Photo Gallery Tuesday!

As the weather heats up, time to escape and travel, at least in your mind...plus political hot takes and some "Help!" from The Beatles.

With summer here—no matter what the calendar says—it’s time to take more days off and also try some new things, so today a collection of 15 of my photos from trips here and yon to put you in an escapist mood. But first the usual political cartoon and a few news takes. Let me know what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe, it’s still (amazingly) free.

News & Politics

Latenight hosts were back from their breaks and having fun with photos of Trump wearing his pants funny—maybe backwards—over the weekend. Jimmy Kimmel: “Poor Mike Pence doesn’t know which end to kiss.” Jimmy Fallon: “It looks like he bumped into something and his pants deployed as an airbag.” Stephen Colbert: “Either he shares a tailor with a Ken doll, or he spends so much time yanking stuff out of his keister, it just helps to have the zipper back there to make it easy.”

New January 6 report: Out this morning, Senators reveal further Capitol riot security failures in bipartisan report. “Capitol security officials tracking threats of violence on Jan. 6 saw social media posts as early as late December 2020 about a plot to breach the complex — complete with maps of the building’s tunnels and explicit threats of violence against members of Congress.”

Gaetz crashing: Conservative media outlet Newsmax rejected embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz's request for a job, a spokesperson for the website said on Monday.

Canadian flags were put at half-staff after the remains of 215 Indigenous children were discovered at a mass burial site at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Headline of the Day, for sex predators on parade: “Donald Trump To Go On Speaking Tour With Bill O’Reilly To Talk Up His Presidency.”

Jeff Bezos planning to get launched into space inspired all sorts of Twittery jokes such as: “They are probably packing him into a space capsule twice as large as necessary.” Or: “Now like many of his Amazon workers he’ll now know what it’s like to have to wear a diaper because of few bathroom breaks.”

Photo Gallery: Summer Travels

Venice

From Rialto Bridge in the rain

Burano

Off to work.

Somewhere Over the Alps

Berlin

Through a hole knocked out of Berlin Wall.

Paris

In the Luxembourg Gardens.

Auvers

Room where Van Gogh died.

London

Lambeth Bridge, early Sunday morning

Cape Cod

Truro Lighthouse in the late-afternoon fog

New York City

Fountain at Lincoln Center, summer.

New Orleans

Permanent Mardi Gras in NOLA.

Taos

Ranchos Church, made famous by Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams, Paul Strand.

San Francisco

I lift my lamp beside the golden bridge.

Bodega Bay

Coasting.

Los Angeles

From the Getty Museum.

Tokyo

Temple in August, homage to Hiroshige

Song Pick of the Day

Speaking of summer, here’s a rocking live version of “Help!” by the Fab Four (after some vintage John clowning as an intro)—and it wasn’t even close to the best single of 1965. Later this week I’ll be showing/playing why. Gosh, the boys also delivered “Tickets to Ride” and “Yesterday” at the same time.