Greetings! Some book news to start the day. As CNN’s Reliable Sources newsletter reported today, a major book about Biden’s mental decline is coming May 20 from authors Jake Tapper (CNN) and Alex Thompson (Axios).  Original Sin promises to take a deep dive into the alleged coverup of the mental decline of President Biden whom they describe as an “at times addled old man.” Also: A new book by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) hit retail shelves yesterday.  Seven Things You Can’t Say About China focuses on the grave threat the Asian country poses to the U.S.  I wish he had written “Seven Things You Can’t Say About Russia” and sent an autographed copy to a certain resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…The editorial board of the NY Post advises the Trump administration to dial back the job-slashing triumphalism, in a mild shot across the bow of the DOGE grand poobah.  “Most of the federal workers clock on for the same reasons everyone else does: just to keep a roof over the family’s heads and food on the table, not to ram progressive ideology down our throats,” the editors wrote. “Letting someone go — apart from the most obnoxious of ideologues — is no cause for celebration”…Disgusting: White House press secretary and Trump mouthpiece Karoline Leavitt called Peter Baker, the highly respected chief White House correspondent for the NY Times, a “left-wing stenographer posing as a journalist” in a post on X…The Washington Free Beacon dropped a colorful photographic essay devoted to the bold fashion sense of MSNBC’s just announced weekend anchor Eugene Daniels. With a touch of snark,  the Beacon wonders if the former Politico journalist will face fashion restrictions at MSNBC… If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Song of the week: R.E.M.’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It…Last week’s upside down crash landing of the Delta plane in Toronto is the perfect metaphor for the first month of Donald Trump 2.0…Just askin’: Anyone planning a National Park summer vacation sojourn amidst the DOGE-created bureaucratic chaos that’s shattered nature’s promise of serenity? Also, questioning whether planning a trip to  the Canadian Rockies or to the verdant countryside of any NATO European country is a wise move these days...Time magazine has published a just-the-facts-mam recap of the professional journey through the right wing fever swamps of newly-minted  FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino…Breitbart went overboard gushing about the Dolce & Gabbana tux Melania Trump wore to the National Governors Association Evening White House soiree. Fourteen  photos  of the First Lady are posted on Breitbart. OK, we get the point. She’s great looking presidential arm candy….Foul ball! Real TV journos who collected checks to play themselves in the Netflix political thriller Zero Day did themselves reputational harm.  I’m looking at you Wolf Blitzer, Savannah Guthrie, and Nicolle Wallace.  The six-part series, starring Robert De Niro, centers on a deadly cyberattack that paralyzes a deeply divided nation that has many parallels to the U.S. today.  And therein lies the problem.  TV news stars have had small roles before in movies and series, but never in a show that is similar to situations which they cover on a  daily basis.  To have high-profile news personalities go Hollywood and  play themselves in  “Zero Day” blurs the line between fact and fiction. It damages their credibility in these most serious of times…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard