A Change to the Ass Clown Awards

As those of you who have been following this blog for a long time will remember, we presented the very first Ass Clown Award on April 17, 2011 - to Der Furor, no less. 

At that time, the award was something of an afterthought, tacked onto other posts ... the Right-Cheek and Left-Cheek designations did not appear until four years later, starting with the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for January, 2015, presented to South Carolina State Representative Alan D. Clemmons. The On-Crack designation (suggested for the third award in a month by my long-time blogging friend John) was first used in July of that year, in a presentation to Second Amendment zealot Christopher Reed ... who, quite literally, shot himself in the foot.

The next change to the awards was my design of the Tinfoil and Toilet Paper Crown for presentation to each recipient, first awarded in late 2022.

It recently occurred to me that there ought to be some way of designating multiple awards to the same recipient (as in last week's second award to Attorney General Pam Bondi) other than just the notation that it's the (insert number) award. After some thought and review of various references on the heraldry of award design, I've decided to mirror the American military practice of designating multiple presentations of the same award with an Oak Leaf Cluster. In our case, subsequent awards to the same individual will be designated with Poison Ivy Clusters:

For example, the next Ass Clown Award presented to Der Furor will be referred to as The (insert cheek) Ass Clown Award for (insert date), 17th Poison Ivy Cluster. Of course, in the case of Der Furor, the term "cluster" can have multiple meanings, but that's not important now.

Similarly, individuals earning their second (or higher) Ass Clown of the Year award will be designated with the Poop of Distinction Device:

For example, if the Ass Clown of the Year Award is presented again to Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, it will be referred to as the Ass Clown of the Year for (insert year), 4th Poop of Distinction Device.

Although the prospect is horrifying, it's entirely possible for a recipient to receive five or more annual awards (after all, Mitch McConnell is close). In this case, the fifth and subsequent awards will be recognized by the Poop of Distinction Device in Gold:

For purposes of formal display, the first Poison Ivy Cluster will be affixed to the front edge of the crown immediately left of the picture of the ass; subsequent clusters will be affixed one-half inch from the previous cluster toward the rear of the crown. Poop of Distinction devices take precedence over Poison Ivy Clusters, and will be placed before the first such cluster, with clusters shifting rearward as necessary. The Poop of Distinction Device in Gold takes precedence over all other Poison Ivy Clusters and Poop of Distinction Devices.

It can be disheartening and discouraging to plumb the depths of ass clownery two or three (or more) times per month, and I need to find my jollies where I can. Inventing new ways of recognizing "excellence" in ass clownery is fun.

Have a good day, and don't forget to submit your nominations for Ass Clown awards. You can do it by leaving a comment on any of my posts, or by sending me a PM on Facebook if we are connected there. I need all the help I can get.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

 

Musical Sunday

Back on the 7th of this month we celebrated the birthday of Dominican singer/songwriter Juan Luis Guerra, who composed and performed some of my favorite Latin dance music. For this week's Musical Sunday, we have one of my favorite Rumba tunes by Mr Guerra - Burbujas de Amor, or "Love Bubbles." The lyrics follow, first in Spanish and then in English translation ...

The Spanish Lyrics:

