The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for July, 2025

As we close in on the end of another month of executive, legislative, and judicial turmoil, we find the latest opportunity to recognize excellence* in ass clownery. As always, the bench is deep and the challenge of plumbing its depths daunting, but if nobody else is willing to step up to the task, I'll do it once again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, we present 

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown Award for July, 2025

to

The Republican Regrets Coalition:

Senators Bill Cassidy (R, LA), 

Lisa Murkowski (R, AK),

Josh Hawley (R, MO), and

Thom Tillis (R, NC)

Der Furor's absolute domination of Republican senators and representatives is well-documented, as is his ability to force them to make decisions and support positions that are antithetical to the interests of their constituents. This has seldom been better illustrated than by their votes in favor of confirming unqualified administration appointees and of passing the "Big Beautiful Bill" which is packed with measures detrimental to many segments of the population ... but which will manifest themselves in voters' lives and pocketbooks well after those who supported them are out of office. The four senators we dishonor with today's award represent some of the most blatant examples of voting as their leader demands, then publicly regretting their actions:

Senator Cassidy, himself a doctor (a gastroenterologist), agreed to support the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr (not a physician or scientist of any kind), to be Secretary of Health and Human Services only after Mr Kennedy promised not to upend the nation’s system for evaluating vaccines. Kennedy went on to fire all 17 members of the vaccine advisory panel, replacing them with eight new members, some of whom have histories of vaccine skepticism. Cassidy then complained that “many” of the new members Kennedy appointed to the panel “do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology.” Oops.

Senator Murkowski insisted that she was responsible for taking care of residents of Alaska, and said "I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill. I don't like that." Oops.

Senator Hawley (a two-time previous winner**), just two weeks after he did as he was told and voted for Der Furor's BBB, introduced legislation that would counter its cuts to Medicaid and repair the damage he’d just endorsed. “Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect,” he said in a statement. Oops.

Senator Tillis decided not to run for reelection after regretting his own votes in favor of, among other things, Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, too late realizing that the man was "out of his depth" and guilty of "making amateurish decisions" in the position. Oops. 

It has become abundantly clear over the years that people who hitch their wagons to Der Furor tend to end up with their reputations in tatters, being demeaned, insulted, and cast aside when they are no longer useful or when they wake up to the devil's bargain they've made. Today's winners exemplify the sidelining of honor and moral character demanded by the MAGA world. 

Oopsie.

Have a good day, and make sure your elected officials at all levels are doing their jobs, not blindly kissing the backside of a man unworthy of their willing degradation.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* If I may be forgiven for using the word in this context.

** Special Award, January 2021 (shared with Senator Ted Cruz); and Left-Cheek Award for March, 2022 (shared with the other GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee). Senator Hawley thus receives his second Poison Ivy Cluster.

The Deep State, the Administrative State, and the State of Hysteria

One of the ways in which Der Furor was able twice to capture the presidency was by playing to  conservative anger over the so-called Deep State - a hypothetical unauthorized secret network of powerful individuals and agencies that operate independently of properly elected political leaders to pursue their own agendas and goals - a sort-of modern day Illuminati. 

The Deep State concept is related to another term, the Administrative State, which refers to the array of executive branch agencies at all levels which have the power and authority to write, interpret, and enforce their own regulations.

The Deep State is a mainstay of GOP politics, useful in explaining why their social and economic policies don't work by pinning blame on a shadowy cabal of rogue bureaucrats*, and of books and films eager to mine new sources of villainy for their heroes to fight. The Administrative State is also a focus of conservative anger, equally useful for explaining their policy failures, but without the added bonus of baked-in evildoers seeking world domination. 

The Administrative State is a result of the expansion of government and the complexity of the world over the years. As the federal government grew in size and complexity, ever-larger bureaucracies staffed with subject matter specialists were needed to carry out the responsibilities assigned by Congress ... including the authority (as we noted above) to write, interpret, and enforce their own regulations within the parameters authorized in legislation.

For conservatives who are by nature disdainful of regulations imposed by tyrannical governments™ they do not control, the Administrative State is an anathema to be opposed at all costs. Regulations imposed by government agencies, they argue, are infringements on personal freedoms and are invalid unless specifically approved by Congress as the directly-elected representatives of the people - not by faceless bureaucrats™ answerable to no one.

When last I checked, there were 535 elected members of Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators), who have in recent years been unable to do as fundamental a constitutionally-mandated function as publish a budget ... indeed, they have been unable to do little more than adjourn to prevent having to vote on releasing the dreaded Epstein Files™, propose renaming the Kennedy Center Opera House after Melania Trump, pass gigantic pieces of legislation that they regret and immediately begin un-legislating, and steadfastly resist anything proposed by the opposition party ...

The Deep State doesn't exist except in the fever dreams of conspiracy believers. The Administrative State does. And as the Republican party races to dismantle it, eliminating the experts and specialists who have kept us safe, healthy, and protected from abuse of the law, we won't be long in regretting its loss.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Who are also satanist Democrats, pedophiles, and baby eaters.

Poetry Sunday

Perhaps we need a new approach to self-defense in these difficult days. Nature offers a solution ...

The best defense is offensive

by Marge Piercy

The turkey vulture,

a shy bird ungainly on the ground 

but massively graceful in flight, 

responds to attack 

uniquely.

Men have contempt for this scavenger 

because he eats without killing.

When an enemy attacks, 

the turkey vulture vomits:

the shock and disgust of the predator 

are usually sufficient to effect his escape.

He loses only his dinner, 

easily replaced.

All day I have been thinking 

how to adapt this method of resistance.

Sometimes only the stark 

will to disgust 

prevents our being consumed: 

there are clearly times 

when we must make a stink 

to survive.

Since the news usually makes me want to vomit, this may be a reasonable, if messy, approach to demonstrating my opinion.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

I wish I'd kept the receipt for this week so that I could exchange it ...

The White House has announced that Der Furor is suffering from a chronic vein condition that Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described as "tissue damage from frequent handshaking;" singer Connie Francis, the first woman in history to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, died at 87;  an Israeli shell struck the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest; Congress has approved and sent to Der Furor for approval legislation to claw back billions of dollars previously approved for public broadcasting that conservatives believe does not support their agenda; and in Rockland, Maine, a Vermont man was arrested and charged with a long list of offenses after he followed a woman into the police station parking lot where she'd gone for help, crashed into a police cruiser, fled the scene, and resisted arrest.

This week, as we anxiously wait to see what happens to our health care now that Congress has decided we need to pay more for it, a collection of cartoons about medical care ...

Don't you love the wall-to-wall advertising of drugs?

My doctor told me something like this the last time I saw her ...

You didn't believe that voice-over in the ad that said, "If you can't afford your prescription, (insert name of pharmaceutical company here) may be able to help" did you?

This is the one authorized for Medicaid patients ...

I think we can all expect the same thing ...

Yes. Yes, they do ...

My doctor told me this, too ...

This is the EKG you'll be getting when the originalists write your insurance policy ...

This is exactly how it works, isn't it? ...

That's how the system actually works ...

And that's it for this week, as we attempt once again to show that laughter is the best medicine ... which is a good thing, as it's the only one Medicaid will probably pay for going forward.

Have a good day and a great weekend. Stay cool and stay dry, if you can. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday returns. 

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Here we go again ...

I've been to some full-service hotels, but this one takes the cake!

I know food prices are going up, but this is ridiculous ...

They may need to get into landscaping to compensate for all the undocumented landscapers that are being rounded up and deported ...

I'll just stick with the Preparation H, thanks ...

I'll just bet he does ...

I guess that DOGE is collecting information about more stuff than I thought ...

Uh ... I hope they're cheap ...

I like this ... reminds me of my post earlier this year about Inconvenience Fees ...

Somehow I think that defeats the whole purpose ...

It worked! ...

And that's it for today - hope you enjoyed the moments. Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

The Unlettered President

Long-time readers of this blog know that I enjoy writing (and receiving) letters, although my correspondence has been less frequent of late. My letters aren't the perfunctory "I'm fine, how are you" sort, but are long and chatty and (I hope) interesting - a style I inherited from my mother, who was also a prolific correspondent. 

Because I love writing letters and enjoy receiving and reading letters that are interesting and well-crafted, I was horrified by the blizzard of wasted paper spewing from the White House last week as Der Furor, having soured on the boring and time-consuming work of actually negotiating equitable trade deals with other nations, resorted to sending the diplomatically tone-deaf equivalent of extortion letters to foreign leaders. As an example, here is the letter he sent to the Prime Minister of Canada:

Had I submitted this letter for leadership approval when I was working as a staff officer in the Pentagon, I would not just have been called on the carpet ... my general would have ordered extra carpets on which to call me. 

Whatever you may think of Der Furor's fixation on tariffs as the Swiss Army knife of international trade and diplomatic arm-twisting (and I don't think much of it), you have to admire his consistency. His writing skills, not so much. Consider all the things wrong with his letter to the Canadian Prime Minister:

The tone of the letter is high-handed ("It is a Great Honor for me to send you this letter"), condescending ("the United States of America has agreed to continue working with Canada"), and insulting ("These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country"). It is marked by its improper, random use of capital letters, as in "Great Honor," "Trading Relationship," and "Dairy Farmers." It includes a threat against retaliation ("If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 35% that we charge"). He blames Canada for failing to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of illegal drugs entering the country come from Mexico and Asia. He closes with his smarmy, condescending, all-purpose phrase, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!" And finally, he throws in exclamation points to make sure the Prime Minister understands the importance of prompt submission to his demands ("The Trade Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!"*).

