Still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is 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.
The Daily Show still off but Jon Stewart recorded this rant against longtime Trump supporters who (finally) are beginning to see the light, even though that light has been blinking red for years.
If you missed this yesterday: Trump said he "does not want to talk" about de-nuclearization plans with North Korea, praising Kim Jong Un who "didn't like Biden, didn't like Obama, didn't like anybody" but he likes him.
A long time coming, and probably going nowhere (even though “The Voice of Hind Rajab” was an Oscar nominee and one of best films of 2025), but New York Times reports:
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it would open criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinians by troops in two high-profile cases during the Gaza war, including the deaths of Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old girl, and of more than a dozen medical workers.
The decision to transfer the cases for criminal investigations followed a lengthy review into dozens of contentious incidents during the war by a military fact-finding mission. The reviews came after widespread international condemnation of Israel’s conduct during the conflict, with several rights groups and governments accusing the country of committing war crimes.
Such military police investigations are often slow and have rarely led to convictions. Rights groups have previously criticized the military’s internal investigations of its conduct in wars, describing the process as a whitewash.
The military said that it had found no grounds for criminal investigation in three other cases, including the killing of seven employees of World Central Kitchen, a relief group, in April 2024, as they were transporting humanitarian aid to a warehouse.
World Central Kitchen rejected the military’s account and condemned its decision not to refer the case for criminal investigation, saying its actions were wholly unjustified.
Lucian Truscott IV on the current flap over Trump’s “the human printer,” Natalie Harp:
He is using her in the way that abusive men use women who are dedicated to them as spouses or bosses. The gigantic bag Harp is photographed carrying around behind him could contain a portable printer, or it could be his laundry, or as the snark-set speculates, a supply of his Depends. She is his porter, and he obviously enjoys seeing her in that role. Whatever the bag contains could be transported to Marine One or to his limousine or through the doors of Mar a Lago or Bedminster by an actual porter, an employee hired for the purpose of carrying luggage and other accoutrements of a traveling executive.
Trump gets off on Harp’s self-negating devotion. He doesn’t have to belittle her in public to bend her to his will, the aim of every abuser. She does it to herself. Natalie Harp is a victim in a sick relationship. She is not to blame. Trump is.
Dave Marsh
Haven’t written anything about the music writer’s passing this week at the age of 76 as so much has already appeared, I don’t have anything original to say, and if you are a fan, or know about him at all, you have probably read a great deal already. I met him in 1971 when I wrote a couple of pieces for his Creem just before I revived Crawdaddy but we rarely crossed paths after that, even though we were both early Bruce buds. I will, however, note (because few have) that he gathered material for and edited an important collection of Woody Guthrie’s then-obscure unpublished writings several decades ago, with Guthrie’s longtime friend Harold Leventhal, with Dave commenting: "Part of what made this new assortment of Woody's writings so fascinating was the frequency with which the words here conflict with his image as it has been passed down over the three decades since Huntington's chorea stilled his public voice."
BTW, I am featured in a lengthy interview about my PBS Woody film in new podcast launched this morning by former NBC host Chuck Todd. More on that tomorrow.
Music Picks
We rarely offer happy birthdays here but will make an exception for John Hiatt today, as he turns 74. Two of his best below, a live “Master of Disaster” and then “Lipstick Sunset” with a couple of best ever brief guitar soloing by Ry Cooder.
From Tunes to Toons
Anderson:
Luckovich:
de Adder:
Bramhall:
![This political cartoon is set in a nice-looking suburban neighborhood with well-kept yards and houses. A giant building looms behind the houses as a man on a ladder paints the words “Data Center" on the side. Near the houses, a man holds a “No ICE” sign and stands near another man and woman. The man with the woman says, “Our protests worked! They are no longer putting an ICE detention center next door!”](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F88C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3007e4f7-352e-4fdb-bcd5-19b409bc91db_1440x1032.jpeg "This political cartoon is set in a nice-looking suburban neighborhood with well-kept yards and houses. A giant building looms behind the houses as a man on a ladder paints the words “Data Center" on the side. Near the houses, a man holds a “No ICE” sign and stands near another man and woman. The man with the woman says, “Our protests worked! They are no longer putting an ICE detention center next door!”")
Photo Finish
Scene from Lake Mohonk below. My new PBS film “Woody Guthrie and The Ghost of Tom Joad Today” will be screened at the historic Mountain House, and I will talk about it, at 8:30 p.m. on October 6.
Very cool
Regarding Trump and his latest female lackey, they are both users; they are using each other for their own purposes. Like everything about Trump, this stinks.