This just in

If it’s news to you, it’s news to us

Here are some recent headlines you may have missed if you don’t follow me on social media ….

Thurston Howell III defends Trump’s record after administration levies 50% tariff on exports from Gilligan’s Island.

Following U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s record-setting 25-hour speech, Martin Scorsese announces a plan to release a director’s cut with five additional hours of footage.

The creation of a new major league for women has raised hopes that Pittsburgh could someday get a professional baseball team.

The business genius appointed to trim the U.S. government has found new efficiencies; he’s trimmed $11B in the value of his own company.

Facing protests, Sens. McCormick and Fetterman canceled plans for an afternoon of mutual manual stimulation; they instead spent Saturday doing one of their other favorite joint activities, punching hippies.

After President Trump objected to the official painting of him that was displayed in the Colorado State Capitol, calling it “distorted,” the governor has unveiled a new, more accurate portrait.

Newly declassified documents have identified the leader of the 1963 conspiracy to assassinate JFK.

You guessed it: Frank Stallone.

And finally (and I mean that, as Michael Feldman would say), “The Passion of the Christ 2” will begin filming in August.

According to a leaked script, in the new film, Jesus (Jim Caviezel) avenges His crucifixion armed only with shards of the true cross, a crown of thorns and a high-powered automatic rifle. Also stars Scott Baio as Pontius Pilate, Jon Voight as Herod and Dean Cain as Simon Peter.

Remember, when news breaks out, we break in on Action Central Pulse Beat News!

More news any moment … More news any moment … More news any moment …

Program notes

Coming up this Saturday (March 29), I’ll be at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and I’ll be talking to the organizers about several films that include pop, rock, soul and other genres of music. I’ll also be talking to my friend, Vince, who’s featured in one of the films.

If you have a music request for this Saturday, you’ll have to queue up early, as Phil Musick used to say. I won’t be able to take any phone calls during the show.

Next Saturday (April 5) is Spring Carnival weekend at Carnegie Mellon University, home of our flagship station, WRCT 88.3 FM. That means the first part of the show will likely be pre-empted on WRCT for coverage of CMU’s sweepstakes races; we’ll start the whole show at the usual time on Tube City Online Radio.

Good Lord willing, my plans are to broadcast the April 5 show from the WRCT studios on the CMU campus (in the basement of the concrete-reinforced and blast-proof Cohon Community Broadcast Bunker), rather than from our giant revolving rooftop ballroom in McKeesport.

So if you’re coming to CMU for the spring carnival, please stop by between 12 and 3 p.m. and meet me, CMU’s oldest living juvenile delinquent. I may even have some kind of crappy trinket to give away.

Also on the April 5 show, we’ll hopefully be talking to folks from Thurber House, the historic home of cartoonist, author and humorist James Thurber in Columbus, Ohio. We’re no relation but considering I stole my DJ name from him 20-plus years ago, I’m a considerable fan. Thurber House is currently suffering from some financial difficulties, so I’ll be asking what the public can do to help.

Step 1: Admit you are powerless over eating people’s faces

They say the program works if you work the program

Inc. Magazine:

In America, a profound sense of betrayal is taking root. Many supporters of President Donald Trump are suffering economic distress instead of the prosperity Trump promised. Escalating tariffs and massive government layoffs are causing them to question the choices they made at the ballot box.

Betrayed Trump voters have many reasons they voted for him: They expected him to cut waste and fraud and get criminals off the streets. Some Trump voters regret believing him when he distanced himself from Project 2025.

In case you don’t understand the meme:

Free Prime Two-Day Shipping on Authoritarianism

Dude, when you said “Democracy Dies in Darkness” we didn’t know it was your mission statement

From The Guardian (U.K.):

Jeff Bezos, the self-proclaimed “hands-off” owner of the Washington Post, emailed staffers this morning about a change he is applying to the paper’s opinion section that appears to align the newspaper more closely with the political right.

“I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages. We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” Bezos said.

“We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others. There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.”

Bezos’s decision to inject more regular and weighty conservative theming will also see the departure of opinions editor David Shipley, although it was immediately unclear if he was fired for resisting Bezos’s direction, or chose to resign.

