favorite Kinks song (written by Dave, not Ray), “Strangers.”
From Tunes to Toons
One of my favorite political cartoonists growing up was Pat Oliphant, and we recently watched the bio-doc still streaming, “A Savage Art.” When he died this week, one of our current faves, Ann Telnaes wrote:
People will throw around the label of legend in the editorial cartooning profession but Pat Oliphant was truly one. Not only did his editorial cartoons and caricatures slice right through deserving politicians and public figures, his draftsmanship was on a level far above everyone else. No one came close to his drawing ability in editorial cartooning.
Ohman:
Bramhall:
Sack:
Bramhall again:
I watched “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad” last night, and it was wonderful. I learned so much about Guthrie, Steinbeck, and the history of that period in America! The movie should be shown in every American history class in America. Nothing in a history book can compare with the vividness that movie brings. I was definitely in tears by the end.
Sign of the times - I wrote something silly on Medium a while back, incorporating Jackson Browne's lyrics. Friend link: https://medium.com/@lizzielizardbrain/jackson-browne-gets-a-lyrical-physical-64767d780574?sk=368db58af5633a6e67bb558b4ab519c2
Now it feels dangerous to write, "I saw Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and Bruce Springsteen together in Los Angeles in 1990. They appeared at a benefit concert to raise money for the Christic Institute, which the news described as a “liberal think tank.” The Christic Institute was a public policy law firm that sued the federal government over the Karen Silkwood nuclear cover-up, the Iran-Contra affair, and more. This piece is a nod to the impressive people who show up even when it’s not easy." and...
"Want to attend great concerts and meet impressive people? Volunteer. Use whatever talents you possess. Build a database, research, write, watch someone’s child, make sandwiches or calls, or do whatever you’re good at. Volunteering may not require leaving home.
Local news coverage of the 1990 Christic Institute benefit concert is from the Christic Institute archive page.
This was just the first of many surprising concerts, parties, and other events that brought together political insiders from all sides.
Political strategists popped my idealistic bubble at a holiday party. After a few drinks, they competed in making their opponent’s argument better.
“It’s their job,” my friend said. “Be a grown-up.”
Never."