Tengo un corazón

Mutilado de esperanza y de razón

Tengo un corazón

Que madruga adonde quiera

Ay ay ay ay

Y ese corazón

Se desnuda de impaciencia ante tu voz

Pobre corazón

Que no atrapa su cordura

Quisiera ser un pez

Para tocar mi nariz en tu pecera

Y hacer burbujas de amor

Por donde quiera

Oh-oh-oh pasar la noche en vela

Mojado en ti

Un pez

Para bordar de corales tu cintura

Y hacer siluetas de amor

Bajo la luna

Oh-oh-oh saciar esta locura

Mojado en ti

Canta corazón

Con un ancla imprescindible de ilusión

Sueña corazón

No te nubles de amargura

Ay ay ay ay

Y este corazón

Se desnuda de impaciencia

ante tu voz

Pobre corazón

Que no atrapa su cordura

Quisiera ser un pez

Para tocar mi nariz

En tu pecera

Y hacer burbujas de amor

Por donde quiera

Oh-oh-oh pasar la noche en vela

Mojado en ti

Un pez

Para bordar de corales tu cintura

Y hacer siluetas de amor

Bajo la luna

Oh-oh-oh saciar esta locura

Mojado en ti

Una noche

Para hundirnos hasta el fin

Cara a cara, beso a beso

Y vivir por siempre

Mojado en ti

Quisiera ser un pez

Para tocar mi nariz

En tu pecera

Y hacer burbujas de amor

Por donde quiera

Oh-oh-oh pasar la noche en vela

Mojado en ti

Un pez

Para bordar de cayenas tu cintura

Y hacer siluetas de amor

Bajo la luna

Oh-oh-oh saciar esta locura

Mojado en ti

Para tocar mi nariz

En tu pecera

Y hacer burbujas de amor

Por donde quiera

Oh-oh-oh pasar la noche en vela

Mojado en ti

Un pez

Para bordar de cayenas tu cintura

Y hacer siluetas de amor

Bajo la luna

Oh-oh-oh vaciar esta locura

Mojado en ti

And now the English translation:

I have a heart

That has been maimed by hope and reason

I have a heart that wakes early no matter the place

¡Ay ay ay ay ay!

This heart

Bares itself impatiently

Before your voice

Poor heart

That can't catch its sanity

 

I would like to be a fish

So that I could touch your fish tank with my nose

So that I could blow love bubbles everywhere, ohhhh

To stay awake all night

While soaked in you

 

A fish

To adorn your waist with corals

And to draw love silhouettes

under the moon, ohhhh

To satisfy this madness

While soaked in you

 

Sing, my heart

With an essential anchor made of illusions

Dream, my heart

Be not clouded by bitterness,

ay ay ay ay ay

 

This heart

Bares itself impatiently

Before your voice

Poor heart

That can't catch its sanity

 

I would like to be a fish

So that I could touch your fish tank with my nose

So that I could blow love bubbles everywhere, oohh

To stay awake all night

While soaked in you

 

A fish

To adorn your waist with corals

And to draw love silhouettes under the moon, ohhhh

To satisfy this madness

While soaked in you

A night

To sink to the bottom

Face to face

Kiss by kiss

And to live

Forever

Soaked in you

 

I would like to be a fish

So that I could touch your fish tank with my nose

So that I could blow love bubbles everywhere, oohh

To stay awake all night

While soaked in you

 

A fish

To adorn your waist with hibiscus

And to draw love silhouettes under the moon, ohhhh

To satisfy this madness

While soaked in you

 

So that I could touch your fish tank with my nose

So that I could blow love bubbles everywhere, oohh

To stay awake all night

While soaked in you

 

A fish

To adorn your waist with hibiscus

And to draw love silhouettes under the moon, ohhhh

To satisfy this madness

While soaked in you

Yes, the English lyrics are a little ... odd, but I still think it's a beautiful tune. I'll just stick with the Spanish lyrics and hold the ladies close for a fishy rumba.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Just when you think we've hit the bottom of the barrel, you discover the barrel is deeper than you thought ...

Der Furor took a major step toward his dream of authoritarian rule this week by deploying both the National Guard and a battalion of US Marines to the streets of Los Angeles in response to civil unrest targeting deportation actions by ICE agents; Israel launched air strikes against Iran, killing military leaders and bombing nuclear and missile targets, and Iran responded with a barrage of missiles targeting Tel Aviv and other locations in Israel; an Air India jet bound from Ahmedabad to London crashed into an apartment block minutes after takeoff, killing more than 200 people on board and on the ground, with one person miraculously surviving; two of the police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from a violent mob of Der Furor's supporters on January 6th, 2021, have filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Congress to install the memorial mandated by Congress in 2022 honoring the officers who tried to hold off the mob; and in Detroit, a judge cut off a woman from a hearing being conducted over Zoom when she appeared on camera late, dressed in a bathrobe, and making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Living in Der Furor's America is often easier when you have a glass of wine. Or a bottle of wine. Or a case of wine. Or a collection of cartoons about wine ...

This is me at most restaurants ...

I'm sure the choices are better ...

It's important to match the wine both with food and mood ...

Et voila!

He must have ordered this kit from an ad on Facebook ...

Before and after ...

It's one of those craft wines ...

There's an endorsement opportunity here somewhere ...

It's possible to take fresh home cooking a little too far ...

I can agree with this ...

Here's to another week of Cartoon Saturday - salut!

