Great Moments in Editing and Signage

It's the last day of the month, and time for another collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage to help get you in a good mood for the coming of ... gasp! ... March. Let's go ...

I've heard that this bank can't be beat - it offers a lot of good rates to rope you in ...

I think they may have gotten the advertising for their chastity belt division confused with the advertising for the bra division ...

Well, they're not wrong ...

I think someone slept through their geography classes ...

Somehow, I'm not surprised ...

I think this caption writer needs a raise ...

I wonder if this is human trafficking hiding in plain sight ...

I think that ICE will be ordering as many of these as they can ...

A slightly-used and housebroken sheep ... and for free! I think I'll pass, though ...

Speaking of used sheep ...

And that's it for the end-of-February editorial gems ... I hope they gave you a bit of a lift at a tough time in our nation's history.

Have a good day, and be sure to come back tomorrow to greet March with a new Cartoon Saturday - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

"America First," or "America Worst?"

President Musk, Der Furor, and their hand-picked stooges are fond of trumpeting that their agenda puts "America First." This ignores the fact that the slogan "America First" has a sketchy history in this country, being tied to the eponymous isolationist and pro-German movement of the 1930’s, culminating in the infamous pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939 ... 

Understandably, today's hyperconservatives have a different take on the earlier America First movement, focusing more on its domestic agenda and less on its pro-fascist history.

Let's be honest, though.

National leaders have a responsibility to put the interests of their nation first. You don't get to be president of your country by telling the voters you care more about the interests of a different country.

But in a world divided into 195 independent, self-governing nations - 193 UN member states, plus two non-member observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine) - it seems unlikely that peace could prevail if every one of those 195 nations ruthlessly pursued its interests without acknowledging the legitimate interests of anyone else. The general goal of international diplomacy since the end of World War II has been to achieve "win-win" outcomes of disputes whenever possible. Naturally, such outcomes don't always work (see Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Former Soviet Union), but they're the desired goal.

Unless, of course, you have a completely transactional autocratic ruler like Der Furor, for whom a "win-win" outcome is considered a loss ... for the Orange Airhorn, it's not enough just to win - you have to win so decisively that your opponent is humiliated and your power is not just acknowledged, but feared.

This is why Der Furor has insulted and cast aside our longest and most faithful allies - the very thought that we might someday need the help of someone else, or that the United States might have to use some of its awesome power to help a less fortunate nation is an abomination to the ultimate transactional ruler. And lest any other nation think that they should stand up to the mighty United States, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth misses no opportunity to remind everyone that he's fielding the mightiest, most lethal, most "badass*" force in history.

We have gone, in the span of just over a month, from "America First" - the nation that the rest of the world looked up to, respected, and admired as a trustworthy, generous guarantor of peace and stability - to "America Worst" - a noisy, ugly bully that turns its back on its friends and gleefully kisses Vladimir Putin's backside.

Have a good day. Don't support either "America First" or "America Worst" - support "America at its Best."

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* This is a rather crude descriptor, but one suited to the imperial posturing of his boss ... who, himself, never bothered to serve in a military he viewed as filled with "suckers and losers."

Defining Sex

One of the first things Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, did when he took the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services was to issue departmental guidance to expand on Der Furor's royal decree executive order titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government." The royal decree executive order actually had little to do with either "defending women" or restoring "biological truth" ... it was simply a chunk of raw meat tossed to the religious right as a reward for their support and proof that Der Furor sympathizes with the terrible cross they bear by being "forced" to coexist with people they hate.

Your President Musk's federal government has established the following officially-approved definitions as government policy*:

Sex: A person’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.

 

Female: a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova).

 

Male: a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.

 

Woman: an adult human female.

 

Girl: a minor human female.

 

Man: an adult human male.

 

Boy: a minor human male.

 

Mother: a female parent.

 

Father: a male parent.

Now, I don't want to chase too far down this rabbit hole, but here are a few of my candid observations ...

1. I'm a 73-year-old man, the father of three and grandfather of six. I understand how the biological function of sex for reproduction works. It's fun and, in my case, I like to think it's worked amazingly well.

2. I have never been attracted sexually to another man, although I know that there are men who are so attracted. I don't understand it (given the vast number of desirable women out there, and the spectacular one to whom I'm married), but I accept it.

3. I have been "hit on" by other men. Instead of screaming in terror, seeing the end of the world, and howling for pejorative litigation, I've simply told them I'm not interested. It works.

