Didja miss this today? DON’T! Stephen Colbert at his very best! youtu.be/XBXleKD9K4Y?... Pegging the camera with the old F.A.F.O: “Oh no… I know. I’ve been there. When you think it’s going to land, that quiet crowd really hurts”

The actual "enemy from within” (🙏 Ann Telnaes) Joseph McCarthy used the same term “enemies from within” in his speech to the Ohio County Republican Women’s Club in Wheeling, which launched the 1950s red scare. I doubt this was a coincidence by Trump’s speechwriter open.substack.com/pub/anntelna...

Form and content award for this opinion by US District Judge William Young, appointed by Ronald Reagan: (with thanks to to Dahlia Lithwick, David Dark and so many professors I learned from at Davidson College and the University of Georgia School of Law): storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Glad I no longer teach first year law classes on legal writing/research/process/method. Uh, what would you actually teach them? See also Clarence Thomas ⬇️ 🚨⚖️ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

While we dance to the music, enjoy family life, watch Friday night lights, get ready for Saturday football, tune into the baseball playoffs, pull for one side or the other of the Ryder Cup… Tim Snyder has a few other things he’s thinking about. Some chilling stuff here: berto.fyi/46sa65e

Every single word of Stephen Colbert’s monologue last night was hilarious— not always the case but last night was special! 📺 “Any news CBS?” youtu.be/0bBFZBO2mMo?...

Still a total must-read these days, Dan Rather on explaining “that’s not how this works” much of the news condensed for all of us overwhelmed people out here "The president’s trip to England came at the perfect time…. a rundown of what you might have missed." steady.substack.com/p/oh-the-sto...

Great Atlantic story by Hanna Rosin—listened on my morning walk. Highly recommended, the author’s story about her experience as a kid in Queens and the teacher in Oklahoma who unwittingly became a culture warrior when all she wanted to teach her students well: www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

As someone who may or may not be descended from the Melungeon people in Appalachia, and who’s been thinking about matters of race, equity and privilege back to about my college days 50 years ago, this looks like a really interesting documentary coming up tomorrow on CNN: youtu.be/bBWl1wnCBGk?...

Serious times, many people, including me, are dismayed, concerned and , alarmed, justifiably so. Giving up is not an option and giving in to helplessness and despair, no thank you— here’s a playlist we put together a few months ago, more needed every day 🎸💙🙏🏼 open.spotify.com/album/5UdHQZ...

The official lyric video for an early song that did not really have real lyrics, but this works pretty well: #RadioFreeEurope2025 🎸 🎙️ youtu.be/f_rshoUeixk?...

A really need to read story in @propublica.org projects.propublica.org/h2a-visa-far...

Cameron Crowe is on the New York Times The Daily podcast— highly recommended! youtu.be/le6rw1r_H4Q?...

Definitely one of the absolute gems of the canon— thanks for the reminder, always 🎸

A wonderful interview with a fascinating writer, Michael Bamberger (who loves writing and even email, but definitely not social media!) It’s worth hearing when you have the time— and I learned a new phrase just short of an hour in: “the gratitude chain” youtu.be/BZV5kiCoVew?...

Easy to forget how powerful this underrated song was live. From Chicago, 1995. Of course, Welcome to the And of course, Welcome to the Occupation is on the We Are Hope Despite the Times playlist on all the normal streamers.

Okay that does it— no Rolex for me, EVER: berto.fyi/46oGBB8 Sponsor: Rolex. Swiss watchmaker may be looking to curry favor with Trump...(tariffs) (Rolex PR has still not replied to Bounce about its motivations for inviting Trump to its U.S. Open suite.) More, The Bounce: berto.fyi/3V7wbQ6 🎾⌚🤣

Well, this is about the best news I’ve read this morning… I still wish there was a way Music could be incorporated into Bluesky posts 🎸

Hilarious. The Simpsons and Stipe!

Lucky enough to spend some blessed time in Scotland the past couple of weeks, and a little in London, Wales and Dublin. Back during lockdown, I often dreamed of that part of the world and realized my internal soundtrack was so many Scottish bands….so I made a playlist:| berto.fyi/Mayhap

Nobody does it better…. but Jason Isbell came close a year ago at the Songwriters Hall of Fame!

Happening here all too fast in real time

What a fun night, the final show of that wonderful #Fables40 tour by such a great group of musicians. And here’s more next year for #Pageant40

Garrett Graff is on point— yes, today is different than before. And it’s on our watch. How’d “the good Germans” let it happen? Like this H/T Dahlia Lithwick: Graff: berto.fyi/4mH6H8w

The man, the myth, the legend and it was only 40 years ago that Joe Boyd produced one of R.E.M.’s most evocative albums, Fables of the Reconstruction, right there in London. Great of him to be there for the show this weekend and the guys were thrilled to meet him and hear his production notes!

Becky Pringle of the NEA, on gutting school lunch and other programs: “These are not abstract numbers. These are real children who show up to school eager to learn but are instead distracted by hunger and uncertainty about when they will eat again. America’s kids deserve better.” berto.fyi/45KsJ2F

Vincent Moon film from R.E.M.’s residency in Dublin 25 years after Chronic Town was released in 1982. Here’s the film on YouTube, where it’s really not been seen all that often given the power and thrill of those shows captured by Vincent Moon himself 🎸 youtu.be/ErdDdjSVk-E?...

A few years ago, Clint Smith wrote How The Word Is Passed , an extraordinary hybrid of history and memoir. He is now a writer at The Atlantic, where this appeared and deserves widespread attention: berto.fyi/45S9x3j

Song of the day, sadly— from the prescient playlist of years gone by berto.fyi/HopeDespiteT...

Lawyer friends and those who care about the rule of law: Ed Pilkington in The Guardian. "The (court) has granted Trump 18 straight victories in the administration’s requests for emergency relief. Steve Vladeck: the rulings have been handed down largely in the legal darkness." berto.fyi/4lEJrXd

I hope/inspiring Amicus podcast on SLATE: “Mark Joseph Stern talks with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who has been on the frontlines of this battle since Day One.” berto.fyi/46UHGl5

Great tour, just getting started, two weeks in the UK 🎸🇬🇧🙏🏼

David Daley on the scourge of modern electoral politics aka the enduring revenge of Chief Justice John Roberts “Roberts pretended that voters can fix gerrymandering by tossing rascals out of office, a remedy that doesn’t take into account how gerrymandering works.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/o...

Does anybody else think it’s strange that our current president mentioned that the deal that will end the war will include “swapping lands” around the same time he confused Alaska as part of Russia?  berto.fyi/4fzSbfM

Public education friends, politics friends, this is the best essay on public education I have read in a long time— thank you Jennifer Berkshire: educationwars.substack.com/p/missing-th...

George friends: Which Republican wannabe “did not vote in several recent elections, and when he was registered in New York in 2020 did not register as a Republican. He also has not donated to Trump’s previous campaigns?” Hmmmm …. (trying for the “moderate” won’t work these days) berto.fyi/ruhroh

All true as far as I remember. Although not sure it was “the Stones plane” (a bit of a blur)

July 31: Happy Birthday Bill Berry: the man, the legend, the stalwart and a whole lot more Photo by Anton Corbijn, St Paul de Vence, 🇫🇷 Sept 1994 Bill “I was looking at Roger Moore, 007 when Anton grabbed that. You might recall that the suave secret agent often took his meals at La Colombe d’Or”

Love this story, the good parts of it anyway. A normal American doing the right thing by his students and ballplayers.

A nice weekend treat: a pal on Blue sky messaged me this l link and I somehow missed it. This has lot of laughs, and a great song too 🎸 R.E.M. on the Colbert Report, April 2008. Paramount I guess, Oh Hi! vimeo.com/1102569068

After a brief departure, I am back as a reluctant subscriber to the Washington Post… but it’s far from what it once was (it’s the people, stupid!)— and I guess the owner’s fine with a badly damaged trophy in service of his greater goals.

A compelling NY Times piece on saying NO to science www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u... Students from unlikely circumstances at NC State, Georgia College and many others, people who’d already done so much to be on their way in various areas of science research. No more, no more….burning the seed corn

For some reason, probably since I don’t watch cartoons (lame I know) I haven’t ever watched South Park but this “1.5 billion dollar problem” described by WIRED is a pretty good essay berto.fyi/3IPzNDn

All kidding aside, the upcoming jailhouse private meeting of the #2 official in the Dept of Justice and the convicted felon Maxwell is very very strange, at best. What could they possibly be up to?

David Graham overnight in the Atlantic: “…CBS’s owners have made a series of decisions capitulating to President Donald Trump, and the surprise choice to allow Colbert—a consistent, prominent Trump critic—to walk seems like part of that pattern.” berto.fyi/4lU7XUE

From an AP analysis “Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec said at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on Saturday he wouldn’t rest ‘until we go full Jan. 6 committee on the Jeffrey Epstein files.’” Full Jan. 6, eh? Here’s a thought: paging Mr. Schiff! berto.fyi/46eWn26 berto.fyi/46eWn26

“The order by the court was unsigned and gave no reasoning, as is typical … no vote count was given, which is usual for emergency orders, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent, joined by the court’s other two liberals, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.” berto.fyi/4lpVo3D

The jokes in the headlines today: “Trump taps Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to be interim NASA chief” “Social Security pulls field office staff to answer overwhelmed phone line” “Trump praises English-speaking Liberian president’s English” “Want Medicaid coverage? Go pick some vegetables”

So good last weekend— Robert Smith and Olivia Rodrigo and her band of kids making Just Like Heaven sound as new and fresh and wonderful as ever: berto.fyi/justlikeheav... Robert seemed to have fun but I think the 20-somethings were even more chuffed!

@theguardian.com’s First Dog on the Moon sometimes really nails it! berto.fyi/4lmPZKg