Cartoon Saturday

I think we need to go back to having the news delivered by a town crier, as it usually makes us cry, anyhow.

The Republican Party held a two-day deification rally for Der Furor in Dallas, thinly disguised as a midterm convention, at which Der Furor promised a $5000 payment to every American, but only if the Republicans win* ... he also said that people who don't vote (presumably for Republicans) will literally go to Hell; in a major toughening of its stance toward Israel, the United Kingdom banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing "settler terrorists" of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians; Der Furor's departure from Washington for his deification rally in Dallas on Wednesday was delayed when, prior to takeoff, an emergency slide accidentally deployed from his Qatari-gifted flying palace; and as Halloween approaches, the Brachs Candy company plans to introduce a new seasonal perfume that smells like candy corn.

This week, as the midterm election season kicks into high gear and Der Furor works hard to engineer his desired outcome, I thought I'd feature a collection of cartoons about the election circus ...

How our yo-yo election system works ...

It's the batty signal ...

One of the most accurate Venn Diagrams I've ever seen ...

Slowly, ever so slowly, the light is starting to dawn ...

The "working hard" part is actually optional, except as it applies to fund-raising ...

Equal time, you know ...

I'd always suspected that this is the way it works ...

This reminds me of the old joke about the preacher who says his church accepts all denominations, but prefers the 50 and the hundred ...

I'd be thinking hard at this point, too ...

I think they probably will ...

And that's it for our tongue-deeply-in-cheek Cartoon Saturday look at the election season. You've gotta laugh, because crying doesn't help.

Be sure you've checked to make sure your voter registration is current, and make sure you plan to vote, whether in-person early, by mail, or in person on election day. The challenge is real - the vote is yours. Do it.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Poetry Sunday, when we consider early warnings. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* A blatantly illegal act under 18 U.S. Code §597: 

"Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and

"Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote—

"Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

Too bad we don't have a functioning Justice Department any more.

Remembering 9/11. Or Not.

If you came here for the usual edition of Great Moments in Editing and Signage, I'm sorry. Come back again in two weeks and it'll be here. Today is a day other things need to be said.

I can't believe it's been 25 years since 9/11.

It was a terrible day for thousands of people in New York, Washington, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I was at work in the Pentagon on that day, but had the good fortune to be at a location in the building well away from Flight 77's point of impact. I was terrified, but unhurt, and my family spent anxious hours wondering if I was alive or not. 

The world changed that day, but in the fear and terror of the moment, we didn't know just how much.

A whole generation has grown up without first-hand experience of what happened on that awful day. The events of 9/11 have faded into irrelevance other than as an excuse for the curtailment of our rights in the name of "national security." Many of today's young people have no idea what happened on that day, who is responsible, what their motivation was, and why it all matters ... 

The events of 9/11 led directly to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and fueled the rise of the angry, vindictive surveillance state presided over by the likes of Der Furor, Stephen Miller, and Tom Homan, and enforced by ICE, a modern-day secret police lavishly funded by a blithely fascist Republican party and protected by Der Furor's personal law firm formerly known as the Department of Justice. 

I hardly recognize the country I loved and served through an Air Force career and later work as a government contractor. The national unity we briefly experienced in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 is a distant memory, if it's remembered at all. The allies who rallied to our side*, many of whom sent troops to fight and die in our pursuit of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, are drawing back in the face of belligerence and crude insults from Der Furor.

I will never forget what happened on 9/11, and how it began the twisted journey to January 6th and the wanton destruction of the nation we used to love. And I will never forgive those who ignore those lessons or, worse, have taken advantage of our national trauma for crass political and economic gain.

We haven't learned a damned thing.

Have a good day. If you were of age on 9/11, never forget what you saw and experienced. If you have come of age since then, educate yourself and learn to recognize ... and fear ... what the country has become.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which which provides for the collective defense of NATO members, has only ever been invoked once - in support of the United States in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Der Furor conveniently ignores this, as he does so much else.

Thursday Trees

It's time once again to draw peace and joy from trees as we crack open the door to the temporary home of Mike's Thursday Trees.

This week, we look not up at the leafy crowns, but down at the twisted artistry of the roots ...

1 - 

2 - 

3 - 

4 - 

5 - 

6 - 

7 - 

8 - 

9 - 

10 - 

I hope you enjoyed this week's collection, after all the time I spent ... rooting ... them out for you.

Have a good day and enjoy the shade. Before long, you'll be complaining about having to rake the leaves.

More thoughts tomorrow, when Great Moments in Editing and Signage takes a brief hiatus so we can remember the terrible day that set us on the road to a terrible present. See you then.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday - Special Edition

Yes, I know today is Wednesday, but I feel the need to have another Cartoon Saturday Special Edition (the second this year) in derisive recognition of the garish, self-promotional "triumphal arch" Der Furor wants to erect in front of Arlington National Cemetery. It's a useless, gaudy, overly-expensive, and utterly unnecessary blot on the landscape and a waste of money that could be used for much better purposes in service to the American people.

It's not just my opinion ... let's bring on the Cartoons -

The Epstein Files are a common theme for the design ...

A servile GOP Congress and a rigidly conservative Supreme Court majority are two of the main supporting columns - 

It represents the crushing burden of this regime ...

How about you ... do you get immunity from tax audits and a memorial arch? 