4. I have male friends that I know are gay or bisexual and female friends I know are lesbian or bisexual. I don't care. I can relate to them as friends without worrying about who they want to sleep with. Live and let live is not a bad policy.

5. Growing up, regardless of whether you're a boy or a girl, is hard. There are all sorts of complicated lessons to be learned about becoming an adult, making your way in the world, and relating to the opposite sex without being surrounded by howling mobs of people who insist on having a vote on who you choose to love.

6. Too many people spend entirely too much time clutching their pearls about something that affects a very small minority of the population. I'm an old guy ... when I have to pee, I really don't care if somebody else in the rest room with me used to be a woman. I understand that a woman may have a different take on this ... but unless the other person in the rest room with you is obviously a big, hairy dumbass who self-identifies as an "alpha male**," you should probably just each do your business and move on. 

There's more to the idea of sex and gender than I ever imagined as a teenager desperately trying to get dates with cute girls. I've learned to live with the complications. So can you.

Have a good day. Treat other people with the same respect you'd like to enjoy. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* You'd think we'd have more of a need for policies to address climate change (hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, droughts, etc), pandemics, rising authoritarianism, nuclear proliferation, extreme economic inequality, unhinged presidents, and other such existential threats than to address gender identity. But what do I know?

** Often known by the more scientifically descriptive term, "dumbass."

Ass Clown Special Award

We've made it almost to the end of February without making an out-of-cycle Ass Clown Special Award, but the time has come. The horrifying implosion of the US government, the deliberate insulting and abandonment of our allies, and the complete destruction of our international reputation require us to present the first

Ass Clown Special Award

 

of 2025 to both 

The Republican Party

and

The Democratic Party

The Republican Party, once the party of strong defense and resolute international leadership, has become the cowed lapdog of a president whose shamelessly servile deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin and insulting treatment of our allies has utterly destroyed the nation's international stature. From voting in lockstep to confirm a slate of unqualified candidates for Cabinet positions to keeping silent in the face of presidential behavior far beyond any limits of honesty, legality, morality, and common decency, the GOP has squandered whatever honor it may once have had. It completely ignores two and a half centuries of constitutional government and rule of law to empower a wannabe king whose throne was purchased by his billionaire friend.

The Democratic Party, faced with the challenge of an out-of-control president and a GOP racing toward fascism and rule by an angry religious minority, has folded like a cheap card table. With the notable exception of outspoken leaders like Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Raskin, the Democrats are nowhere to be found pushing back against the most dangerous threat to the Republic since the Civil War. They have no coherent message and no strategy to counter the flood of outright lies and illegality flooding from the right. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries scarcely deserve the title of "Leader" as they flail in a helpless, reactive mode against a criminal, but strongly disciplined majority party.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, this Ass Clown Special Award is presented to the Republican Party, for its headlong rush to ruin the nation at home and abroad, and to the Democratic Party, for allowing them to do it.

I'm old enough to have proudly served in the military of a strong, confident, admired nation that has, sadly, been all but ruined by the major political parties. I weep for what my grandchildren will inherit.

Have a good day. Expect better and vote accordingly. 

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Echelons Above Reality

Many years ago, during my last active duty tour as an Air Force lieutenant colonel in the Pentagon (shortly before the Air Force transitioned to single-wing aircraft), I ran an office that did long-range resource planning for intelligence systems. There were a great many times when we spent days or weeks painstakingly developing packages for approval by the senior leadership, only to have those carefully crafted plans shot down or sent back for revision by the generals, the senior civilians, or ... worst ... the lawyers*. We, of course, complained bitterly about this, raging that those people at echelons above reality didn't really understand that we knew better than they did.

Echelons Above Reality was the usual scornful description we applied to those whose jobs required them to look farther, deeper, and with more legal and political nuance than we did. They caused extra work for us, but it almost always resulted in plans that were more sound at all levels than our original products.

Which is why I was horrified to hear the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America denigrate our domestic and international legal responsibilities and the concerns of our (now former) allies as fluff of concern only at echelons above reality ... as annoying cobwebs to be brushed away as impediments to the only legitimate purpose of a military force: killing people and breaking things. 

Now, obviously, we live in a dangerous world, and there's no point in having a military that's not fearsomely lethal. It's like a pickup truck ... you don't need it very often**, but when you do need it, nothing else will do. But on the other hand, you probably want to know that that fearsomely lethal military operates under at least minimum constraints of legality and morality. There's a reason the framers of the Constitution placed the military under civilian control ... they'd lived the experience of having a king that turned his army loose on the citizens.