Have a good day, a great weekend, and enjoy your wine responsibly. More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday offers one of my all-time favorite Rumba tunes. See you then.

Bilbo

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2025

Today marks the first of our Ass Clown awards for the month of June, halfway through the year 2025 and five months into the socially and politically apocalyptic reign of Der Furor. When I write these awards, I usually start out with a whine about how difficult it is to separate the chaff from the chaff, how hard it is to skim the largest chunk from the cesspool of current events, or some other such complaint about the difficulty in selecting a winner. 

Not this time.

This time, we revisit a previously-cited Ass Clown who has, sadly, has resolutely striven for new heights of ass clownery in the service of the embarrassing buffoon who has made the once-proud United States a laughingstock around the world. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, today we present the tinfoil and toilet paper crown of

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2025

to

Attorney General Pam Bondi

It was just a month ago that the sitting Attorney General won the Right-Cheek Ass Clown Award for May, 2025, and yet here we are again as she reaches for new horizons of dishonor in the service of what we once called "justice" in this country.

Last week, after months of insisting that there was no way for the United States to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man mistakenly deported to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador, Ms Bondi announced with great fanfare that Mr Garcia had finally been returned to the United States ... to face charges spelled out in a ten-page indictment accusing him of human trafficking, belonging to a terrorist organization (the Salvadoran criminal gang "MS-13"), and interstate transportation and sale of firearms. Ms Bondi, evidently in an attempt to sway public opinion in expectation of pushback, made numerous public statements which went well beyond the offenses spelled out in the indictment as she pounded the drum that Mr Garcia had engaged in major criminal conduct. This, of course, violates DOJ policy and the traditional standard of "innocent until proven guilty." Of course, the chances that she will face any consequences under this administration are vanishingly small.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2025, is Attorney General Pam Bondi, the person who has turned the Department of Justice into the vehicle for Der Furor's retribution campaign against his enemies ... the woman who singlehandedly defines the "weaponization of government" so decried by MAGAts unless they are in power.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when we'll feature cartoons about wine. After all, we need plenty of it to help cope with the likes of Pam Bondi.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

"Bonanza" Meets Der Furor

It's no secret that Der Furor and his advisors have a hugely expansive view of presidential power and authority, centered in their theory of the Unitary Executive*. But perhaps recognizing that kingly powers rooted in a "because I said so" theory of governance might not fare well in courts which rely on precedent and actual evidence, administration lawyers have been seeking out laws still on the books** which were enacted for particular times and sets of conditions, but could be repurposed to meet the political needs of the present. New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie wrote about this in a recent article in which he quoted associate professor of law at the Northern Illinois University College of Law Evan Bernick, who wrote, 

“This administration is excavating statutes that have no business being on the books in their current form at all. It’s abusing them, sure, but they should not exist to be abused.”

When I read Mr Bouie's article, I was reminded of a funny episode of the old TV series Bonanza, about the adventures of the Cartwright family on Nevada's Ponderosa Ranch in the late 1800s. In the 1969 episode titled "Another Windmill to Go," an eccentric Englishman named Don Q. Hought was found rowing a horse-drawn rowboat across the Ponderosa ... 

Everyone thought he was crazy until he filed a lawsuit claiming ownership of the ranch, based on an old grazing law - still on the books - which allowed a man to claim ownership of as much land as he could row across in a given period of time. Of course, he never got the Ponderosa, but his point was not to actually get the ranch, but to expose the potential for abuse of a silly, obscure, outdated law.  

I don't know how far we have to row to expose the abuse of outdated laws, but I hope we find out and do it quickly. 

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when we crown the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for the month. See you then.

Bilbo

* What we used to call a "king" in more thoughtful times. I wrote about this in a post back in May of this year.

** Such as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (50 USC Chapter 3, §21-24) and the Insurrection Act of 1807 (10 USC §251-255). Both are so loosely written as to be ripe for abuse by a weak yet power-hungry president seeking to project an image of strength. 

Talismanic Incantations, Updated

Just shy of eight years ago, in July of 2017, I wrote a post called "Talismanic Incantations." The theme of the post was that there are certain words and phrases that, when used in legal and political discussions, were the equivalent of the magic words we used to believe in when we were children. The title of the post came from a marvelous line in the 9th Circuit Court's decision in the case "State of Hawaii v. Donald Trump, John Kelly, and Rex Tillerson," which struck down Der Furor's proposed ban on travel to the US from six majority Muslim nations:

"National Security is not a 'talismanic incantation' that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power under §1182(f)."