Yes, it's important to put the accent on the correct syllable ...

Well, it definitely would celebrate a triumph over all these things ...

If Der Furor could have his way, I'm sure this would be a top design contender. He'd want more gold, but the giant mouth would be a masterful monument ...

There are a number of other, less traditional design options available ...

Given Der Furor's emphasis on monetizing his office, this would be a likely option. Don't ask where the coins removed from the fountains end up ...

If you can't have a victory over Iran, you can have a victory over something else ...

In case you didn't pick up on the subtle signals, I'm opposed to the arch ... and you should be, too.

Have a good day. As you get ready for the midterm election and the 2028 presidential pageant, think carefully about what your leaders choose to spend your tax money on.

More thoughts tomorrow, when I calm down enough to enjoy the peace and quiet of Thursday Trees. See you then.

Bilbo

Gummipuppen!

German is a wonderful language that can create marvelous compound words for new things and concepts. It's deservedly famous for its amazingly long words and for its abbreviations so long that they require abbreviations of their own. This is a story about an interesting German word ...

When the Allies were planning the invasion of Normandy in 1944, among the diversionary tactics they employed was the dropping of hundreds of dummy paratroops over the battle area. The puppets were designed to explode in bursts of gunfire when they landed, simulating the arrival of a much larger force.

In the classic 1962 film "The Longest Day," there's a great scene which follows the reactions of puzzled German generals as they receive reports of exploding rubber dummies - Gummipuppen* in German - falling across the Normandy region, and asking each other "Gummipuppen?" ...

Although the scene was deadly serious, to this English speaker, groups of confused generals muttering Gummipuppen? to each other sounded funny.

Of course, there are other sorts of Gummipuppen, too, which don't themselves explode, but can cause explosions of a different sort in careless users.

Caveat emptor.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* It's pronounced GOO-me-POOP-en.

Monday Mountains

In a world as ugly and dispiriting as it's become, I draw peace and calm from beautiful mountain vistas ...

1 - I've never been jealous of a cow before ...

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3 - 

4 - 

5 - I think this is called Mount You've Gotta Be Kidding Me ...

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7 - 

8 - The sight of some snow is pretty welcome during this miserably hot summer ...

9 - 

10 - One more blast of snow ...

I hope this gave you some peace and calm at the start of another crazy week.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Musical Sunday

As I've written about before in this space, the true foundation of the American economy is not manufacturing or small business, trade or agriculture - it's lawsuits. Hundreds of millions - if not billions - of dollars are spent every year, many of them (directly or indirectly) by you and I as taxpayers. Can you imagine how much of your money is being spent on Der Furor's employment of the law as a deadly weapon, and on the law as a shield against other lawsuits being filed to try to rein him in? How much money are we spending on a Supreme Court that is largely proving to be an enabling function for Der Furor's dreams of monarchy supported by unconstrained wealth and power?

This classic tune by Warren Zevon should be the anthem for this sad time in our history ...

Here are the lyrics, if you're interested ...

I went home with the waitress

The way I always do

How was I to know

She was with the Russians too?

I was gambling in Havana

I took a little risk

Send lawyers, guns, and money

Dad, get me out of this

Ha!

I'm the innocent bystander

And somehow I got stuck

Between the rock and the hard place

And I'm down on my luck

Yes, I'm down on my luck

Well, I'm down on my luck

Now I'm hiding in Honduras

I'm a desperate man

Send lawyers, guns, and money

The shit has hit the fan

Send lawyers, guns, and money

Send lawyers, guns, and money

Send lawyers, guns, and money

Yeah

The shit has already hit the fan. Send a really big cleanup crew to aisle 250, stat.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Geez, we're not even a full week into September yet ...

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling largely along ideological lines (though Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberal wing), has allowed construction of Der Furor's gigantic ballroom at the Gilded House to continue, ruling that historical preservationists opposed to the construction lack standing to oppose the project while avoiding ruling on the project's legality ... Interior Secretary Doug Burgham also announced that construction of the massive, garish Arc de Trump will begin within two weeks, regardless of lack of formal approvals; the House passed a stopgap spending bill, preventing the embarrassment of a government shutdown before the November midterm elections and postponing it long enough to threaten Christmas; famed feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem passed away at age 92; three California college students had to be rescued from Mount Shasta after relying on questionable advice from an AI tool to plan their climbing route and supply requirements; and in Houston, Texas, a homeowner was shocked to see that the DoorDash driver delivering dinner to his home was stark naked. His money was refunded.

This week, in remembrance of the late Dolly Parton and her dedication to promoting reading for children through her Imagination Library, I thought a collection of cartoons about books and reading would be appropriate. 

He's got a point ...

It always works for me ...

Sometimes, you've just gotta take the win ...

It's the 21st century version of the faux-intellectual home library ...

I think all the librarians would agree with this one ...

When a book is really interesting, it's tough to interrupt it for anything else ...

I think this one is my favorite of the week ...

It's a common-sense rearrangement ...

I understand the dog ...

Wolf as MAGA ...

And that ends our first Cartoon Saturday of the month, and our tribute to one of the last of the truly great Americans.

Have a good day and a great weekend. Read a good book, and encourage your children to do the same. They'll thank you for it one day.

More thoughts coming tomorrow, when Warren Zevon presents the ballad for modern political America. See you then.

Bilbo