Thursday Trees

Since Mike's blog is temporarily down while he deals with computer problems, I thought I'd help out by continuing his Thursday Trees posts until he's back in business. Here we go ...

Here's hoping Mike gets back soon ... until then, I'll try to keep the tree flag waving.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for our first Great Moments in Editing and Signage for June - see you then.

Bilbo

Musical Sunday

Since traveling has become so expensive as a result of the soaring gas prices caused by Der Furor's misbegotten Iran war, The Traveling Wiburys have announced they will be performing from home until further notice ... 

The full lyrics, for those who want them:

Been beat up and battered 'round

Been sent up, and I've been shot down

You're the best thing that I've ever found

Handle me with care

 

Reputation's changeable

Situation's tolerable

Baby, you're adorable

Handle me with care

 

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care?

 

Everybody's got somebody to lean on

Put your body next to mine, and dream on

 

I've been fobbed off, and I've been fooled

I've been robbed and ridiculed

In daycare centers and night schools

Handle me with care

 

Been stuck in airports, terrorized

Sent to meetings, hypnotized

Overexposed, commercialized

Handle me with care

 

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care?

 

Everybody's got somebody to lean on

Put your body next to mine, and dream on

 

I've been uptight and made a mess

But I'll clean it up myself, I guess

Oh, the sweet smell of success

Handle me with care

Go ahead and dream on. Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

For gawd's sake, isn't this #%$&! month over yet?

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo eloquently warned of the risks of artificial intelligence, although natural stupidity may be the greater danger; the agency formerly known as the Department of Justice has purged its website of press releases related to charges against rioters in the January 6th insurrection, "proudly" defending the action as "stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda;” the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has confirmed plans - if "active legislation" is approved - to print a commemorative $250 bill with Der Furor's image in "honor" of the nation's 250th anniversary; in the latest stop on Der Furor's revenge tour, the agency formerly known as the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carrol, who accused Der Furor of raping her in the mid-1990s and won an $83.3 million judgment which Der Furor is still fighting; and in (where else) Florida, an elderly man wearing only a G-string thong, who plastered on lipstick in front of a responding female police officer and asked her to “jump rope for me, baby doll,” was arrested on indecent exposure charges after multiple complaints from his neighbors.

None of us are getting any younger, and so I thought I might take the edge off thinking about mortality by presenting a collection of cartoons about funerals. I've gotta tell you, some of these are to die for ...

Yes, Amazon actually does sell coffins; you just need to carefully specify the delivery location ...

It's appropriate ...

So is this one ...

And this one ...

It wouldn't have been my last request, but to each his/her/their own ...

As last requests go, it's one of the more unusual ...

The actual play is enjoying a revival on Broadway ...

I think a lot of members of Der Furor's regime will have a tough time with that ascent ...

Using GPS isn't always your best option to get where you're going ...

It's always tough to say goodbye to a big shot of his caliber ...

And that's it for the last Cartoon Saturday of May - I hope you enjoyed our humorous take on a macabre topic.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we present a request from the Traveling Wilburys. See you then.

Bilbo

The On-Crack Ass Clown for May, 2026

As long-time readers of this blog know, I generally present my Ass Clown awards twice each month, based on the fact that most months have four Fridays available, the other two of which are dedicated to Great Moments in Editing and Signage. Twice a year, though, the calendar yields a month with five Fridays, and depending on how they fall they can allow a third Ass Clown award. 

Such is this month; the other will come in October. 

And so it is, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, that I am able to designate

The On-Crack Ass Clown for May, 2026

and the award goes to

The White House Cage Fight

Yes, friends, nothing says "happy birthday" to the United States of America and celebrates her values quite like a grotesque display of violence on the South Lawn of the White House - the same place that hosts children for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The event, officially named "UFC Freedom 250," will be held on June 14th of this year - Flag Day and (by the sheerest of coincidences) the 80th birthday of Der Furor.

You might have thought that the 250th anniversary year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence would be an opportunity for Americans to reflect on our history - a time to think about where we started, how we've developed as a nation, where we are today, and where we want to go in the next 250 years. Unfortunately, that's not the style of our current "leadership." 

Instead of a thoughtful assessment of the lessons of history and their meaning for our future, a celebration of our accomplishments and a reckoning with our shortcomings, we will be treated to the spectacle of 14 men beating each other's brains out in front of a cheering mob of Der Furor's invited guests. Instead of the quiet, subdued dignity of the historic White House (minus, of course, the late East Wing), we'll have a garish, brightly-lit cage in which the violence so honored and espoused by Der Furor and his angry MAGA followers is offered as a symbol of our wildly distorted national values. 

