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.
The Daily Show marked its 30th anniversary last night reviewing 30 years of news coverage, going all the way back to Craig Kilborn even.
Hard to top Trump yesterday claiming that Sen. Jon Ossoff is terrible and reminds him of “Pinky Herman,” adding “Did you ever see Pinky Herman?” And you’d think Trump’s pee wee brain would at least get that one right.
Lucian Truscott IV:
I’ll bet you can’t guess what Republicans are doing right this very minute, as we fight a crazed war over control of the Strait of Hormuz – which was open to all trade for free on February 27, the day before Trump launched his war. Republicans want to make the 2017 tax cuts they passed in Trump’s first term permanent. Because that’s what Republicans always do: They start wars that they don’t want to pay for, and while the bombs are dropping and the bodies are coming home in flag-draped coffins, they pass tax cuts with a 10-year sundown date to get around rules about passing shit in Congress using budget reconciliation. Then later, they want to pass bills to make the tax cuts permanent. Making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent will add $4 trillion to the debt.
Am I fucking hallucinating? Are Republicans doing the same shit they did with Iraq over again with Iran? Borrowing money for a useless war as they turn it into a quagmire at the same time they pass tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class and the poor?
You bet they are. We haven’t got money for Medicaid. We haven’t got money for school lunches and breakfasts. We haven’t got money for food stamps.
Music Pick
No one asked, but is Suzanne Vega still doing “Luka” live? Yes, she is, this past week, below, in Rome.
Which reminds me, considering subject of that song, that Jason Isbell’s “Yvette” is one of greatest songs of our time.
Reminded of this last night: Dylan, 65 years ago, at the Gasllight, with homage to mentor and hero, one of greatest songs of a previous century, Woody’s “Pastures of Plenty.”
From Tunes to Toons
Bramhall:
Molina:
Koterba:
Noth:
Jones:
Anderson:
Photo Finish
Over the next week or so, I will be posting pictures of hummingbirds who come to our deck and backyard every summer, with words or selections by my wife, the writer Barbara Bedway. Today, a poem titled “Hummingbird,” written by Raymond Carver for his wife Tess. Photo taken yesterday.
Suppose I say summer,
write the word “hummingbird,”
put it in an envelope,
take it down the hill
to the box. When you open
my letter you will recall
those days and how much,
just how much I love you.
--Raymond Carver
Yay! Love the hummingbird photo and I’m excited for hummingbird week. Thank you for everything you do!
Strong group of cartoons.