Final Two Weeks of Colbert Begin

Plus Jon Stewart, The Beatles, Bruce and our usual cartoons.

Yes, it’s 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.

The countdown begins….

Jon really mocks/exposes the media here last night…..

Historian/author T.J. Stiles: “Iran has defeated Trump. The dumbest war in American history proves that magical thinking is not a strategy, and ‘dominance’ is just geopolitical posing.”

Robert Kagan at The Atlantic on Iran “defeat” compared to past U.S. losses:

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure….

The American defeat in the Gulf will have broader global ramifications as well. The whole world can see that just a few weeks of war with a second-rank power have reduced American weapons stocks to perilously low levels, with no quick remedy in sight. The questions this raises about America’s readiness for another major conflict may or may not prompt Xi Jinping to launch an attack on Taiwan, or Vladimir Putin to step up his aggression against Europe. But at the very least America’s allies in East Asia and Europe must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.

Music Pick

London Rooftop Where Beatles Played Last Gig to Become Museum

The townhouse at 3 Savile Row, where the band also recorded “Let It Be,” will open to the public next year, the group’s record label said.

So, one more time:

“Ghost of Tom Joad” at Madison Sq Garden last night….

From Tunes to Toons

Goris:

Brodner:

Boris:

Bramhall:

Brodner again:

Anderson:

Photo Finish

From my camera to you: “Heron Scare ‘em”