Along with Der Furor's grotesquely inappropriate "Monumental Arch" and his expensive and unnecessary White House Ballroom/Drone-Proof Bunker, the UFC cage takes its place as a symbol of our diminishing stature as a nation and a people. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, it gives me no pleasure to designate The White House Cage Fight as our On-Crack Ass Clown for May, 2026. It's a sad symbol of what our Founders' dream has become under a corrupt regime that has nothing but contempt for our traditional values.

Have a good day. Demand better when you cast your votes in the midterms and in the 2028 presidential election.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Amathia

I learned a new word today.

Amathia (ἀμαθία) is an ancient Greek philosophical concept that translates roughly as "willful ignorance" or "intelligent stupidity." It indicates not merely a lack of information on one's part, but rather a conscious choice to remain ignorant or an unwillingness to learn despite having the capacity to know better or expand one's knowledge. Socrates and other Greek philosophers viewed it as one of the most dangerous forms of ignorance because it means a person has rejected wisdom in order to remain in their comfort zone, softly wrapped in their pre-existing beliefs.

Amathia is relevant in today's era of cognitive dissonance, herd mentality, and ideological rigidity. It reminds us that individuals can become trapped in their beliefs, and can harm themselves and others when they ignore obvious evidence or refuse to consider information or perspectives that conflict with their own.

The modern translation of amathia is "MAGA."

Have a good day. Eschew amathia. 

More thoughts tomorrow, when we heap dishonor on the On-Crack Ass Clown for May. See you then.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Tomorrow is the national holiday of Memorial Day, on which we remember those who have died in the service of the nation, from the Revolutionary War to the war being waged in our name against Iran. It is a holiday with decreasing meaning to modern Americans, who are no longer used to the huge death tolls of our past wars and who observe it mainly by shopping Memorial Day sales and having picnics in the warm spring weather.

It's a day that had a much deeper meaning for our parents and grandparents, and the horror of war gave rise to generations of poets like Wilfred Owen, the British soldier poet killed in action in France just a week before the end of the First World War. 

Anthem for Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Have a good day, and on this weekend, remember those who died far from home and family so you could shop the sales and enjoy the picnics. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

I never thought I could be so exhausted from simply trying to keep up with the news.

After nearly 11 years, comedian Stephen Colbert has gone off the air, likely because of a CBS network management desire to appease Der Furor; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she will leave the regime on June 30th, ostensibly to spend time with her seriously ill husband; Der Furor dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue service in exchange for creation of a fund to reimburse his cronies prosecuted by the Biden administration and a blatantly corrupt agreement from the Justice Department to exempt himself, his family, his associates, and his businesses from tax audits in perpetuity; the United States has moved its consulate in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, from a “little, red Nordic-style wooden house near Nuuk’s fishing harbor" to three floors in a new building on the main street, equipped with bulletproof glass, security grilles and space for armored vehicles, dubbed “Trump Tower” by local residents; and in Grand Traverse, Michigan, a woman arrested on charges of trespassing and suspected shoplifting was found to have concealed a full 750ml bottle of Pinot Grigot wine in her vagina.

This week, I thought a collection of cartoons about religion would be a good idea, before Der Furor's regime decides to smite you for laughing at them.

Sorry, no ...

That didn't age well ...

I feel the same way ...

Well, it's one way to choose your belief system ...

When deities compare their gripes ...

Moses meets Neptune ...

They always find a way to monetize the faithful ...

He's been a bad doughboy ...

How some people choose their idols ...

The good old days ...

And that's it for today's Cartoon Saturday salute to religion. Laugh now, before the Christian Nationalist Inquisition becomes the latest Cabinet agency. 

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for our final Poetry Sunday of the month. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

This will be our last collection of Great Moments for the month of May, so I tried to get a particularly good batch for you. Let's see how well I did.

I think I'd rather have the Deer Park water instead ...

I'm not sure this is the positive incentive they think it is ...

I wonder if "deranged" is better than "free range" ...

I hope it wasn't bought here ...

I don't know about you, but I'd love to hear the whole story ...

Ah, finally! A newsletter for the MAGA religious faithful ...

Every time I've bought stone, I've bought it by the ton, but I guess times change ...

I guess it says something about the quality of the candidates ...

Around here, the power outrage is caused by the data centers that are springing up like toadstools after a warm rain ...

Do you suppose it's AC chicken or DC chicken? ...

