Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl.” Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books or SHARING link.
Okay, let’s open with music today, from birth to death, with cartoons below. On this day in 1952, David Byrne was born, which means the formerly pale, nerdy, nervous, youngster I met in a studio in 1975 is now….73. Here’s perhaps my favorite live Heads song, “Life During Wartime.”
Then, on this date in 1998, the Chairman of the Board (though sometimes the Bored), Frank Sinatra, passed away. Here is one of my favorites from Frank, recorded in ‘58, and on a terrific late night album, the Arlen-Mercer “Blues in the Night.” See elsewhere Ella’s version.
Colbert monologue last night:
And now, a scary new term: “Pizza Doxxing.”
Last night from CBS News:
As federal judges endure a rise in threats, CBS News has learned that some jurists have faced strange, unnerving incidents in which an unknown person orders a pizza to their home address in an apparent attempt to menace them.
The top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., has called the incidents "pizza doxxing" — a spin on "doxxing," in which somebody's address or other personal information is maliciously made public, often as a form of intimidation.
In about two dozen cases nationwide, judges have gotten unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the late son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, the New Jersey judge told CBS News. Anderl was killed at the family's New Jersey home in 2020 by a disgruntled gunman who was targeting Salas.
Salas called the cases attempts at "psychological warfare" against judges.
And don’t miss opinion piece there by famed fiction writer George Saunders, “Shame on the White House,” on the insane firing of the Librarian of Congress, which concludes with:
When a ship is sinking, there’s value in knowing how fast, and calling it out. When a country is self-sabotaging, ditto. So let me just say it: Shame on the White House. Shame on those who should be stopping this slide into autocracy and aren’t. (I’m looking at you, John Thune, Mike Johnson and Marco Rubio.) Shame on all of us if we let these ignorant purveyors of cruelty reduce this beautiful thing we’ve built over these hundreds of years to a hollow, braying, anti-version of itself.
Finally, check out Paul Krugman’s substack for his take today on how the new Trump budget will hurt many, many people and also any long term chance to stall climate change as renewable energy gets pushed aside.
Cartoons Wednesday
From new Pulitzer winner Ann Telnaes, a reference to the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” character, now with Stephen Miller as the evil Child Catcher.
Then there’s this New York Times headline today:
In Private, Some Israeli Officers Admit That Gaza Is on the Brink of Starvation
Please stop putting links to newspapers and magazines that require subscriptions.
Talking Heads! Sinatra (don't like the man, but he could sing).
Very good cartoons, especially the second to last.