First, though, good news for Republicans, as signs are showing that the rift between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is beginning to soften. Musk deleted the Epstein and impeachment allegations from his X platform, while Donald Trump, when asked about taking back the symbolic White House key he gifted to Musk, responded: I don't take things back, I gave him a key, he tried very hard, praising the efforts of DOGE.
About Vladimir Putin's revenge strikes against Ukraine, he launched hundreds of drones....killing maybe four. But how accurate were Ukraine damage to Russian bombers? NBC says maybe only half of the 40 cited were damaged, and some not totally. Still, Putin hasn't quite yet ended his retaliation campaign, for Ukraine's foray was truly remarkable.
Yesterday, I alerted you to two productions on television. One of them was Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway's Best by PBS. Watched it. First, this was originally shown in 2023. Second, it was disappointing. With only a couple of highlight moments, there were little to no nostalgic moment going back to 1973. All the singing and dancing were live with performers from today. I wanted to see real footage of Memories from Cats, and so forth. Also surprised that there so few truly great songs from that 52-year period. My sense is that there more in the decade of the 50's than the recent half a century.
The second TV extravaganza I indicated yesterday was the live telecast of George Clooney as the pioneering CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow during the period of the Red Scare in the 50s. You can watch Good Night, and Good Luck on CNN at 7PM EDT. This is being promoted as unprecedented, in that this would be the first time ever, any Broadway show is shown live on television. Further, TV critic David Bianculli indicated that this will be the TV event of the season.
- There were two in U.S. history.
The first one occurred immediately after World I, and revolved around a perceived threat from the American labor movement, as was happening in German and Russia.
The second scare came after World War II, and is also known as McCarthyism, for this was the period when Senator Joseph McCarthy spread fear of communist espionage, the Soviet Union began occupying Eastern Europe, there was that Berlin Blockade, the Chinese communists won their civil war and the outbreak of the Korean War.
- The Communist Party of the USA had 66,000 members in 1939, so in 1940, the U .S. Congress legislated the Alien Registration Act. While created to combat communism, this is the act used to send 120,000 Japanese to internment camps, two-thirds of them citizens of the U.S.
President Harry Truman in 1947 signed the Federal Employees Loyalty Program, leading to 2,700 dismissals and 12,000 resignations, all for links with the Soviet Union.
Committees from both houses of Congress began conducting character investigations of possible American communists.- The House Committee on Un-American Activities had special interest in the Hollywood entertainment industry.
Senator Joseph McCarthy focused on potential American communists, indicating that spies were omnipresent and raising particular unrealistic fears, with little or no evidence. This led to the Senate calling for a full investigation.
Senator Pat McCarran (D., Nevada) introduced the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 to restrict civil liberties. Much of this act was eventually repealed, but note that the Las Vegas airport was once called McCarran. In 2021 this was changed to the Harry Reid International Airport, for Pat McCarran had left a legacy of anti-Semitism and racism.
The scare itself after the war was spurred by the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1953), the trial of Alger Hiss, the creation of the Iron Curtain around Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test.- There was a power struggle between FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and the CIA.
Senator Daniel Moynihan revealed overwhelming proof of Soviet spy networks in America.- The formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and Korean War in 1950 spurred an especial investigation of Chinese and Korean descent in these investigations.
The Cincinnati Reds temporarily renamed themselves the Redlegs.- In this environment, Senator McCarthy's overreaction seemed to distract the reality, and forced anti-communists like Senator Moynihan to criticize McCarthy. In 1950, President Truman called Senator McCarty "the greatest asset the Kremlin has."
There was fear of America suffering from a nuclear attack and the danger of the Communist Party in the U.S.- As an aside, a classmate of mine in high school was one of a few American students who traveled to Moscow. When he returned, what seemed most significant was that the people in the Soviet Union were a lot more fearful of the USA dropping bombs on them.
So that was the backdrop of the times for Good Night, and Good Luck. If you can't watch this CNN special now, record it. 1PM EDT. No doubt, though, that this program will be regularly re-telecast.- Incidentally, there is now a New Red Scare involving Chinese graduate students. Essentially, this is what is happening. Students are allowed to come to the U.S., but, using their families as hostages, these students are forced to feed back key info on AI, etc., or else. The result is that soon after 2000, 71% of Chinese graduates remained to make a life in the U.S. But this dropped to only 30% a decade ago. This number is further declining now.
A few other bits of news.
- Coco Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka in an epic battle for the French Tennis Open. Sabalenka is currently rated #1. However, the now 21 year old Gauff has actually now beaten Sabalenka (27) 6 out of 11 times when they have met. American men Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe were eliminated in the quarter finals.
Time's version of the 10 best songs of 2025 so far. Don't know any of them, but if you clicked on that link, you can see them, and watch the performances. If you don't want to do that, here is one, Elderberry Wine, by North Carolina band Wednesday. What about Bad Bunny's DtMF?
I woke up this morning and happened to see The Trashmen's Surfin' Bird. I have some history with this song.- I was in college at Stanford. A San Jose radio station went off the air. For their final 24 hours they only played Surfin' Bird. I thought that was great. You know, I kind of like this song.
It was only #9 in Rolling Stone's Worst Songs of the Sixties. Again, click on that and you can view them all. #10 was Tiny Tim's Tiptoe Through the Tulips. That was truly bad. #1 was Ohio Express' Yummy Yummy Yummy. Actually, not terrible. Kind of liked most of them in this list, like The Archies Sugar Sugar and Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe.
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