And that closes out another month of Great Moments in Editing and Signage ... I hope you got a chuckle out of the May collections.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when we'll take a cartoon look at religion. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Ass Clown Special Award

Today, we present the third Ass Clown Special Award of 2026. I find it difficult to believe that I have to present this particular award, but such is the nature of our times.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, I present this 

Ass Clown Special Award

to

The United States Department of Justice

The precipitous decline of the rule of law in the United States during Der Furor's spiteful second reign reached its nadir (so far, at least) this week when the Department of Justice (DOJ), now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization, settled Der Furor's legally and morally questionable $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The settlement came after Der Furor dropped his lawsuit, apparently to avoid the risk that the presiding judge would find it meritless, in exchange for the creation within DOJ of a $1.776 billion* "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that would use taxpayer dollars to "compensate" those (primarily on the angry right) who claim to have been victimized by a government supposedly weaponized against them by the previous administration. 

The motto of the DOJ is "Qui pro Domina Justitia Sequitur." This is a phrase the department itself finds difficult to translate, but roughly equates to "Who prosecutes on behalf of justice." It's an especially enigmatic motto for this moment in our history, because it could mean either (1) "Those trusted officials who prosecute criminals in the interest of justice," or (2) ask the question, "Who is prosecuting criminals in the interest of justice?" Under the "leadership" of the execrable Pamela Bondi and her replacement, spinely-challenged acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the second translation is more accurate.

For all the self-righteous, frothing anger from radical right, it is clear that the actual weaponization of the federal government has been undertaken by Der Furor and a GOP-led Congress too spineless to stand up for the impartial rule of law that has always been the great strength of the American experiment. The complete submission of DOJ to the whims of Der Furor was first hinted by the hanging of a huge banner bearing his scowling image on the facade of the DOJ building in Washington

but it was made crystal clear by the creation of a slush fund of taxpayer money to "compensate" his foot soldiers who ignored the law and the Constitution while trashing the Capitol Building and beating police officers with American flags during the January 6th, 2021 insurrection 

But wait! - there's more!

Not only has the DOJ agreed to hand over our tax money to those who imagine themselves butt-hurt by a big, bad government that had the temerity to prosecute them for actual crimes, but it has given Der Furor**, his family, and his businesses the ultimate Get Out of Jail Free card - 

Read paragraph C: 

"The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief, including injunctive relief, monetary relief, damages, examinations or similar or related reviews, appeals, debt relief, costs, attorney's fees, expenses, and/or interest, whether presently known or unknown, thatas of the Effective Date of the Settlement Agreement-have been or could have been asserted by Defendants against any of the Plaintiffs or related or affiliated individuals (including, without limitation, family or others filing jointly), or parties including trusts, parent, sister, or related companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries, by reason of, with respect to, in connection with, or which arise out of (I) any matters that were raised or could have been raised in the Case or the Pending Agency Claims; (2) Lawfare and/or Weaponization; or (3) any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments."

 The Reader's Digest version of the above is: Der Furor is forgiven for everything he's ever done, and the DOJ waives for all eternity the ability to hold him, his family, and his business empire to account for any crimes they may commit in the future. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has elegantly discussed this appalling travesty of justice her Letter from An American of May 19th, 2026, and legal analyst Joyce Vance elegantly commented in her "Civil Discourse" Substack early this morning that

"The optics of this are so bad that it’s hard to believe [Der Furor] would expose himself to their consequences unless he really needed this deal. The protection it offers must be essential in some way we are as of yet unaware of. The Supreme Court has already given [Der Furor] immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, but paying taxes, personal business transactions, and a whole host of other activities fall outside of the scope of that protection. And the unusual waiver of the government’s ability to pursue civil claims could cover a whole host of possibilities, anything from recovering unpaid taxes to suing for unpaid White House meals that a president pays on his own. Beyond that, there is the protection for virtually everyone connected to him—”any of the plaintiffs or related or affiliated individuals,” an incredibly broad provision."

If you, as a taxpaying, law-abiding American citizen, are not horrified by this travesty of justice and mockery of our treasured concept of equal justice under law, you are officially beyond hope and deserve what you get. I only regret that you are willing to bring the rest of us down with you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, this Ass Clown Special Award, with the Poop of Distinction in Gold, is presented to Der Furor's Department of Justice. 

Need actual, impartial justice? Look elsewhere.

Have a good day, and remember all this when you cast your votes in the November midterms and the 2028 general election ... if meaningful elections are still allowed under the current regime. Der Furor is working hard to convince you that resistance is futile - don't let him succeed.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Wink, nudge.

** Don't forget that the Supreme Court has already given Der Furor a pass for criminal behavior: "... the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no

immunity for unofficial acts."