And now we have a president who actually fancies himself a king, and who had the staggering nerve to say so on the White House Twitter (X) account:

or perhaps "king" isn't quite good enough, as this depiction of Der Furor as an emperor a la Julius Caesar which appeared at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference may be more to his liking:

But it gets worse ...

This past Friday night**, Der Furor fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force for the unforgivable crime of actually caring about the concerns of the men and women under their command. I don't expect someone who has denigrated those who lost their lives in the service of their country as "suckers and losers" to understand that real military leadership means letting those you may have to send to their deaths know that you care about them and their welfare.

At the same time, he fired the most senior Judge Advocates General (JAGs) of the Army, Navy, and Air Force ... the officials responsible for ensuring that the fearsomely lethal military Der Furor and Mr Hegseth want is run according to the law, inconvenient though it may be. These are the people who would explain posse comitatus to unhinged leaders who care only for the ability to wield raw power ... not for the legality and propriety of its employment. 

MAKE NO MISTAKE - THIS IS THE MOST FRIGHTENING AND DANGEROUS THING DER FUROR HAS YET DONE!

There aren't many supporters of Der Furor who read this blog, and so I have the unfortunate sense of preaching to the political choir. The MAGAts who follow the Orange Airhorn have their own sources of information, and will never acknowledge or understand the danger he poses until it affects them personally.

And then it's too late ... for them, and for the rest of us who saw it coming.

Have a good day. Do what you can to keep yourself informed and to help take back what's left of your country and its honor and dignity. More thoughts tomorrow, when we name the first out-of-cycle Ass Clown Special Award.

Bilbo

* There's no emoji to indicate dripping scorn, so just imagine it here.

** Unless you're in need of a powerful boost to your alpha male-ness.

*** He didn't even have the cojones to do it in the light of day.

Musical Sunday

The news has been so unrelievedly bad of late that I need to hear some beautiful music to take my mind off of it. This has been in my collection for a long time, and I think it's one of the most touchingly beautiful songs I've ever heard ...

Here are the lyrics:

You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love

For to gaze a while

Upon the fields of barley

In his arms she fell as her hair came down

Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me?

Will you be my love?

Upon the fields of barley

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we lie in fields of gold

See the west wind move like a lover so

Upon the fields of barley

Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth

Among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly

And there have been some that I've broken

But I swear in the days still left

We'll walk in fields of gold

We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days

Among the fields of barley

See the children run as the sun goes down

Among the fields of gold

You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You can tell the sun in his jealous sky

When we walked in fields of gold

When we walked in fields of gold

When we walked in fields of gold

Do you have someone to love and remember when the west wind moves among the fields of barley? I hope so. I do, and it makes all the difference.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

I long for the good old days, when a doge was just a guy who ran Venice ...

In an astounding (but, considering the source, predictable) revision of history, Der Furor accused Ukraine of starting the war that began with Russia's surprise invasion three years ago; Der Furor's Department of Justice has expanded the scope of the pardons the Orange Airhorn granted to January 6th riot participants to include pardons for gun and drug offenses also committed by some of the rioters; extreme supporter of Der Furor Kash Patel was narrowly confirmed as the director of the FBI, with only two Republican senators voting against his nomination; in an attempt to rid the military of "DEI hires," Der Furor has fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown (who is black) and Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti (a woman), and intends to replace Brown with a Furor supporter who is not qualified for the position and will require a presidential waiver to fill it; Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell announced that he will not run for reelection, having done enough damage to the nation; and from the Oh-This-Is-Awkward Department, the Grok 3 artificial intelligence-based reasoning model rated about half of Elon Musk's posts on Twitter (now X) as "false" or "misleading," while noting that the remaining half were mainly updates about his companies ... adding insult to injury, the model summarized that “[Musk]’s not a journalist or a scientist; he’s a mogul with a megaphone. I’d say follow him for the ideas, not the facts. If something sounds off, dig into it yourself—plenty of his posts don’t survive a Google search.” 

This week, in honor of Der Furor's naming of a White House "Faith Advisor," and of the angry "Christians" of the far right who like to whine that they're so terribly oppressed they'll be fed to the lions tomorrow, I thought some cartoons looking at religion would be timely. 

If you're going to insist on posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, make them useful for physical rather than spiritual protection ...

That would probably be my halo ...

