Cartoon Saturday

Are you ready for the White House cage fight tomorrow, as we show the rest of the world what we value?

Der Furor was loudly booed during his appearance at the Knicks-Spurs game at Madison Square Garden on Monday; asked to provide evidence of the voter fraud he claimed was pervasive in the California elections, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that “Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream that it’s impossible to prove, but I think everybody knows instinctively, something is wrong here, and that’s a concern;” after heavy pushback from members of Congress of both parties, Der Furor withdrew his nomination of Bill Pulte to be Director of National Intelligence, and replaced him with the equally unqualified but somewhat less objectionable Jay Clayton, former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission; SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday in the largest Initial Public Offering in history, making Elon Musk the first known trillionaire ... at least on paper; and at Gatwick airport in the United Kingdom, ground workers were carefully searching for a venomous snake that was spotted on an airplane arriving from Mexico after Samuel L. Jackson was reportedly unavailable to take charge of the &$%@#$! search.

This week, a look at the cartoonish side of eating out ... 

Uh ... I think I'll have the tea instead ...

It was worth asking ...

Maybe it's time for the steak ...

Well, he would, wouldn't he? ...

Well, that's the sort of recommendation one expects in this economy ...

It's a new take on wraps ...

A perfectly valid question ...

Whatever works ...

Have you seen the price of wine lately? ...

I think "screwage fee" is useful in a lot more situations than this in the present fee-based economy ...

And there you have it - the latest edition of curated cartoons for your much-needed humor injection. I hope you enjoyed them.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for our Musical Sunday visit with Eric Clapton. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2026

A new month brings new opportunities to recognize those who strive to distinguish themselves by rising above the prevailing high level of ass clownery. The job of singling out the awardees doesn't get any easier, but I will rise once again to the occasion and do the tough work of skimming the surface of the swirling cesspool of lunacy in search of the biggest chunk.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, it gives me no particular pleasure to announce

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2026

and the award goes to

Director of National Intelligence Designee

(Recently Withdrawn)

Bill Pulte

SPECIAL NOTE: I actually wrote this award earlier in the week, when the Pulte nomination was announced. Since then, the degree of horrified pushback from both sides of the Congressional aisle led Der Furor on Thursday to withdraw Pulte's nomination and replace him with - are you ready? - yet another individual with absolutely no intelligence or military experience, Jay Clayton*, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I decided to just go ahead and give Mr Pulte this award with some minor editing, in recognition of his demonstrated willingness to abuse a position of trust in the service of Der Furor's vengeance program. Read on.

In a regime already noteworthy for the number of unqualified individuals appointed to positions of national responsibility, Der Furor's designation of real estate magnate and current director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte to be the Director of National Intelligence deserves special opprobrium.

Replacing hapless nonentity Tulsi Gabbard, who at least had military service if not the required intelligence experience, with Bill Pulte, who had neither, led even a handful of spineless Congressional Republicans to question the wisdom of the appointment. Mr Pulte's sole "qualification" for the DNI position is his unquestioning and unwavering dedication to Der Furor, and his willingness to exploit his government position to support Der Furor's search for revenge against his political enemies. 

There really isn't much more to say about the appalling depths to which we have sunk when one of the most sensitive and important national security positions in the government is handed to the hackiest of political hacks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2026, is Bill Pulte, the unqualified vengeance monkey who very nearly became the nation's most senior intelligence manager and Blackmail Enabler in Chief. Our foreign enemies surely recoil in fear at the depth of our professional intelligence leadership bench.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for a Cartoon Saturday look at the increasingly expensive luxury of dining out. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Mr Clayton does, however, offer the advantageous qualification of having been part of regime efforts to slow-walk the release of the Epstein files. 

Thursday Trees

Mike's blog is still down until his computer woes are over, and so here's our next temporary Thursday Trees post to tide you over until he's back on line ...

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14 - I could spend hours on that bench

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

That's it for today's fill-in edition of Thursday Trees - I hope it gave you a lift while we wait for Mike to get back to professional online tree farming.

Have a good day, and be sure to come back tomorrow for the naming of the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

I found this wonderful short poem posted on Facebook a while back, and loved it. I hope you do, too.

Sometimes the Wolf Cries Girl

by Sian Wilmot (srwpoetry)

Sometimes the hero stumbles 

and falls right off the page. 

Sometimes the princess 

rolls her eyes and says, 

"I don't want to be saved." 

Sometimes the dragon needs rescuing 

and the villain aches to be helped. 

Sometimes, in the darkness, 

the lost boy finds himself. 

Sometimes the prince is cunning

and not at all who he seemed. 

Sometimes the witch's kindness shows 

it's she who deserves to be queen. 

Sometimes we shouldn't define people 

based on somebody else's point of view -

just because it's what we've been told

doesn't make it true.

"Just because it's what we've been told doesn't make it true" ought to be our motto during the time of Der Furor and his hateful regime.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Good lord, can we just have a single week of something other than lunacy?

Der Furor has named Bill Pulte, an aggressive loyalist with no intelligence background or experience who runs a federal housing agency, to be the Acting Director of National Intelligence; Secretary of Defense (not War) Pete Hegseth blocked the promotions of several Navy officers selected for one-star Admiral rank, targeting minority and women officers and leaving no women on the promotion list; Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin refused to commit to obeying court orders he believes come from politically-motivated judges; Elias Irizarri, a January 6th rioter who pleaded guilty for several offenses and was pardoned by Der Furor, has been hired for a job in the Pentagon’s sensitive office for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict; and sexually insecure men are engaging in a range of weird techniques called "spermmaxxing" to boost the quality and quantity of their sperm ... as if helping such men improve their breeding would be a good thing.

This week, a collection of cartoons about the unsung heroes of law enforcement - those who draw the chalk outlines at crime scenes.

He probably needs more chalk, too ...

Color-by-numbers isn't always appropriate ...

Officer DaVinci gets reassigned ...

It's a reasonable theory ...

If only ...

An honest mistake ...

As my father used to say, "everybody gotta start someplace" ...

There's training involved? ...

Training exercise ...

It was a nice gesture, if inappropriate ...

And so ends the first Cartoon Saturday for June - I hope you enjoyed the look at the lighter side of law enforcement, which has few lighter sides lately.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we take the first trip to Poetry Sunday for the new month.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

The first collection for June! Let's jump right in -

If the contretemps in the Persian Gulf continues, this might end up as a viable alternative energy source ...

It sounds more impressive than "plumber's snake."

Well, they had to put it someplace ...

When you hire the low bidder to paint your signs ...

It looks as if the Navy will be able to buy more Tomahawks if it saves on oranges ...

I'm glad I don't live in Ohio ...

Schroedinger's cell phone ...

I wonder if the health department is aware of this ...

I'll bet they are! ...

If this isn't the most MAGA approach to a dispute, I don't know what is ...

And that wraps up our first collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage for the new month - I hope it gave you a few chuckles and inspired you to send your Great Moments finds to ol' Bilbo.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday's salute to the unsung heroes of law enforcement - see you then!

Bilbo