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.
From NY Times today:
Does a Sex Assault Claim Kill a Political Career? It Depends.
The swift exit of Graham Platner from the Maine Senate race followed Eric Swalwell’s similar exit from the California governor’s race, but Republicans have taken a different tack.
Tom Nichols in The Atlantic yesterday noted that Trump was “incoherent” in Ankara. He referred to Iran as the “Islamic Republic of Japan” and to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” He also announced he had ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain, a ludicrous impossibility.
Paul Krugman:
What we have is President Sundowner. I mean, this this is completely insane stuff. In any kind of normally functioning political system, in any kind of normally functioning party environment we would have a massive bipartisan call across the aisle, across almost everybody except for a handful of members of congress who are themselves crazy, to say okay this guy is non compos mentis. We cannot leave the fate of the United States or the world in the hands of somebody who is completely irrational, who is making demands and believing himself to have powers that he does not.
And of course, instead, not only does everybody pretend that he’s still a rational human being, but the Republican Party, the Trump administration, is full-on engaged in trying to build a personality cult.
What this says to me is that the problem is a lot bigger than Trump. Something is fundamentally wrong with America, and at this point you don’t have to go through complicated justifications. You can just say something is wrong with a country and a system that lets this guy remain in a position of power.
Music Picks
The aged (or ageless?) Stones suddenly announced they have a new album coming on Friday. Mick and Woody got up and played new countryish song at a listening party. Love the piano.
Change of pace: Natalie Merchant from a performance last month for children (and adults) in Chicago, with the classic “Peter Pumpkin Eater.” From the summary:
Natalie Merchant and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform "Peter Pumpkin Eater from 'Cabinet of Wonder,' available to download and stream August 21 on Nonesuch Records: https://cabinetofwonder.lnk.to/album ‘Cabinet of Wonder’ is a multimedia collaboration between American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Children’s Theatre, along with Manual Cinema, a collective of artists and a team of early childhood educators. It was designed to be a powerful educational and enrichment tool for teachers and parents of children ages 3-6. With a collection of musical recordings, videos, sheet music, and teaching guides, Cabinet of Wonder re-imagines Mother Goose and her famous canon of rhymes for a new generation. Find this video and all the others in the series, along with extensive teaching resources (available for free) and so much more at: https://cabinetofwonder.org
From Tunes to Toons
Luckovich:
Blitt:
Slygnstad
Anderson:
Bramhall:
Ohman:
Anderson again:
Davies:
Brodner:
Photo Finish
Grand Central Terminal, Chrysler Building
Wow- I keep looking at the clown car in the maze. So appropriate for these days we are living through!
The cartoons are great! I especially like the one with E Jean Carroll yelling at Donnie for her money and he is hanging on by a few fingers off the balcony.