Especially not the ones in Ukraine, that Der Furor has his eye on ... 

I thought one of Der Furor's bazillion royal decrees executive orders had gotten rid of those ...

They can be very persuasive that way ...

I think a lot of Bible-thumping people expecting the "Christian" equivalent of 72 virgins in the afterlife are going to be in for a shock ...

I think that would be me ...

The only holy war more long-lasting than the Republican vs Democrat one ...

Yes. Yes, it is ...

If it were me, I'd hold out for Saturn, which is prettier ...

And that's it for this week's Cartoon Saturday. Peace be upon all who observe.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday drops in on Sting.

Bilbo

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2025

The pace of events and the tsunami of buffoonery roaring out of Der Furor's administration have greatly complicated the choice of Ass Clown awardees ... with so many amazingly "worthy" choices, how does one make the best choice?

One doesn't.

One just dips the net into the swirling cesspool, stirs it around, and sees which floating chunk it randomly comes up with. And this time, the dripping net has snared as

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2025

"Vice-President"* JD Vance

In his debut on the world stage this month at the annual Munich Security Conference, Mr Vance almost singlehandedly** managed to undo decades of US leadership while deliberately insulting the nation's closest allies.

European leaders had expected Vance to speak about possible talks to end the war in Ukraine and explain the evolving direction of US foreign policy in the Musk/Furor administration. Instead, Mr Vance delivered a blistering attack on European democracies, claiming that European Union "commissars" were suppressing free speech, blaming the continent for mass migration, and accusing its leaders of retreating from "some of its most fundamental values" - a speech long on culture war talking points and short on meaningful ideas and leadership. As Cathy Young of The Bulwark wrote, "Vance’s culture-war tirade was not only pointlessly confrontational and ill-informed; it was also delivered at a moment when lectures on democracy from America have inevitable “Physician, heal thyself” overtones."

Mr Vance's speech was, to say the least, not well received by our European allies, although his behavior was praised by Putin ally and former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. 

In addition, Mr Vance did not meet with the Chancellor of Germany***, but instead met with the head of the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany party and other German political figures. 

Of course, all this is what we might have expected from a man whose idea of statesmanship was the  complaint that the country was being run by “childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices that they’ve made,” and who spread lies about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating the pets of their neighbors because "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do."

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2025, is "Vice President" JD Vance. You may blow your Bronx cheers now.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday returns.

Bilbo

* Mr Vance's actual job title is unclear. While he ran as the Vice-Presidential candidate on the ticket with Der Furor, Elon Musk's  assumption of the presidency suggests that the Orange Airhorn is now effectively the Vice-President, leaving Mr Vance's exact role undefined. For simplicity's sake, we will refer to him as the "Vice President."

** He was substantially aided by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who threw Ukraine under the bus by calling a return to that nation's pre-2014 borders “an unrealistic objective,” ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv, and gave up US leadership of the Contact Group of more than 50 nations that the previous Defense Secretary formed to coordinate shipments of military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

*** He did meet with Chancellor Olof Scholz at another conference in Paris earlier in the week. God forbid he should have to meet with one of our closest allies more than once.

Who Gets to Define and Interpret the Law?

On February 18th, Der Furor signed yet another royal decree executive order, this one titled "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies."

As most of his royal decrees executive orders do, this one begins with several paragraphs of lofty rhetoric about presidential responsibilities and sound government, and pays lip service to the "structural safeguards, along with the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, regular elections for the Congress, and an independent judiciary whose judges are appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, by which the Framers created a Government accountable to the American people."*

So far, so good. Things go downhill fast, though, and by the time you get to Section 7 of the decree order, you learn what it really means ... 

Rules of Conduct Guiding Federal Employees’ Interpretation of the Law. The President and the Attorney General, subject to the President’s supervision and control, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch.  The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties.  No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized to do so by the President or in writing by the Attorney General.

Translation: the president - not the Congress or the Courts - decides what the law is. The Attorney General can also provide "authoritative interpretations of law," but only "subject to the President's supervision and control."

It's been a long time since I took my American history lessons in high school and college, but I seem to remember that we fought a war for independence from kings whose whims and opinions were the law. As I see it, the only real difference between a royal decree from a king and a royal decree executive order from Der Furor is that a king announced his decrees with a roll of drums and a blare of trumpets, while Der Furor slips his in quietly, carefully couched in executive doublespeak so that you don't realize you're being screwed until it's too late. 