Sadly, National Security has, in fact, become a talismanic incantation, as it invokes protection and deflects accountability for government agencies which exceed their lawful authority on the most tenuous of grounds. And it led me to suggest a number of talismanic incantations useful to justify all manner of otherwise objectionable actions, among them:

Freedom - the quintessential American incantation, generally combined with the type of freedom desired;

 

Religious Freedom - invoked only when one's own religion is inconvenienced;

 

Choice - applies only to the option desired by the person delivering the incantation; its use does not imply that others should enjoy the same equality of choice;

 

Fake News - casts doubt on spells invoked by others with which one does not agree;

 

Keep and Bear Arms - invokes the mystical power of guns, but must be accompanied by the frenzied waving of a firearm;

 

Job-Killing - counters economic spells one cannot counter with statistics or logic;

 

Government Overreach - counters spells which invoke powers not aligned with one's political philosophy;

 

Obstructionist - damages an opponent's image by characterizing them as unable to cast spells of their own, able only to interfere with spells cast by others; and,

 

Racist and Sexist - employed when no other spell works, they have no particular power other than to cast aspersions on spells cast by one's opponents.

 That was in 2017. In 2025, several new talismanic incantations have entered the language:

National Emergency - this is probably the most powerful incantation after National Security, because its use allows the invocation of all sorts of other incantations of legally and constitutionally questionable authority;

Fraud, Waste, and Abuse - a very powerful incantation which invokes the ability, without the need for specific evidence, to make large sections of government vanish; 

 

Anti-Semitic - similar to the previous list's Racist and Sexist, equates criticism of the government of Israel to hatred of the Jewish people as a whole, thereby deflecting legitimate criticism of legally and morally questionable actions*; 

 

Open Borders - shifts blame for Congress's failure for decades to legislatively address the full range of immigration reform issues to illegal immigrants**; and,

 

DEI - a catchall incantation useful for stifling debate in situations where no other incantation works. 

A DOGE employee demonstrates the proper invocation

of the "Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" incantation.

There are also a few talismanic incantations that ordinary citizens can use without special training, among them:

Vote - an incantation, either written or verbal, which can, when cast in sufficient numbers, make undesirable officeholders disappear; 

Call - a verbal incantation used to impart knowledge of one's concerns to an elected official or a member of their staff and inform them of the likelihood of losing one's support if those concerns are ignored; 

Write - an incantation delivered in written form to impart knowledge of one's concerns to an elected official and, like Call, inform them of the likelihood of losing one's support if those concerns are ignored; and, 

Demonstrate - an incantation usually delivered by groups of individuals to remind elected officials of their duty or to call their attention to some undesirable condition.

The last four cost little and help to make your voice heard. And you don't need a magic wand ... only a telephone and writing materials.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* I know I'll take heat for this one from those who will claim (wrongly) that I am equating the actions of Israel to those of Hamas. Both sides claim the absolute right of vengeance for the misdeeds of the other. All I can do is remind them of the old adage that taking an eye for an eye only leaves everyone blind.

** Useful scapegoats who, after all, can't vote.

The Other TDS

If, like me, you have been accused of "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (or "TDS") for your opposition to the cruel, venal, and corrupt presidency of Der Furor, you may be interested to know that there's an alternative version of TDS that applies to those who worship him: "Trump Denial Syndrome."

Trump Denial Syndrome excuses any and all behavior by Der Furor, no matter how egregious, unconstitutional, unethical, or criminal. Any wrongdoing, even when proven by verifiable evidence, is immediately dismissed with prejudice. Persons suffering from Trump Denial Syndrome simply refuse to accept any information that may contradict their beliefs and their faith in their idol, and they react to it as their leader does - with complete denial, anger, and name-calling rather than facts and evidence.

The identities of persons suffering from Trump Denial Syndrome are tightly bound with their allegiance to their leader. Because he can do no wrong, challenging their faith in him is all but impossible because it attacks their own beliefs and identities. Believing the truth, accepting evidence of Der Furor's shortcomings and failures, would force them to admit that they've been manipulated, conned, and lied to, and that would diminish their self esteem.

