Thursday Trees

While we wait for Mike to slay his digital dragons, here's this week's edition of Thursday Trees ... because we couldn't just leaf you without your weekly fix of arboreal splendor ...

#1 - 

#2 - that bench in the left foreground looks pretty inviting, doesn't it?

#3 - 

#4 - 

#5 - 

#6 - this bristlecone pine was photographed by the great Ansel Adams ...

#7 - 

#8 - 

#9 - what a great climbing tree!

#10 - 

And that's this week's Thursday Trees collection ... I hope that the quiet majesty of beautiful trees helped to calm you down in the face of all the lunacy that surrounds us.

Have a good day and, speaking of the lunacy that surrounds us, come back tomorrow for the unveiling of the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

What is the Reverse of Extraordinary Rendition?

On June 15, 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries. This practice is known in the legal world as "extraordinary rendition." In real-people language, it's known as "kidnapping." One hopes that the Supreme Courts in other countries don't decide that they can legally do the same within the U.S.

Extraordinary Rendition has become a key element of U.S. government campaigns against drug trafficking and terrorism, and its most notable recent application came in January of this year, when U.S. forces attacked Venezuela, kidnapped President Maduro and his wife, and returned them to the United States for trial on drug trafficking charges. But, as useful as it's been for going after criminals and terrorists, its reverse action has become a part of Der Furor's war on immigrants.

"Third-Country Deportation" is the latest tool in the administration's anti-immigration toolbox. It refers to a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)* that allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deport migrants from the United States to countries other than their country of origin, or where they have other family or economic ties. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, third countries accepting such migrants (as of September 2025) were: Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador**,  South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). It should be noted that these countries are being paid by your government to accept these forcibly deported persons.

Think of Third-Country Deportation as the reverse of Extraordinary Rendition ... instead of snatching people out of their home countries and bringing them to the United States, we snatch people out of the United States and send them to countries where they have no ties of family, language, or culture. 

While I have no sympathy for those who enter the country illegally, neither do I respect the sadistic behavior of a government that refuses - for crass political advantage - to fix a broken immigration system that makes the problem worse.

Have a good day. Keep your head down so you don't have to worry about third-country deportation. You've got enough problems affording gas and groceries.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo 

* The specific citations are 8 U.S. Code § 1231(b)(1)(C)(iv) and 8 U.S. Code § 1231(b)(2)(E)(vii).

** Location of the dreaded CECOT megaprison.

Monday Mountains

As you know, I've been filling in for Mike's Thursday Trees feature while he's hors de combat with computer issues. In times like these, when there is so much ugliness and negativity swirling around us, it's important to have some bits of beauty to help keep us calm and focused amid the social, political, and religious turmoil.

Trees do that, but I also love mountain scenery (which, of course, often comes with trees, at least below the timber line). And so, I've decided to start a new recurring feature I'm calling Monday Mountains - a dose of natural beauty and calm to help start off your week. Here's my first selection of alpine scenery ...

#1 - The Berner Oberland, Switzerland

#2 - French Alps

#3 - Gosausee in Austria (I took this picture)

#4 - The Bavarian Alps, with the famous castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau 

#5 - The Peruvian Andes

#6 - Rakaposhi, Pakistan

#7 - In the Superstition Mountains, Arizona

#8 - The Italian Dolomites

#9 - The Matterhorn, on the border between Switzerland and Italy

#10 - Torres de Paine Park, Chile

And that's it for our inaugural edition of Monday Mountains ... I hope it helped you get calm and centered as you step gingerly into the new week.

Have a good day, and keep coming back for more thoughts.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Today, June 21st, is Father's Day here in the United States - the day on which those of us fortunate enough to have had good fathers honor the sacrifices they made and the lessons they taught us as we grew up and eventually left the nest. My father left us eleven years ago, and I'd like to think that I turned out to be half the man he was.

There are a lot of poems about parents in general and fathers and mothers in particular, but I think one of the very best is this one, written and set to music by Dan Fogelberg in honor of his own father ...

The Leader of the Band

by Dan Fogelberg

An only child alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son

His hands were meant for different work

And his heart was known to none

He left his home and went his lone and solitary way

And he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay

A quiet man of music denied a simpler fate

He tried to be a soldier once, but his music wouldn't wait

He earned his love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand

His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand

The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old

But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man

I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band

My brother's lives were different for they heard another call

One went to Chicago and the other to St Paul

And I'm in Colorado when I'm not in some hotel

Living out this life I've chose and come to know so well

I thank you for the music and your stories of the road

I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go

I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough

And papa, I don't think I said 'I love you' near enough

The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old

But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man

I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band

I am a living legacy to the leader of the band

"And papa, I don't think I said 'I love you' near enough." It's true.

Have a good day, and tell your dad you love him. 

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

As former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe once commented on CNN, "My wow meter has been recalibrated recently" ...

After Secretary of Defense (not War) Pete Hegseth ended mandatory flu vaccines for service members earlier this year, more than 160 troops have contracted influenza in barracks at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas; in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users was unconstitutional; Ukraine carried out devastating drone attacks on oil refining facilities in Moscow, rattling Russian citizens unused to the sort of attacks Ukrainian citizens suffer daily; speaking articulately in complete sentences, former President Barack Obama opened his presidential center in Chicago on Thursday with a star-studded cast of attendees; Der Furor paused his nomination of Jay Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence, saying he would keep Bill Pulte as Acting Director and refuse to approve extension of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA) until Congress passes his "SAVE America Act" to impose voting restrictions; and in (where else?) Florida, a psychiatrist in Boca Raton has been suspended after several of his female patients claimed he asked them to bare their bodies, not just their minds, during their treatment.

Turn the screen away from the children ... this week's collection of cartoons takes a look at sex. 

Even phone sex needs to be responsible ...

I don't like cilantro, anyway ...

Somebody's not going to be barking up this tree tonight ...

It must be an incel thing ...

Gives new meaning to the term "petting," doesn't it? 

When in Rome ...

Even superheroes can have issues ...

I hope she was on the pilaf ...

Busted!

I don't think that was quite what he had in mind, do you? 

And that's it for this week's PG-17 rated Cartoon Saturday ... I hope it helped you get it up. Your spirits, I mean.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday returns to celebrate Father's Day. See you then, 

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Here we go again ...

Special delivery for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ...

It's the economy, stupid ...

He's unwittingly stumbled on the latest top-secret surveillance program cooked up by the National Security Agency, but he's probably okay until Congress reauthorizes the FISA warrantless wiretaps ...

I think they may want to work on their logo ...

Well, yes, but ...

If you've been discombobulated, help is available ...

Uh ... thanks, but I'll order from someplace else ...

For those of you who don't speak German, this is a citation imposing a 500 Euro fine for disturbing the peace in a Vienna park by farting in the presence of a police officer. You can't make this stuff up ...

My friend Birgitta found this one ... I wasn't aware that DOJ was prosecuting presidential enemies and the sharing of hair extensions ...

The vaginal alternatives will go over well with those who get hysterical over LGBTQ issues ...

There you go - another collection for another week. I hope you enjoyed them.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for a Cartoon Saturday look at sex. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Thursday Trees

It's time once again for another calming look at some beautiful trees. Mike is really good at not posting duplicates from week to week ... I don't have his skill and experience, so I apologize in advance if any of my Thursday Trees are repeats. Just enjoy - trees are beautiful, no matter how often we look at them.

#1  

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10 

 

And that's this week's collection of Thursday Trees to tide you over while Mike continues to do battle with his cyberdemons. I hope you enjoyed them.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for a new collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage. See you then with more thoughts.

Bilbo