I'm glad I didn't vote for this, although I'll suffer from it along with all the fools who didn't pay attention in history and civics classes. 

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when we announce the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February. See you then.

Bilbo

* Section 1: Policy and Purpose, first paragraph.

What President Musk and Der Furor Can Safely Eliminate

President Musk, citing the illusory "overwhelming mandate"* given to Der Furor in the election, has been taking a chainsaw to the federal government, his unsupervised and unqualified flunkies slashing positions at will without any apparent thought to the impact of those cuts. As an example, the administration last week was frantically trying to re-hire some 200 persons fired from the Department of Energy ... after learning that their positions were responsible for the security of our nuclear weapons stockpile. Ruthless cuts to the Federal Aviation Agency are likely to undermine air travel safety and may have contributed to the recent rash of deadly aircraft accidents. Other cuts and tariff impositions will likely slam farmers (mainly in red states of the midwest) who depend on federal loans and exports (largely via the now-defunct USAID) for their livelihood, and gut support to schools in low-income and rural areas that depend on government grants to compensate for low local tax revenue to support education.

These are examples of what I like to call "DOGE's Law of Mission Accomplishment: anything is possible when you don't know what you're doing."

There are, however, a lot of positions across the government that can now safely be cut: the jobs of those who handle the calls from our allies. There won't be very many of those calls to answer in the future, now that JD Vance, in an astounding display of crude, bullying behavior and diplomatic ineptitude that did credit to his boss, demeaned and insulted our closest allies at last week's Munich Security Conference. 

After needlessly alienating both Canada and Mexico, the administration has shown that it's approach to the world is not "America First," but "America Only," and that it is uninterested in mutual benefit - only crass, one-sided advantage that ignores the legitimate concerns of our closest allies.

Of course, a counterargument can be made that those call receivers could be kept busy answering calls from the autocrats and despots whose approval Der Furor craves ... but since such callers are probably on Der Furor's speed-dial already, he won't need any administrative or technical assistance or, for that matter, advice from Cabinet departments already neutered, an obedient Congress, and courts he is already primed to ignore.

The popular acronym nowadays is FAFO - [Mess] Around and Find Out ... and Americans who voted for an agenda they didn't fully understand are slowly finding out. 

Have a good day, and do what you can to preserve what little competent and effective government we have left. You'd better be planning to vote in the 2026 midterms ... assuming annoying things like free and fair elections are still here.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* It needs to be repeated - often - that there was NO "overwhelming mandate" for Der Furor. In fact, he won a bare majority of the popular vote: 77,303,573 (49.8%), as opposed to the 75,019,257 (48.3%) won by Kamala Harris. This is hardly an "overwhelming mandate," although Der Furor and his supporters like to claim it is. 

The Project 2025 Rewrite of the Preamble to the Constitution

The Preamble to the Constitution is one of the most famous and frequently cited written works of American history. In case you need a refresher (and nowadays, most Americans do), here it is:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Most people haven't noticed, but Project 2025 - the detailed plan for a complete ultraconservative makeover of the United States that Der Furor claimed to know nothing about during the campaign - also included a full rewrite of the Preamble to the Constitution to align it with the Republican wet dream of a Christian theocracy run by billionaires who know better than the great unwashed how to make and manage money. They haven't rewritten the rest of the Constitution yet ... they're just ignoring what they don't like and making up the rest as they go along.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the Project 2025 version of the Preamble to the Constitution that presents Der Furor's vision of the United States of America:

We the Wealthy, White, Christian citizens of the United States, in order to preserve our political power, ensure justice appropriate to the race and economic station of each individual, insure domestic tranquility by militarizing the police and strengthening their qualified immunity, provide for the common defense by making sure the military isn't full of nonlethal woke transgendered DEI hires, promote the general welfare insofar as such promotion does not create a culture of dependence which turns lazy individuals into public charges or limit the funding available for corporate welfare programs, and secure the blessings of liberty only to those belonging to traditionally American racial, economic, and religious groups, do ordain and establish this updated Constitution for the United States of America. If you don’t like it, leave. 

Just trying to keep you up to date on what's going on behind the scenes while you've been distracted by the outrage du jour.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Presidents Day, 2025

Today, the third Monday in February, is Presidents Day, the holiday which honors all the wealthy white men (and Barack Obama) who have served, with varying degrees of honor and success, as the nation's chief executive.

The holiday was originally known as Washington's Birthday in honor of the first president, who was actually born on February 22nd. It was later combined with Abraham Lincoln's birthday (February 12th) to honor two of our greatest presidents.

