Monday Mountains

We need something lofty to admire in the wake of the buffoonery of last week's GOP deification of Der Furor, so it's time to bring on the mountains ...

1 - I don't care what Der Furor thinks - "Denali" is a much better name for this majestic mountain than "Mount McKinley" ...

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5 - a twofer: Mount Adams in front of Mount Rainier ...

6 - Patagonia ...

7 - the Peruvian Andes ...

8 - a beautiful Swiss valley ...

9 - The Horns, Torres del Paine, Chile ...

10 - Wyoming vista with eagle ...

I don't know about you, but I needed that.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

I don't need to tell you that we live in troubled times. As I wrote in last Friday's post, we are living in a world shaped by decisions quickly made in fear after events that - in retrospect - wiser people might have foreseen. There are other warnings around us now, and we're ignoring those, too ...

The Problem with Early Warnings

by Charles Rafferty

People don't like to leave a party 

unless the house is actually 

on fire. Even then, if the flames 

are far enough away to be pretty, they'll finish 

their drink, take one more pass 

at the hors d'oeuvres.

How things happen has always been 

unclear. Hurricanes begin 

in a place where no one lives.

Agents of the government start 

to wear masks. Fascism is 

a word my neighbors won't use 

yet. They are following

the law, they say, and the sirens 

are coming for someone else.

Have a good day. Try not to ignore the warning signs slowly creeping up around around you, however comfortable it is to do so ... and be sure to take your worries to the ballot box in November.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo 

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 ...

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

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

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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