I have a hard time believing that so many of my fellow Americans have fallen prey to Trump Denial Syndrome. I can only hope that they recover before the next election.

Have a good day. Seek the truth, believe the evidence, and vote like a thinking American.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Mandated Vocabulary

 

I recently read an interesting article* in Mental Floss titled 8 Extraordinary Examples of Constrained Writing. "Constrained writing" refers to a set of writing techniques that impose specific rules on word usage and style. The article examines eight different techniques and all are fascinating, but one stuck out for me: Mandated Vocabulary.

When using mandated vocabulary, the writer may be prohibited from using certain words, allowed to use only certain words, limited only to a certain number of words, or permitted to use only words that fit within a particular set of guidelines.

Mandated vocabulary has had a long and interesting history during my lifetime, such as the push to use gender-neutral terms (think mail carrier for mailman** or flight attendant for stewardess), all-purpose pronouns (they for he or she or theirs for his or hers), and the execrable Latinx for Latino or Latina. But mandated vocabulary has reached new heights under the reign of Der Furor, where every government database and library is being scrubbed of words considered objectionable by hard-right conservatives and their radical evangelical followers, and non-objectionable words are turned on their semantic heads to meet the needs of the political moment. As an example of the latter, consider the term patriot applied (with a straight face) to the violent rioters of January 6th, 2021.

Pen America has compiled an ever-growing list of words banned by various federal government agencies. The list contains more than 350 words and phrases, including such linguistic horrors as:

abortion;

affordable housing;

bias;

carbon footprint;

cultural sensitivity;

diversity;

disparity;

gender;

green;

hate speech;

indigenous;

marginalized;

pollution;

privilege;

racism;

science-based;

trauma;

underrepresented;

water quality; and, of course,

white privilege

Mandated vocabulary is similar in a political context to the famous Newspeak invented by George Orwell for his classic novel 1984. Newspeak was developed to help the government of Big Brother*** control people's minds by simplifying the language to channel conversation in approved directions and discourage free thought. In Newspeak, all the banned words on the government's pre-approved list would be considered doubleplus ungood. 

Constrained writing is not necessarily a bad thing but, as with just about anything, it can be used for ill purposes. Be on the linguistic lookout.

Have a good day and don't let the constrained thought of the MAGA movement limit your expression. Big Brother does not have your best interests at heart.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Interesting to a guy with a degree in Linguistics, anyhow.

** A classic example of the push for gender-neutral language was the joke about the very politically correct mother who told her child to "go out to the personbox and see if the personperson has left us any person."

** The 1984 version of Der Furor.

Poetry Sunday

Last weekend we were in Ohio for our grandson Noah's high school graduation celebration, and my daughter Tabitha gave me some homework to do - it's a fill-in book titled "Grandfather, I Want to Hear Your Story." It's divided into chapters that cover all the phases of life and asks questions that will enable future generations to know more about grandpa Bilbo. 

It was a clever and wonderful gift, and it's gotten me to thinking a lot about what things were like when I was growing up during the Pleistocene. Today's poem by the great Robert Louis Stevenson brings back similar memories ...

The Land of Counterpane

by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed, 

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bedclothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets 

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still 

That sits upon the pillow-hill, 

And sees before him, dale and plain, 

The pleasant land of counterpane.

I miss the days of counterpane ... they were safer and a lot more fun than the days of DOGE and MAGA.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Today is June 7th, and we're just about halfway through 2025. Oy ...

After months of bitterly fighting to keep from returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, mistakenly sent to a grim prison in El Salvador, to the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced he is back in the country but will remain in prison and face numerous charges; the feud between President Musk and Der Furor exploded into the open, with Der Furor threatening to cancel contracts with Musk's companies and Musk threatening to decommission his Dragon-X space capsules, which are NASA's only way to get astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station; Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has defended his proposal to grow his own staff by 4% even as nearly every federal agency faces the prospects of drastic workforce cuts, saying he needs the additional staff because of the added strains being placed on his agency; and in Maryland, a former state police corporal who reached out to a drug dealer and sold him the identity of a confidential informant for $1,500, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison.

I'm feeling lazy this week, so we'll just do another random selection of cartoons from the waiting-to-be-filed folder ...

Uh, oh ...

