Greg Mitchell has authored more than a dozen books (see most of them here) and directed four recent PBS films. Subscribing to this newsletter is still FREE—so if you want to help fund, maybe purchase one of my books, thanks. Or recommend this Substack to a friend!
“SNL” cold open last night, snake on a plane.
And Weekend Update:
A NY Times scoop here: The C.I.A. refuses to discuss a nuclear-powered generator that a team of climbers left in the Himalayas during a secret mission in 1965.
Meanwhile: The Treasury Department has introduced coins celebrating America’s 250th anniversary that do not include planned designs featuring abolition, women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement.
More from NYT:
Trump pardoned a politician facing bribery charges, and Hakeem Jeffries supported the move. It’s a sign that Democrats may be willing to join Trump’s era of corruption, J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston write.
And:
At least two of the Brown University students who were on campus when a deadly shooting unfolded there on Saturday have survived school shootings before. Mia Tretta, a junior who was shot in the abdomen during a 2019 shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif. Another Brown student, Zoe Weissman, 20, was 12 when she witnessed the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., from outside her middle school next door. She said she developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the shooting, in which 17 people were killed.
If you want to see how far David Mamet has fallen (this is real):
Last night, Mavis Staples in Denver performed “Beautiful Strangers” off her new album with Nathaniel Rateliff and the song’s writer, Kevin Morby.
You may have read about but never heard Lily Allen, so here’s your chance, from “SNL” last night, off her hit “West End Girl” album, both rather “sex-related” (she said this week she may turn the album into a play and she is an award-winning actress).
From Tunes to Toons
Zyglis:
Matson:
Davies:
Graeme:
Ramses:
Ramses
Photo Finish
From my camera to you, “Lambeth Bridge, London, early morning.”
The Treasury Dept decision is almost criminal. Nice to hear Mavis Staples, with Kevin Morby and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. Good selection of cartoons. Very nice photo.
[edit: I agree that Hakeem Jeffries' support for the pardoning of Cuellar is a telling and disturbing indication that the Democratic party leadership is not immune from placing party over the rule of law.]
One of my favorite songs. Great to see Mavis singing with Moby. Thank you.