20 perfect songs

by Luke O'Neil

A man set himself on fire outside of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. and said that he was an active duty member of the Air Force and that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and at a rally in South Carolina on the eve of that state’s primary Donald Trump complained about how bright the stage lights were in his eyes. “I can't see too many people,” he said. “I can only see the Black ones,” he said. “I can't see any white ones,” he said, and Cat Power was singing, “Melt me down into big black armor. Leave no trace of grace. Just in your honor.” 

In Gaza Israeli soldiers had mounted a Mickey Mouse doll they looted from an almost certainly ashened and bloodied child’s belongings on the front of their vehicle and posed for a photo all pointing at it proud of what they had done there. In another photo they had seized a Cabbage Patch Doll and Mojave 3 were singing “There's a light in your eyes that fills me with life. You gotta give what you take.” In Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was taking steps to shut down an El Paso Catholic nonprofit that had been providing housing for migrants which he referred to as “operating a stash house” and “human smuggling.”