Things grew more complicated with the arrival of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, which permanently moved all Federal holidays other than Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year's to a Monday to create three-day holiday weekends. The act would also have officially renamed the Washington's Birthday holiday "Presidents' Day" to honor the birthdays of both Washington and Lincoln, but that proposal failed in committee, and the final bill signed into law on June 28, 1968, kept the official name "Washington's Birthday." 

Nevertheless, today we call it Presidents Day to honor of all 45 of our presidents (not 47, because Grover Cleveland and Der Furor each held office twice) and to provide a convenient handle for sales of automobiles, furniture, clothing, and other items. At one time, the White House website hosted a list of the presidents, but that page has been deleted, probably because it mentions presidents other than Der Furor; for a complete list of presidents, you'll need to go to Wikipedia, which now has a better track record of documenting US history than the White House. 

Presidents Day also provides an opportunity for historical reflection on the evolution of Republican presidents ...

So, happy Presidents Day to those who celebrate. Perhaps in another few years we'll again have a president worth honoring.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

I long ago came to terms with my rapidly-advancing age. I know my days of dancing the night away are pretty much over, now that the night comes calling by 8 o'clock, and things like cage fighting and extreme sports are nowhere to be found on my agenda. But I'm still as much in life as is Mary Oliver in today's poem ...

Self Portrait

by Mary Oliver

I wish I was twenty and in love with life

and still full of beans.

Onward, old legs!

There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side

the roses are blooming and finding their labor

no adversity to the spirit.

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea

shining like a song, like a body

I want to touch

though I'm not twenty

and won't be again but ah! seventy. And still

in love with life. And still

full of beans.

Yes, I'm still full of beans, in a world and a time where many in positions of national leadership - whether elected or unelected - are full of something else. I still love my wife, my family and my friends, who do their best to try to keep me grounded and humble.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

The hits just keep on coming, don't they? 

Republican Representative Earl Carter of Georgia introduced legislation to negotiate the purchase of Greenland and rename it "Red, White, and Blueland;" Florida GOP Representative Anna Paulina Luna announced that as part of her Congressional task force's investigation into alleged irregularities in the Warren Commission report on the JFK Assassination, she intends to call as witnesses the members of the Commission, the physicians who tried to save Kennedy, and the doctor who performed the autopsy, all of whom are dead; according to a State Department document detailing procurement plans for fiscal year 2025, the department is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles ... after the news broke, the document was amended to remove the word "Tesla;" the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a merchant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea near Port Said, Egypt; Der Furor, after commuting the sentence of disgraced and corrupt Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, is reportedly considering appointing him ambassador to Serbia; and in Memphis, Tennessee, customers at a local food truck were undeterred by the presence of a dead shooting victim, stepping around him to place and pick up their orders.

This week, in honor of confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, I thought a collection of cartoons about death would be fitting. 

I'm sticking with the broccoli, anyhow ...

He must be a lawyer ...

Specially designed for alpha males ...

Couch potatoes always rest in peace ...

After you, Alphonse!

Well, what else would he read? ...

He would, wouldn't he? ...

I find myself asking that question at least three times a week ...

It surely is! ...

He'll be buried alongside the dynamite salesman ...

And that's it for this weekend's salute to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, our new Secretary of Health and Human Services ... who has also won the endorsement of the National Alliance of Funeral Directors.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday returns.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

It's time for the first collection of Editorial and signage ya-ha's for February ... something to take your mind off the relentless bad news. Not as if you need it.

Priced to move ...

What is an "incorrect" bathing suit? Don't worry, Der Furor will soon define it in an executive order drafted by his White House "Faith Advisor" ...

It's a good way to get ahead ... so to speak ...

I guess thinking that Ben Franklin was a president suggests the need for better education ... maybe even a department thereof ...

Somehow, I don't think this is a very good choice for a Valentine's Day gift ...

"Zigeunerschnitzel" literally translates as "Gypsy Schnitzel." "Schnitzel with no fixed address" is probably not the best translation ...

School lunch menus after budget cuts probably leave something to be desired ...

This one is also not a recommended Valentine's Day gift ...

There's one thing in common on both lists ...

I hope the person who wrote this headline got a raise ...

And that's it for today! I hope you got a well-deserved - and certainly-needed - laugh.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for more thoughts on a deadly Cartoon Saturday. See you then.

Bilbo