Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Linda Perry, Stevie Nicks, Caleb Shomo and Conor Oberst

Linda Perry doesn't know how to shut up.  She's supposed to be promoting her new album.   David Cifarelli (MASS LIVE) reports:

Linda Perry wants to help Madonna defend her title as the “Queen of Pop”
Perry has offered to help the pop icon regain her power after she claimed Madonna’s recent album releases have suffered from chasing current trends in the music industry.
“Of late, I feel she is a follower,” Perry said in a recent interview with Consequence. “She’s following the trends. She’s trying to compete with Charlie XCX and this and that. Everything about her seems weak to me and not powerful."

Linda, you've got one song performance to your name.  Madonna's been out there publicly hit making since 1983.  I don't think Madonna's been a follower.  I haven't liked a lot of her stuff in the last 20 years but I haven't felt she was following.  I also don't get where Linda Perry gets off thinking she's this hit maker.  She's not Diane Warren or Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. She's not even David Foster.  But keep trash talking and see how that sells your album.  

David Chiu (FORBES) interviews Annie Zaleski who's got a book on Stevie Nicks which has just come out:

The first time that author Annie Zaleski truly became a Stevie Nicks fan was as a kid in the 1980s, a decade that saw the legendary singer-songwriter in the midst of a successful career as a solo artist and a member of Fleetwood Mac. Although Zaleski’s parents had Fleetwood Mac’s popular 1970s records in their collection, it was the band’s 1987 album Tango in the Night that stuck with her.

“I definitely remember hearing all that stuff on the radio and really loving it, "Everywhere" especially,” she says. “I’m pretty sure I have a tape [that I recorded from the radio] where I have that song in particular kind of fading out because I really like that. I was pretty young at that point. So Stevie and Fleetwood Mac have been with me through my entire life.”
Zaleski channeled her admiration for the music of Nicks, who turns 78 today, into her latest book Stevie Nicks in 50 Songs (published by Running Press), which tells the story of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist through the songs that shaped her life and career, from the 1955 Red Sovine and Goldie Hill song “Are You Mine,” to the 2024 Taylor Swift track “Clara Bow.” In between are anecdotes about some of her key solo and Fleetwood Mac songs such as “Rhiannon,” “Dreams,” “Gold Dust Woman," “Sara,” “Leather and Lace,” “Gypsy,” “I Can’t Wait,” “Talk to Me” and “Planets of the Universe.”
In addition to the main text and many archival images of the singer throughout the years, this immersive book contains sidebars devoted to other aspects of Nicks’ career, including her fashions, collaborations and friendships, causes, and place in pop culture.

[. . .]

Chiu: “Silver Springs” has sort of attained a sense of legend in its own right because it was supposed to be on Rumours, but instead became a B-side for a single. And then it received renewed popularity through the band’s performance of the song for Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 live album The Dance.

Zaleski: They had too many songs [for Rumours], and they left it off. And Stevie always loved the song. This was basically a song that meant a lot to her. What was interesting was that I discovered that one of the things that precipitated her exit from Fleetwood Mac in the late '80s was that she wanted to have this song on a solo compilation. I think it was Mick [Fleetwood] who said, "Nope." And she was like, "All right. I'm quitting the band." So it was just one of these things that it was just that it meant absolutely so much to her.

What’s interesting is that I remember the performance [from The Dance]. But it wasn’t until later when it was on YouTube, and it got passed around, that it took on a lot more significance, where Stevie’s kind of singing the song directly to Lindsey — as I put it, like working things out on the remix, literally right there in real time.

Back to  David Cifarelli who also reports on Caleb Shomo:


Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo revealed that he is gay in an Instagram post on Saturday, May 23.
“There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late and I feel compelled to set the record straight before it affects those I love any further,” Shomo, 33, wrote.

“I am a proudly gay man,” the singer continued. “This is something I’ve been unpacking and reckoning with in my life for quite some time now. It’s been difficult to navigate the feelings surrounding the subject and figure out what to do with this fact.”
Shomo went on to say he “spent a decade burying feelings with alcohol” and that he “decided to put it down and focus on exploring why I felt this way for so long.”

“It’s been a direct path to me reconciling with my sexuality in hopes that it will eventually lead to me experiencing self love,” Shomo wrote, adding that he made a vow to express himself “whole heartedly and fully” on his forthcoming album.

“Wherever it takes me I will follow and I refuse to water any part of it down, from the music, to the lyrical content, and way I portray myself,” he wrote.

Good for him.  Lastly, Steven J. Horowitz (VARIETY) reports: 

Conor Oberst was only on the third song of "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday evening when he came to reflect on how the world has - or, more pointedly, hasn't - changed in the 21 years since the album's release. "It's this much later and we're in a war in the Middle East for the sake of rich people getting richer," he told the audience as he cued up "Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)," a tune about attending a rally or protest in the Bush era, possibly about the Iraq war.
It's easy to remember Bright Eyes' earlier fare as dulcet and poetic; songs like "First Day of My Life" and "Lua" turned ruminations on love and heartbreak into resonant indie touchstones. But Bright Eyes' performance at the Bowl was a reminder that the more things change, the more they tend to stay the same. Alongside longtime collaborators, Oberst took over the iconic venue on Saturday to celebrate Bright Eyes' simultaneously-released albums "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn," commemorating the 21st anniversary of both records in a display of millennial nostalgia and a refreshed yet just-as-fiery condemnation of Trump's government, much in the way that they'd bemoaned the Bush administration two decades ago.

Oberst has, of course, been a frank and outspoken critic of the state of America dating back to his band's ascent in the early aughts. By the time Bright Eyes released the stylistically opposed albums in January 2005, he'd established himself as something of his generation's poet laureate, compared in reviews at the time to Bob Dylan and commended (or, as often, lambasted) for his loquacious lyrics dotted with two-dollar words. (Much of that generation, it should be noted, owes Oberst a debt of gratitude for adding "despondent" to their vocabulary.)

Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, May 27, 2026.  Chump continues to destroy the economy while his administration continues to lie about it, he wants to impose NDAs on all federal workers, and much more.





That's Ben breaking down the latest on Iran this morning for MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

Chump's losing in Iran and his economy is losing as well.  Steve Benen (MS NOW) notes:


For reasons that have never been altogether clear, Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he’s successfully lowered the price of groceries. American consumers know better, and their perceptions are bolstered by real-world data. The Hill reported last week, “Federal inflation data confirms what you may have been feeling already: Groceries are getting more expensive. Unfortunately, things may be about to get a whole lot worse, economists are warning.”
A few days later, a national CNN poll found that 61% of Americans said they’ve had to cut back on groceries due to price concerns.

Feeding a family currently may take some creativity.  Cam Deal (THE COOL DOWN) reports:

A simple grocery-store habit is getting fresh attention online: buying soon-to-expire food at a discount and freezing it before it goes bad.

For budget-conscious shoppers, the appeal is straightforward. The strategy can turn markdown meat, deli items, and prepared foods into meals that cost a fraction of full price.

In a recent post on Reddit's r/Frugal forum, one shopper said they make "a lap around the grocery store" to look for foods nearing their sell-by date and stock up when markdowns are steep.




Memorial Day is supposed to feel like a victory lap into summer: gas tank full, cooler packed, suitcase in the trunk. This year, it feels like sticker shock. A snapshot circulated by Ed Elson, host of the Prof G Markets podcast, on X on May 25, lined up seven everyday inflation categories against last year's holiday weekend and the numbers landed with a thud.
The headline movers: gas up 28%, flights up 21%, coffee up 18%, beef up 16%, hot dogs up 11%, hotels up 4%. The surprise sitting atop the pile is tomatoes. A pound of tomatoes costs 40% more than it did last Memorial Day, the largest single move in the data set and a number that's gotten very little airtime so far.



Texas BBQ joints are getting smoked by skyrocketing beef prices, with some saying the iconic Texas brisket boom could be headed for a painful bust — forcing owners to consider raising prices, changing menus or even shutting down.

“This is as bad as it gets,” Houston pitmaster Russell Roegels told The Washington Post. (1)“Everybody’s at risk these days. You’re one bad week from closing.”
Roegels, owner of Roegels Barbecue Co., says in the past year, the wholesale price he pays for brisket has shot up by 28% to $5.56 per pound. He recently raised his menu prices for brisket by 6% to $35 per pound, but fears that could drive customers away.

