Opinion | Does that Jason Aldean song go on a playlist? Or a watchlist?

“Heart Like a Truck” this is not.

A Post arts story offers additional context on the music video for Aldean’s single — shot at the site where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927.

Naturally, the song is a hit, with multiple GOP presidential candidates playing it at rallies, especially after the woke mob magicked Country Music Television network into removing the video from its rotation.

Paul is dismayed, but not surprised. As he writes, “There will always be a market for the idea that you can be the hero of your own violent drama of retribution.”

City slickers, specifically LGBTQ+ ones, are under fire in the House, too, where Republicans struck from an earmark-stuffed Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill the only three clauses that gave assistance to queer people.

Columnist Dana Milbank chronicles how Appropriations Committee member Andy Harris (R) took things even further, reviving the false “grooming” accusations that so endanger gay people. Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, who was once beaten unconscious with a baseball bat upon leaving a gay bar, tried to explain — but, Dana writes, committee Republicans stood by Harris and “planted themselves firmly on the side of prejudice.”

Elsewhere in Dana’s jumbo-size column: More bigotry — from a fake Democrat! Bigotry — from a real Democrat! And, what else, Hunter Biden’s private parts, which Marjorie Taylor Greene would be more than happy to show you.

An offer you can’t refuse

Do you know who’s actually to blame for the plight of working artists in Hollywood? It’s … you.

Think about Spotify, the example columnist Megan McArdle raises in her piece explaining the market forces driving creatives’ discontent and thus the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike. If you clicked to stream “Heart Like a Truck” up above, even if you clicked twice, poor Lainey Wilson got no more than a penny!

Back in the day, you’d have had to purchase her CD for $18.99 at Media Play, but now you’re getting it for “peanuts,” Megan writes, on Spotify. The same goes for TV and movie streaming, which has overtaken the much more lucrative DVD industry.

“The internet’s tendency,” Megan says, is “to take big chunks of corporate revenue and transform them not into profits but into consumer surplus.”

So don’t think the studio bosses are pocketing (all) the money. They’re greedy, sure — but so are you.

From writer and producer Kate Woodsome’s column on how health insurance is keeping your mind sick and your wallet empty.

Anyone who has ever tried to find a therapist in their insurance network (let alone get reimbursed for care they do receive) ought to recognize the problems Kate describes. As she writes, too often, “patients are being forced to choose between debt and despair.”

Kate’s proposal is better. She prescribes a strengthening of the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to make insurers treat the mind and body equally. Next, she writes, insurers themselves should shape up further — if not because it’s the right thing to do, then because providing better mental health coverage could actually save them lots of money on physical care.

The summer is wearing on, and those “Happy Graduation!” checks are wearing down. It’s great timing for Post Grad fellow Renee Yaseen’s money advice to her 20-something peers.

For the latest edition of her post-college newsletter (which you can sign up for here), Renee chatted with Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary. The tips might be geared toward the Cup Noodles crowd, but Michelle’s advice is, as always, sound for all ages.

Chaser: You know whom you shouldn’t trust as financial savants? Government bureaucrats, says columnist George Will.

• China’s foreign minister has been missing for almost a month with no explanation. Columnist Josh Rogin says it highlights just how secretive Xi Jinping’s regime has become.
• The threat from far-right populism hasn’t gone away, columnist Fareed Zakaria writes in a survey of nativist movements across Europe.
• The Editorial Board plots out how colleges can achieve diversity in the post-affirmative-action era.

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.

Need some help under the hood

Plus! A Friday bye-ku (Fri-ku!) from reader Joanne W.:

In our minds as hope or wish

Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. Have a great weekend!