Four More Goals! Four More Goals!

Another Trump fiasco. Our usual cartooning. Is this the greatest protest song ever?

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.

Some distractions here so more limited postings today (and Kimmel still on vacation, Colbert gone and John Oliver doing “General Hospital”. Looks like farewell to Platner in Maine and of course to the U.S. World Cup team after the Curse of Trump arrived. Were some great cartoons yesterday before that (naturally) happened.

Bramhall:

And some fun commentary online, this is just a sample:

Ron Filipkowski: “So now millions of football fans around the world view the US as cheaters who used political corruption to influence FIFA and we lose anyway. So much winning. When’s the next war?”

Franklin Leonard: “Get your Belgian chocolate now before the tariffs hit.”

Spencer Hakimian: “BREAKING: Donald Trump has just called Gianni Infantino and asked FIFA to “just find 4 more goals.”

More cartoons down below.

Interview with me re: my new “Woody Guthrie and The Ghost of Tom Joad Today” film now streaming over PBS.org and PBS apps and airing at PBS stations this summer. Rolling Stone piece now up at Yahoo and no longer paywalled. You can watch now here.

Music Pick

Paste just picked its “50 Greatest Protest Songs” and plenty of omissions of course. Woody came in at #2 with “This Land.” Good #1 pick, see below.

1. Billie Holiday: “Strange Fruit” (1939)

This track has to be at the top of the list; it’s that influential. One of the first racism protest songs to be recorded in popular music, 1939’s “Strange Fruit” is based off a poem written by Abel Meeropol. Holiday sang the song for the first time at Café Society in Greenwich Village, which was the first integrated nightclub in New York City. With the song’s blatant indictment of racism in the American South, it’s said that Holiday was afraid of retaliation every time she sang the song. Not to mention, no record label would touch it. Eventually, Milt Gabler put the track out on Commodore records after Holiday’s a cappella performance of it brought him to tears. Despite being aware of the danger of singing a song like this as black woman, Holiday sings “Strange Fruit” with unwavering bravery and intention, her emotive voice bolstering its timeless meaning. —Alexa Peters

From Tune to Toons

Telnaes:

de Adder:

Morland:

Zyglis:

Brodner:

Jerge:

Photo Finish

Orange, Bowl