Editorial from the Clarksdale Press-Register

A judge in Clarksdale, Miss., has ordered the local newspaper not to publish this editorial after local city commission members found it “defamatory.”

It is the opinion of this blog that the local city commission in Clarksdale, Miss., is brain-damaged, and the city attorney is a jive-ass turkey.

Is that defamatory? Come at me, City of Clarksdale, Miss. I need the publicity.

EDITORIAL: Secrecy, deception erode public trust

By THE PRESS REGISTER
Sat,02/08/25-3:00AM, 1,189 Reads

Your Clarksdale Press Register will be the first to say that a sin tax that would pay police to fight crime in Clarksdale is a good idea.

So why did the City of Clarksdale fail to go to the public with details about this idea before it sent a resolution to the Mississippi Legislature seeking a two-percent tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco?

Mayor Chuck Espy has always touted how “open” and “transparent” he is and he is “not like previous administrations of the past 30 years.”

So why did Espy seek a Special Called Meeting of the Board of Mayor and Commissioners to finalize details of this move?

The notice was posted at city hall as required by law and said stated the city would “give appropriate notice thereof to the media.”

This newspaper was never notified. We know of no other media organization that was notified.

But back to what the city was trying to do.

Yes, there are deadlines for submitting legislation to Jackson. But this tax has been discussed in at least two meetings and has been reported in the pages of your Clarksdale Press Register.

Have commissioners or the mayor gotten kick-back from the community? Until Tuesday we had not heard of any. Maybe they just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea – at public expense.

As with all legislation, the devil is in the details and how legislation often morphs into something else that benefits somebody else.

An idea that sought to pay police higher wages for the toughest job in any community is admirable. But the way the resolution sought by the city of Clarksdale is now written gives us cause for concern.

The money – our money – can now be spent to “support and promote public safety, crime prevention and continued economic growth in the city.”

Does that mean the fire department, 911, Chamber of Commerce and their pet projects?

Does that promotion mean, giving away candy at Halloween, toy giveaways at Christmas and hosting events where politicians can hand out goody bags to votersin the name of safety?

This newspaper feels the original intent serves the purpose of all – putting police on the streets of Clarksdale.

More police will lead to more patrols, more patrols will lead to more arrests, more arrests will lead to less crime and less crime will make us all feel safer in our homes and neighborhoods.

Our Clarksdale Board of Mayor and Commissioners have stumped their toe on this one. They took a good idea, let their focus drift, and made us suspicious.

-30-

Coming this year to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Good seats still available! Tickets on sale now at the box office, or charge by phone at TrumpMaster

Photo: Anita Mishra via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Dear Supporter:

It’s another exciting year for us here at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, now under new, dynamic management under the inspired leadership of the greatest president in American history. Presenting over 2,000 performing arts shows and events each year, all of which are 100 percent certified as “woke-free,” the Kennedy Center is a vibrant campus celebrating patriotic American values and not the degenerate arts of coastal elites.

We invite you to check out all of this year’s colorful events, including these newly announced shows:

March 1-15: Women’s History Month celebration of Leni Riefenstahl

April 4-21: Kid Rock presents Wagner’s “Ring Cycle”

May 1-15: Kanye West presents “A Salute to Jewish Heritage Month”

June 7-20: “Mark Levin TONIGHT!!!”: a one-man show starring Ted Nugent

July 4-10: World Premiere of “NASCAR: The Opera” by Lee Greenwood

Aug. 7-21: Kevin Sorbo stars in “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Special guest star Caitlyn Jenner as Mary Magdalene.

Sept. 1-30: Scott Baio and Patricia Heaton in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I.”

Oct. 15-30: “The Poetry of Sylvester Stallone.” Includes meet-and-greet with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Light refreshments (raw milk and mixed-roadkill grill) will be served.

Nov. 6-13: Screenings of “The Birth of a Nation,” digitally remastered, with live accompaniment from the Liberty University Symphony Orchestra.

Dec. 1-15: “A Christmastime Comedy Salute to Mr. George Wallace”* (* NOTE: this show pays tribute to the former Alabama governor, not the comedian. No refunds will be issued.)

And don’t forget to check out our online gift shop for savings of 14 to 88 percent. Use promo code DOGE420.

Sincerely,
Your New Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts