"Lincoln Caused WWII" -Columbia Prof, Candidate's Father, Superman Signals Major Culture Shift, Spotify Erasing Real Artists for AI? (The Five for 07/11/25)
Plus, 90's ska icons return. Dropkick Murphys are fresh as ever,
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter, but don’t always make the front page.
I had a couple of questions come in about my first novel, THE DEERE PIPELINE: A Midwestern Prairie Tale of Opioids, Murder…and Farm Equipment
Quick responses/updates:
A. I wrote the first 1/3 of the novel by hand, and I’m using AI to match my tone and help me finish faster with the ideas already in my head.
B. The plot is 100% me, so is the vast majority of the dialogue. The AI is helping to construct some of the scenery. Much of the dialogue is spoken into AI, because I can talk faster than I can type.
C. Assuming this goes well, I’ll be offering this service to clients…give me a bunch of voice notes, and I can write full, high quality book for you in a couple of months.
D. You’ll have the option to download it for free…so if you don’t like it, you didn’t lose much.
With that being said, let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Music YouTuber Rick Beato (producer for Shinedown & NEEDTOBREATHE, #1 songwriter in country music) told podcast host Chris Williamson that Spotify may soon push loads of AI music…to avoid paying artists.
“Spotify is already pushing AI generated … a lot of it is kind of light jazz or atmospheric music and things like that. But now they have this thing I just made a video on about this band, the Velvet Sundown that's, they've purported to be a fake band that has AI looking pictures and AI sounding songs. I always have said in my videos, every time I've made many videos on ai.”
“If Spotify can put out AI fake artists and people stream it and they’re perfectly okay with it, and then not pay artists that are getting streamed as well because they’re… and then it just increases the incentive for them to fill their playlist with fake artists.”
“But now what’s happened is that there’s this artist that may or may not be fake. The Velvet Sundown that has a verified symbol on Spotify, and they have a second record, even though there’s no record of these people… kinda looks like a fake bio. There’s no record of these people. Uh, and they have another record coming out in two weeks, a second record. And no one’s coming forward saying it’s us. Now, if this was a marketing ploy, this is actually a very smart thing.”
“People are saying in the comments and the video I just made yesterday, well, these are all bots that are on here. It’s got, um, over 600,000 followers now on Spotify in a week. Went from zero to 600,000. It’s crazy.”
“I said, eventually there’s gonna be The Beatles and The Beatles AI and Prince and Prince AI and Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson AI. There’ll be songs that are trained on their music, on the multi-tracks that are controlled by whoever owns the publishing. They’ll license this stuff out and there will be people that say, you know what? I like Michael Jackson AI better than Michael Jackson. That will happen. There are gonna be people that like AI music and they’re perfectly fine with it.”
I can only hope (and probably be wrong) that the public will reject this garbage.
[two]
You know that Communist guy running for NYC Mayor…well, his dad (a prof at Columbia) thinks Abraham Lincoln caused WWII.
Uhhh…wut?
“America is the genesis of what we call settler-colonialism around the world. With the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln generalized the solution of reservations — they herded American Indians into separate territories. For the Nazis, this was the inspiration. Hitler realized two things: one, that genocide is doable. It is possible to do genocide, that’s what Hitler realized. Second thing Hitler realized is that you don’t have to have a common citizenship. The Nazi political project was shared by the Allies, and that political project was to turn Germany into a ‘pure’ nation. When the Allies defeated the Nazis and went into Eastern Europe, they began to create ‘pure’ nations — to ethnically cleanse Eastern Europe of Germans and move them back into Germany. One crime doesn’t wipe out another.”
Holy airball, as they say on social media.
Let’s untangle this.
A. Andrew Jackson, who should never be forgiven for this particular part of his Presidency, broke all treaties with the Indian tribes and established reservations.
B. While the Civil War was in full swing, The Dakota tribe in Minnesota (not in North or South Dakota, which is kinda confusing) attacked settlers.
C. The Union Army sentenced 303 Dakota men to die with next to no due process (the death sentences were decided in minutes). Lincoln personally stepped in and reviewed the evidence. He sentenced 38 men to death for the most egregious crimes (rape and murder of civilians, including women and children).
D. Hitler never talked about Abraham Lincoln.
E. After WWII, most of the Nurenberg trials were never finished, because we got busy getting into a cold war with the USSR. Most Nazis walked. They were not treated unfairly…they were treated far too leniently, with war criminals re-entering society because America was distracted by another global threat.
So, the elder Mamdani is either completely ignorant to American history, or really just wants to tear down the cornerstones of the West.
[three]
The decision to have kids (or not to) is becoming an increasingly political topic, and one that’s been debased to really dumb talking points.
But a new memoir from a “lifelong nomad” gives a more nuanced look at a complex issue.
From Outside Magazine:
Coffey’s books are honest, full of inquiry, and beautifully written. But what intrigued me about Instead is the hard-earned wisdom: It’s one thing to proclaim the joys of a child-free life as a twenty- or thirty-something influencer. It’s another thing to examine that life as a septuagenarian facing old age without any biological offspring. Perspectives change as we age—was Coffey still happy with her decision?
“Yes I am,” Coffey told me in an email. But there are caveats. “It was only around my mid-sixties, when I realized others were seeing me as elderly, that I began to think about the reality of being old and child-free, and fear started creeping in. What happens to old child-free nomads when they get really old?”
Legit. To be fair, if you have kids, they could grow up to hate you, especially with Gen Z cutting off their family of origin as a social media trend.
In Canada, Coffey falls in love with Goering, a veterinarian five years her junior who wants five children. His wish forces her to face her fears around motherhood that “are rooted in loss,” she writes. After Tasker’s death, she writes: “I understood there was no way to defend oneself against such pain, except not to love so deeply….No matter how I tried to rationalize it, the thought of having a child, of opening myself up to the possibility of the worst kind of bereavement, terrified me.”
The couple delay their decision to have kids and instead set off around the world on a tandem kayaking journey. The years tick off as they survive many near-misses while paddling, Goering’s cerebral malaria in the Solomon Islands, and a riot in Kenya. They start an adventure travel company to feed their wanderlust. In lieu of having her own kids, Maria forms bonds with children along the way, like Agnes, a Samburu girl from Kenya who she helps support through university and who calls her “mother.”
So…despite being afraid to have kids, Coffey falls into the role anyway, with a quasi-adopted Kenyan daughter.
I picked up Coffey’s book hoping that it would be a ringing endorsement of a child-free life. But I quickly realized that Coffey is too honest to oversimplify such a fundamental, complex choice. What she offers instead is an articulate grappling with the great cosmic irony of being a woman: whether you bear one child, many children, adopt, or have none at all, each of these decisions will bring joy and pain. This reality should bond, rather than separate women, no matter which path we choose.
“Having a child is taking a big risk,” Coffey wrote me in an email. “Deciding not to have children is also a risk. Life is a risk. You have to follow your own heart, trust your gut instincts. Don’t make the decision to make someone else happy. Make it entirely for yourself.”
Slow. Clap.
This is a much more complex, honest look at the decision to have children (or the decision not to) than the “we’re DINKS” (Dual Income No Kids) trend on TikTok.
This publication is about news and pop culture, so I have no idea if you should have kids, or if you’ll regret not having them (or heck, regret having them).
But any writer who dares get beyond the TikTok-ification of this topic may well be worth the read.
[four]
Just when I think society is calming down, and not wishing death on the innocent…something happens to remind me of the darkness of the human heart.
Political streamer Destiny kicked things off after dozens of girls at a Christian Camp in Texas were drowned in a flash flood (the sponsorship was a fake, BTW…NordVPN, which I personally use, is threatening legal action), and then ratcheted up by a Texas Pediatrician, who also expressed her glee at the childrens’ horrific end.
The Guardian (UK) reports:
A pediatrician for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system is “no longer employed” there, according to officials, after a social media account associated with her published a post wishing voters in a Donald Trump-supporting county of Texas “get what they voted for” amid flash flooding that killed more than 100 people, including many children.
“We were made aware of a social media comment from one of our physicians,” read a statement from Blue Fish Pediatrics circulated late Sunday. “The individual is no longer employed by Blue Fish Pediatrics.”
It’s only a matter of time until rhetoric like this turns into real violence. That doesn’t mean you should walk around in terror (nor does it mean you should go through life naively). I started The Five, in part, to remind people of the common experiences in pop culture that bring differing viewpoints together. I hope it helps in some small weigh.
If you get value from reading this…send it along to a friend.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
[movies] The next DUNE film will be titled DUNE: MESSIAH and shot 100% in IMAX. December 2026. || Trying to summarize all the news around the new Superman movie is overwhelming…but the reviews and audience reactions are pointing to “just go see it” if you have any interests. || Silly 00’s comedy/adventure Night at the Museum is getting a reboot…for some reason.
[shows] South Park’s 27th season is delayed due to a Paramount merger…creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have trashed their new bosses over this fact. Looks like we may see it at the end of the month. || Comedian Ralph Barbosa (seriously, remember that name) will drop his first special on Hulu 08/08. || The Big Bang Theory spinoff featuring the most obnoxious character from the original show, will feature high concept Sci Fi in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. || The Dexter reboot is sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this writing, if you need a serial killer drama fix.
[music] 90’s ska outfit Goldfinger are back with a new single featuring Mark Hoppus of Blink 182. I didn’t realize that MxPx frontman Mike Hererra joined the band in 2012 as the full time bassist. (MxPx, a Seattle pop-punk trio, are still active as well with Herrera). || Today’s a huge release day in alt-country/Americana,. including new albums from Joe Stamm Band (from Peoria, IL!) and Tami Neilson, and Brent Cobb. See the full list of 10+ high profile releases for the genre.
Two conspiracy-obsessed weirdos kidnap a CEO (Emma Stone—La La Land, Easy A) after being convinced she’s out to literally destroy all life on earth. Jesse Plemmons (Civil War, Game Night) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Batman and Robin) round out the leading cast.
This will either be really funny…or a depressing slog that the laptop class will pretend to like for social credit.
Mike Judge is the mind behind two of my favorite comedies of all time (Office Space, Idiocracy), but I never got around to watching King of the Hill when it first aired in the 1990’s.
The reboot sold me at “she’s vegan, what are we supposed to feed her for dinner? A bowl of grass.” The new version debuts 08/04.
Uhhh…wut? I had to look up what the heck Red Sonja even was…apparently this was an 80’s action flick that’s getting a 2025 reboot. The actors are unkown. The tone is…strange? Feels like a mashup of Gladiator, 300 and….Aldi brand Game of Thrones?
It’s obviously low budget…and dumb. But maybe in a fun way? In theaters in August, but mentioning mainly because this looks like a good airplane/amtrak/hospital waiting room flick.
[new music]
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
After 27 years as a band, it seems like Dropkick Murphys need no introduction…either you’re into their unique brand of bagpipe-flecked Celtic punk…or you’re apathetic.
But 13 albums in (and after a three year swerve, releasing two albums of previously unrecorded Woodie Guthrie folk songs), the six piece from Quincy, MA are finding new fans with the fresh energy behind their latest, thanks to “Who’ll Stand with Us,” an ode to blue collar workers fighting to get by. For the People, as an album, is thematically centered around the people the post-COVID economy has left behind. Highly recommended.
American Arson boasts the full sound of a five piece post-punk hard rock outfit…with just two guys. Vocalist Evan Baker holds down lead, rhythm guitar and bass in the studio…the latter two via loops on pedals during the live show, while Jesse Gentry controls additional instrumentation, drumming and harmonies.
If you’re a fan of Artist in the Ambulance era Thrice…this belongs in your streaming library.
[read & learn]
The TL:DR (too long, didn’t read) summary on Four Thousand Weeks is that you’re gonna die, and regular time management systems don’t really help you have a fulfilling life.
There’s much I disagree with British author Oliver Burkeman’s views here…mainly that he’s a staunch atheist that arrives at a nihilistic conclusion about life, but it’s still a dang good read to consider your one, short life.
If you’re heading to see Superman this weekend (our fam is catching a double feature at the drive in, along with How to Train Your Dragon), it’s worth checking out pastor and YouTuber Paul Anleitner breaking down how postmodernism killed Superman, and why the character is relevant again in a post-postmodern world where people are rejecting extreme irony and cynicism.
The “vibe shift” to a metamodern tone in pop culture that’s less dark and angry, more open and hopeful, is becoming more and more obvious…and I want to see this movie more for that reason than the alien-punchy-fights-Godzilla-like-thing stuff.
Until the next one,
-sth