This weekend marked the 60th anniversary of the release of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and if any of you out there are looking for a place to start with Mike Nichols, or Edward Albee, or the transition from old Hollywood to new, you couldn't do better. It's a film that opens so many doors.

Kiss unwanted algae goodbye! www.newyorker.com/cartoons/bli...

Now, take down the damned tarp! (Gift article) wapo.st/3QUz2gM

NY Times being unusually blunt. Clearest evidence yet that Trump is a lame duck. The Times may stop being cowardly. President Trump Lost This War www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/o...

A comment on the previously posted article:

Props to CNN’s chyron writer:

For those who want to see an encouraging story about journalism, YouTube is offering free access to Spotlight, the 2015 film on how investigative journalists at the Boston Globe exposed the Catholic Church's history of covering up instances when priests abused young people. WATCH: loom.ly/ZJk2t2M

Bless this memorial on the mall in DC.

It takes strength to look the person who could fire you in the eye and tell them that both they and their boss are giant pieces of trash. You usually don't win, but you definitely leave a mark, and you write your place in history. That's what Scott Pelley did today.

I’ve watched this several times now. How about you? @markharris.bsky.social? In the history of series finales, this is one of the best, maybe the best, ever. Bliss! www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHXd...

Oooh! I like it! (Gift article) wapo.st/4nZL9oZ

"Two things are clear - one is that Donald Trump thought this would be a war that would bring him glory, and the second thing they were thinking is this regime will collapse. Once it didn't collapse, they didn't know what to do, and they still don't know what to do." - @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Sad coincidental news: Lenny's great production designer Albert Wolsky has passed at 95. He won Oscars for All That Jazz and Bugsy; his mindblowingly eclectic credits range from Sophie's Choice, Grease, and Manhattan to Charlie Wilson's War, Jarhead and Birdman. A brilliant gay pioneer. RIP.

Yes, the deal to sell our house is 95% done! All that's still to be worked out is the price, the financing, the mortgage rate, whether it needs a new roof and plumbing, whether they want an inspection, and what year they'll move in Otherwise it's all nailed down. Once again showing Art of the Deal!

He's completely incompetent, even apart from being deranged.

Why is it that my first reaction to this is: Coulda seen it coming.

"The deficit, my fanny" was something my grad school pals and I used a lot

“As soon as we fix the thing we broke, we’ll get back to kitchen table issues”

Local humor

FACTS: These are the facts that confront US negotiators today - When Trump pulled out of the Obama agreement in 2018 and replaced it with nothing Iran did not have a single bomb’s worth of uranium. Then it started enriching with a vengeance. Now they have almost 1,000 pounds near weapons grade.

Reminder that any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message: they can't win on their ideas alone.

Jimmy Kimmel responds to the Trumps: "It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that."

🎯

"Enemy from within." "Communists, Marxists, fascists, radical left thugs, vermin." "Garbage" Somalis, "low IQ people." "She's an evil, sick, crazy, b..." Republicans want the left to tone down the rhetoric. Erm, have they listened to Donald Trump?? Zeteo put together this Trump montage:

Lots of questions about security at Saturday’s WHCD need to be answered, and answered honestly. [Gift article] wapo.st/4ubLzdN

Trump Conducts Marathon Reading Of Arby’s Menu In Appeal To Meat Lovers https://theonion.com/trump-conducts-marathon-reading-of-arbys-menu-in-appeal-to-meat-lovers/

I think I’m right

Joel Connelly was a mensch. We didn't always agree—in fact we disagreed a lot—but he always showed up and he always engaged and I'll always appreciate the respect he showed bloggers like me even when criticizing us. He was an encyclopedia of WA state political lore. He will be missed.

"Trump doesn't have supporters. He has a cult." @radiofreetom.bsky.social, staff writer for @theatlantic.com, joins The Weeknight to discuss the key differences between Orbán and Trump and how those differences shape their grip on power.

We can't keep looking away from his emotional and cognitive issues. The attack on the Pope was the beginning of a full night of melting down. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

HOWLING

In his second term, Trump seems even less restrained and more incoherent at times. He uses more profanity, speaks longer, regularly makes comments rooted in fantasy rather than fact, wanders off into odd tangents and shocks even allies with his outbursts. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/u...

Will the New York Times article on how Trump may be “clearly insane“ open the journalistic floodgates? presswatchers.org/2026/04/new-...

The Trump / Republican messaging theme for the day was supposed to be No Tax on Tips. Instead, the master strategist 4-D chess player made it about Dr. Jesus Trump from the Red Cross.

Apparently there ARE some red lines for Trump’s behavior … [Gift article] wapo.st/48LzKT9

In his second term, Trump has 102 confirmed golf days across 447 days in office (22.8%), about one confirmed round every 4.4 days, plus 28 additional days at Trump golf properties where golf was unconfirmed. See more at https://trumpgolftrack.com

JD Vance is on a historic roll: He campaigns for AfD in Germany - they lose. Invited the Pope to come to US for Trump’s big event - Pope refuses. Leads peace negotiations with Iran - fails miserably. Campaigns in Hungary for Orbán - who gets smoked.

Free advice to the opposition: It's very important that the GOP send the warm, likable, super-relatable JD Vance out on a national tour to campaign for MAGA in the midterms. He's got the touch!

Once again, class: 1 Trump creates crisis 2 People freak, markets crash 3 Trump chickens out, ends crisis he created 4 MAGA declares Trump a genius hero 5 Lather, rinse, repeat 🌮

If you carry out war crimes under orders, you are guilty of war crimes

An Earthset, captured by the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission during Monday’s lunar flyby. See more photos released on Tuesday by NASA. nyti.ms/47IKYHQ

If Trump bombs power plants in Iran, the humanitarian crisis will be horrific. Experts tell me to expect water shortages, closed hospitals, many deaths. “We’ve never had a US president so proudly promise to commit war crimes," Sen Chris Murphy says. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2087...

From an exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

#trump #iran #war #news

The "like no one's ever seen before" edit

I agree. And I think it was important to have the justices have to look over and see him expecting them to kneel. Alito and Thomas will probably be okay with that, but others might not be.

Smart analysis as always from Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social. His point: Trump's speech was so rambling and disjointed that maybe he should have just skipped it.

The Biden debate performance that ended his presidency was one-tenth as addled as what I'm watching right now.

Trump: We have sooo much gas under my leadership

And he’s starting to riff. Look out!