And he’s not the only one who is worried. The meat-price crisis has already pushed several Texas barbecue spots out of business, including Brett’s BBQ Shop, Kirby’s BBQ, Sabar BBQ and Wright on Taco & BBQ.


In Portland, they're feeling it as well.  Tim Cebula (PRESS HERALD) reports:

To explain the dilemma of setting menu prices in the current economic climate, Isaac MacDougal points to limes.

“A couple months ago, a case of limes was $50,” said MacDougal, founder of Cocktail Mary and co-owner of Supper Club Cocktail Lounge. Now, because of drought and supply chain kinks, it’s over $100. He figures when you factor in the labor cost to squeeze big batches, “the lime juice in a cocktail is more expensive, a lot of time, than the spirit that goes into it.”

But soaring food costs are just one piece of the puzzle for restaurant and bar owners struggling to keep their menu prices in check. Since the pandemic, they’ve been at the mercy of upsurges to practically all of their costs, including labor, rent, utilities, taxes, insurance, swipe fees and packaging.



Since Trump regained office in January 2025, food inflation has increased 3.16%.

Trump ran on a platform to “defeat inflation,” but, as food prices climbed, he said affordability was a “con job.”

Part of the reason for higher food prices is the war Trump started with Iran, which predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route. The war has led to high gas prices across the country, and food prices have followed suit.

Recently, Trump was asked whether “Americans’ financial situations” affected his decision-making when it came to ending the war in Iran, according to NBC News.

“Not even a little bit,” Trump replied.

Trump said the “only thing that matters” is stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” he added. “I don’t think about anybody.”



But  Chump and his administration are thinking about it now and they're lying about it.  Brendan Rascius (INDEPENDENT) reports:


As Americans grapple with rising prices at gas pumps and grocery stores, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser has framed elevated consumer spending as a sign of the country’s resilience.

During an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett doubled down on his upbeat view of the economy, arguing that the knock-on effects of the Iran war are only a “temporary circumstance.”
“While people have been spending more money at gas stations, they’ve been spending more money on everything else, which means that they’re still very, very optimistic about the state of the economy, and they should be,” Hassett told Maria Bartiromo, while grinning outside the White House.

What a moron.  What an idiot.  Kevin Hassett is a fool if he thinks the American people are stupid enough to fall for that.  They've been "spending more money on everything else" because "everything else" is also soaring.  Ruth Igielnik (NEW YORK TIMES) reported Saturday:

Concern about rising prices has reached a fever pitch as Americans sit down to Memorial Day barbecues across the country. A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents said that they had changed their purchases from grocery stores to stay within budget in the last several months, according to polling from CNN.

Another 59 percent of Americans said they had cut back on extras and entertainment.

More than three quarters of Americans, including 55 percent of Republicans, said President Trump’s policies had increased the cost of living in their community.

Survey after survey has found that Americans are feeling growing financial uncertainty. Nearly half of all voters gave the economy the lowest rating, “poor,” in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, up 11 percentage points since January.

And economic confidence has hit a four-year low, according to Gallup.


Kevin Hassett better accept the reality that the American people are not buying the lies that he is selling.  

 
And things could get worse.  Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:

A growing number of CEOs suspect a market crash is imminent but have been “scared” to say so publicly out of fear of retaliation from President Donald Trump, and on Tuesday, one security expert warned that such a crash may not only be imminent, but “permanent.”

“If nothing is done about the current situation, Trump’s looming recession could blow a deep hole in the economy,” warned former Homeland Security senior official Miles Taylor in an analysis published Tuesday on his Substack. “So deep that – if it happens before we’re ready – many folks may never be able to crawl back out. That’s because two explosions could hit the U.S. economy at the same time.”


Chump doesn't care about the average American.  He cares about building his ballroom and he cares about creating his slush fund.  










He cares about his slush fund, he just doesn't care about the average American.  He's too busy figuring out ways to enrich his own pocket to actually focus on the needs of the American people. 



“The GOP is in a silent state of panic.” That’s what a former 2016 and 2020 top Trump presidential campaign official told me this morning. And you don’t need a Princeton PhD in political science to understand why. The president's political position as of late May 2026 is the worst of his career, and the people inside his own party who track these numbers professionally have stopped pretending otherwise. 
The most recent aggregate of Gallup, Reuters/Ipsos, YouGov, Quinnipiac, and Morning Consult places Trump's approval at 38.6 percent against 58.2 percent disapproval, a net rating of minus 19.6 that exceeds anything either of Trump's terms has produced before. 

The New York Times/Siena College poll conducted between May 11 and May 15 recorded the highest disapproval figure in the survey's history at 59 percent. 

An AP/NORC poll conducted between May 14 and May 18 registered a 22-point net increase in disapproval, with only 38 percent of respondents approving of the president's job performance compared to 60 percent disapproving.
These are not soft margins driven by sampling noise. 

The Reuters/Ipsos, Marist, AP-NORC, and YouGov surveys are independently arriving at the same picture from different methodological positions, which is the polling pattern that tends to precede a genuine political crisis rather than the kind of temporary slump that recovers within a news cycle or two.

The American people get it  Chump is corrupt and focused on enriching himself.  Everything he does is about bringing in funds to himself.  Michael Luciano (MEDIAITE) notes:

“Trump brought the NVIDIA CEO on his trip to China to lobby Xi Jinping to buy advanced AI chips, even though it would create a U.S. national security threat,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted on Friday, referring to the president’s trip to China, where he was accompanied by Jensen Huang and other U.S. business executives, as well as Eric Trump, who has business ties to the Chinese Communist Party. “It turns out Trump also bought millions in NVIDIA’s stock.”

Eric Trump responded to the post by saying all family assets are in a blind trust and are “in broad market indexes,” as opposed to individual stocks:


All of our assets are invested in a blind trust by the largest financial institutions in broad market indexes. To suggest that individual stocks are being bought or sold, at the discretion of any member of the Trump family, would be a lie and blatantly false. Using a silly example, if you buy the “Schwab 1000,” you will get some exposure to Nvidia – as well as a 1,000 other U.S. companies large- and mid-cap stocks. It’s completely disingenuous to represent anything to the contrary. Please be better than this…


Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) responded by linking to the disclosure signed by Donald Trump himself.

“Outright lies,” Beyer said. “Trump’s assets aren’t in a blind trust, and he bought and sold individual Nvidia stock in 15 separate transactions totaling millions of dollars. That’s what Trump’s financial disclosure – which has his signature – says. See for yourself.”

The disclosure, which is 113 pages long, shows 2,345 purchases, mostly of individual stocks, and 1,296 sales, mostly of individual stocks.

According to Fortune, Donald Trump is the first president since at least Lyndon Johnson to trade individual securities. Since Johnson, every president has placed their assets in a blind trust managed by independent trustees. Trump claimed during his first term that his assets were kept in such an arrangement, but Fortune noted that Walter Shaub, the head of the Office of Government Ethics, resigned in July 2017 and concluded that the blind trust was “not even halfway blind.”



Chump is a con man and a liar.  And both count on silence to get away with their actions.  It's for that reason that Chump is now attempting to gag the federal workforce.  Alex Woodward (INDEPENDENT) reports:


Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a government-wide mandate to require all federal workers to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent the spread of “confidential government information” to journalists.

Tuesday’s draft notice of the proposal would require new and existing workers to sign an agreement to “safeguard” a broad range of government information from reaching the public after a series of high-profile “leaks” to news organizations.
The document broadly defines “confidential government information” to include a vast amount of information, documents and communications beyond typical classified and unclassified labels.


No.  No, you piece of garbage, Chump.  You're not going to do that to our federal workforce.  You're not going to hide from sunshine laws.  You are human garbage and you will remain in the sewer but you're not going to drag our government down with you.  Brianna Tucker (HUFFINGTON POST) adds that the big exposures came from Chump's own people like Pete Hegseth::


The controversial form is a stark contrast to the way confidential information has been handled within the Trump administration, from contractors to cabinet officials.

Last year, cabinet officials accidentally texted the top editor of The Atlantic about active military strike plans on an app the Pentagon had just warned was being targeted by Russia.

Federal investigations and court filings earlier this year also revealed that DOGE operatives improperly accessed, shared, and stored sensitive personal data while working inside federal agencies.



It's a tactic Trump has deployed for years. During his first term, he became the first president to require private sector-style NDAs from White House staff — senior aides and interns alike. Legal scholars at Cornell Law School called those agreements likely unconstitutional.

His most famous NDA battle came with former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who refused to sign a post-departure NDA tied to a $15,000-a-month campaign job offer — an agreement that would have barred her from disclosing details of her White House tenure. She wrote a tell-all book instead. An arbitrator later ruled the NDA "invalid" and its terms "vague and unenforceable."

Legal experts have long warned that the government cannot impose NDAs on federal employees for unclassified information, no matter how sensitive or embarrassing. Critics warn that the sweeping language in the new proposal could be weaponized to suppress whistleblowers and shield government misconduct from public scrutiny.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed rule before it can be finalized.



Adam Lynch informs on the social media reaction to Chump's latest nonsense:

Social media critics whaled on the proposal, with the Freedom of the Press Foundation calling it “not just absurd, it’s unnecessary and dangerously secretive.”

“This policy would kneecap whistleblower protections, undermine the First Amendment, and wrongly inhibit the public’s right to know,” the association added on Bluesky.

Washington D.C. attorney Bradley Moss also blasted the proposal on Bluesky: “Federal employees operate under an array of statutory, regulatory and policy restrictions on the unauthorized disclosure of unclassified information. The only reason to add this NDA would be to undercut lawful … disclosures to the media that SCOTUS approved.”
Former U.S. diplomat William Gill pointed out on X that “This obviously begs the question, what are they trying to hide now? Federal employees are barred from unauthorized disclosures of classified information but they’re also covered by whistleblower protections regarding waste, fraud and abuse. That’s the likely area being targeted.”


Chump is an anchor around the necks of the GOP going into the midterms and he's not their only problem.  Their own mouths are getting them into trouble as well.  For example, Troy Matthews (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reports:


Republican Senator Jon Husted voted for Trump's One Big Beautiful Budget bill which threw half-a-million people off of Medicaid in his state of Ohio, then he said those who lost their healthcare access didn't deserve to be on the program in the first place. He later reiterated his support for kicking people off their healthcare by saying on a radio interview, "I love doing that kind of stuff."
[. . .]
“Jon Husted is once again saying the quiet part out loud, claiming the half a million Ohioans he’s kicking off their health care are not people who deserve health care coverage," Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Tony Wen said in a statement. "Jon Husted could not be more out of touch with the people of Ohio, and they will vote him out in November.”

Husted was appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to fill the Senate seat vacated in 2025 by JD Vance. He is running to be elected U.S. Senator from Ohio in his right in November.



Let's wind down with this from Senator Ron Wyden's office:


Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted against advancing the 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act out of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he announced today.

“The bill is a dramatic retreat for congressional oversight, at precisely the moment when scrutiny of Intelligence Community activities is needed most,” Wyden said. “This bill would deny the U.S. Senate any opportunity to scrutinize and vet key Intelligence Community leaders. It also omits critical, bipartisan whistleblower protections that have been included in the Committee-reported bill for years. The Committee’s retreat from its long-standing bipartisan approach to whistleblower protection legislation is especially troubling during an administration that commits so many abuses.”

Wyden highlighted multiple troubling provisions in the bill:

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the general counsels of the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. At a time of rampant lawbreaking by the Trump Administration, it is especially troubling that the only Intelligence Community general counsels currently subject to Senate confirmation - the people responsible for offering legal advice on secret, potentially controversial intelligence activities - would be appointed without any congressional or public input or scrutiny.

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center at a time in which the Center is expanding its activities into the realm of domestic law enforcement, particularly through the NCTC Intelligence Fusion Center, in a manner that poses a real danger to Americans’ rights.

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, even as the bill puts the Director in charge of a new Intelligence Community Counterintelligence Office in the Department of Commerce, a wrongheaded and unnecessary expansion of the Intelligence Community.

  • The bill also excludes a critically important provision that was included in last year’s bill that stated that, if a company wants to be an Intelligence Community contractor, it can’t also be a data broker selling the location data of intelligence officers.

###









The following sites -- plus Ann's "The corrupt fish rots from the head," Ruth's "Chump The Miserable," Kat's "Linda Perry gets on my bad side" and Betty's "Crooked Clarence Thomas of the Crooked Court"  -- updated:




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