It's similar to one of those stores that hawks Der Furor swag ...

Things are a bit different now from what I learned in Sunday School ...

It's been a parental complaint longer than we thought ...

It's the IV I'd have chosen ...

How the MAGAts would look at it ...

The Doomsday Clock was defunded to provide tax cuts for billionaires ...

It's clever, but subtle ...

I completely understand ...

The royalties on this one must be enormous ...

And that's it for this week's Cartoon Saturday ... I hope it gave you a few chuckles to help get you over the first week of June.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday summons back a childhood classic from Robert Louis Stevenson. See you then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

We're finishing the first week of June, and it's time for our first collection of Great Moments. Let's get right to it!

It sounds like the sort of mistake Der Furor's DOJ would make ... except Faux News reverse it for a MAGAt ...

Let's try this again ...

I think I'll just keep going to the next town. Thanks to John for this one ...

When the low bidder makes your sign ...

Um ... okaaaaay ...

I think they're looking for a new chief of security ...

I guess Fryeday wasn't available ...

I really need to be careful when I get my knee replaced later this month ...

No, the other right ...

The nerve of that boss! 

And that's it for this week's collection - I hope it gave you a much-needed chuckle. Have a good day and come back tomorrow for the first Cartoon Saturday of the month. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

The Cost of Justice

It's no secret that competent, expert legal advice is expensive. There are lots of jokes about lawyers charging fees based on the "billable hour" - which might be as short as ten minutes, depending on how the attorney in question defines it - and those hours don't come cheap. After all, lawyers are trained specialists in an arcane subject that few of us understand but all of us live under. You wouldn't want a PhD microbiologist to repair your computer, would you?

Although I despise the legal profession in general as a result both of bad personal experience and the demonstrated venality of lawyers serving the ill bidding of Der Furor, I understand that lawyers are a necessary evil. What really bothers me at this point in time is the cost of the law - on both sides - to the nation.

Since Der Furor took office on January 20th of this year, courts across the country have been buried under an avalanche of lawsuits, countersuits, appeals, appeals of appeals, and general legal detritus. Much of it consists of various litigants suing to counter the worst excesses of Der Furor and his quasi-governmental DOGE entity, and much of the rest of it consists of the Orange Airhorn's long-recognized practice of dragging out every legal challenge until everyone involved is either broke or dies of old age. The Lawfare website actually has a [Der Furor] Administration Litigation Tracker to 

"... track legal challenges to the [Der Furor] administration’s executive actions that deal with national security issues, as well as cases on behalf of the [Der Furor] administration to enforce them." 

When I began drafting this post on the morning of May 30th, the tracker listed 324 separate lawsuits filed either against or by the administration. May 30th was the 150th day of 2025 and the 119th day of Der Furor's presidency ... meaning that for each of those 119 days, an average of 2.7 legal actions has been initiated. Consider what this means ...

Each of these lawsuits is being argued by platoons of lawyers on each side. Each of those lawyers is, of course, being paid*. Those on the government side are being paid by you and I through our taxes, and are probably being paid less than they could make in private practice. Those on the other side are being paid for by individuals and groups opposed to the actions of the administration. According to US News, the average annual salary for an attorney in the United States in 2025 is $145,760. 

Think for a moment about the amount of money being spent on all those lawyers chasing all those lawsuits across the length and breadth of government. Think for a moment about the amount of time courts at all levels are tied in knots with suits, countersuits, motions, appeals, appeals of appeals, or whatever. What does that mean for the availability of court time for an average American seeking legal recourse? And what does it mean for the money that could have been spent on things like education, public health, protection of citizens from predatory commercial actors, the scientific research for which the United States used to be renowned, etc, etc?

I could write more, but I'm too disgusted, and I think you should be, too.

Demand more of your government but - under this administration - expect less, at higher cost.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Unless they work for one of the law firms blackmailed by royal decree executive order, now forced to do pro bono work for Der Furor.

Musical Sunday

It's been a while since I've had an instrumental piece as a Musical Sunday offering, and I happened to think of this one recently when I woke up at a dreadfully early hour. David Rose and his orchestra's rendition of "Four-Twenty AM" has been one of my favorite instrumentals since I first heard it many years ago on an old 78 rpm record that belonged to my parents ...

I hope you found it as relaxing and romantic as I always have. Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo