Capitol smackdown!

Liz 1, Barry 0: Senate Democrats took President Barack Obama to the woodshed Tuesday, blocking his request for “fast track” trade authority.

Afterward, a chastened Obama resolved to avoid tangling with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and stick with easier foes, like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and whatever psychopath who’s running ISIS these days.

Not everyone’s cup of tea: Yoko Ono has designed a series of espresso cups inscribed with, in Ono’s handwriting, the dates and places of six tragedies, including the assassination of her husband.

Some eternally resentful Beatles fans, though, would add a seventh cup, on which is written, “John meets Yoko, Indica art gallery, London, November 7, 1966.”

Surfing the vast cultural wasteland: The penultimate season of onetime ratings juggernaut “American Idol” ends tonight with the selection of the winning contestant.

At the height of the show’s popularity, “Idol” winners went on to Top 40 singing careers. Now, if they’re lucky, they’ll snag lounge gigs at Barney’s Broasted Chicken Shack in Minot, North Dakota.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff

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