The penultimate paragraph of his letter ends with, "You will never be disappointed with the United States of America." Sadly, that train sailed long ago - the rest of the world is already disappointed with the United States, as am I.

Oh, and lest we forget, the letters were posted to Der Furor's "Truth Social" site, which is evidently a new official channel of communication with foreign leaders.

Sending poorly-written and insulting letters like this is typical of Der Furor's megalomaniacal approach to international relations (and all relations, for that matter), and allows him to keep up the fiction that he's a consummate deal-maker while presenting other nations with non-negotiable demands, telling reporters that "I just want you to know a letter means a deal." 

And sometimes, a letter means a calculated and imperious insult to a friend and ally who deserves better. The ugly American lives, we've elected and empowered him, and the damage he's done and continues to do to our economy and our relations around the world will take decades to repair ... if it's even possible.

Have a good day. Write to your Senators and your Representative to let them know you expect better, even if you despair of getting it. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

*Extra points here for use of both improper capitalization and punctuation.

What Type of Pooper Are You?

Not long ago, I ran across this fascinating article: There Are Two Types of Poopers—Which One Are You?

The article posits that there are two types of poopers: temporal and locational. A temporal pooper prefers to defecate at the same times every day, regardless of location, while a locational pooper wants to drop loads only at a particular place ... usually at home or some other preferred location ... without regard to time. I, myself, am neither of these; I'd call myself a necessity pooper, in that I go when the need arises, regardless of time or location*.

Okay, so we have temporal, locational, and necessity poopers ... are there other types?

Of course there are! In addition to the three standard types described above, we have several that apply to specific social and political groups, such as:

MAGA poopers, who don't care where or when they poop, but are obsessively fixated on the poop provided by Der Furor and his acolytes.

Alpha poopers, who proudly poop wherever and whenever they want, in the most ostentatiously masculine way possible.

Originalist poopers, who care less about the actual act of pooping than about whether they poop exactly as the Founders did.

Textualist poopers, who believe that pooping must be conducted according to the letter of long-established pooping traditions, regardless of any subsequently-approved changes that may have altered the original description.  

America First poopers, who insist on ensuring that only those legally authorized to do so may poop within the borders of the United States.  

And that's the straight poop.

Have a good day, however you poop. If you've identified any other types, let me know. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Although I won't use just any facility when duty calls ... I may hold a record for longest-held poop when I was in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the only nearby facility was too staggeringly filthy for normal human use.

Musical Sunday

Since one of the major beliefs of MAGA Republicans is that everybody on any form of public assistance is just sitting at home drinking beer and watching their government-provided big-screen TVs at the expense of hard-working (white) Americans, Der Furor is laser-focused on making sure that every potential welfare cheat ... which means, all of them ... is forced to meet "work requirements." I think we need to go back a few years for an appropriate theme song for this approach, and so I propose we use Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's classic tune, "The Work Song" ...

I got tired just listening to it.

Have a good day, enjoy the rest of your weekend, and work hard ... after all, your taxes are all that's standing between some nearly-destitute billionaire and their well-deserved next home, yacht, or vanity space project.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

I don't like this July. Where do I take it for an exchange?

More than 100 people are dead and many still missing in the wake of deadly flash floods in Texas; walking back earlier claims by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Justice Department announced that there is no evidence accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered; an imposter used AI tools to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio to contact at least five people, including three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a member of Congress; Der Furor has nominated notorious MAGA "alpha male" influencer Nick Adams to be the US Ambassador to Malaysia; and in Ireland, a sports star has pleaded guilty to fraud after sharing a selfie showing an iPhone cable — made to look like a hospital tube — inserted up his nose to scam people for donations by falsely claiming he had cancer.

This week, in honor of last Tuesday's anniversary of the famous 1947 Roswell UFO incident, how about a collection of cartoons about UFOs and aliens (the extraterrestrial kind, not the Republican fever dream kind)?

I guess your belief system really is important ...

They obviously didn't know about the 4th of July ...

Busted!

A clever disguise, no? ...

Who wants to tell them? ...

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this were true ...

When the interstellar GPS is a little off ...

Uh, oh ...

I guess it matters who the first contact is with ...

Space cookies ...

And that's it for this week's collection of alien cartoons that we didn't have to break out of Alligator Alcatraz. I hope you enjoyed them.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we enjoy a timely tune from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. See you then.

Bilbo

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for July, 2025

I could whine and complain about the difficulty of picking these award winners, but today there's no need - the choice is simple.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, 

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown Award for July, 2025

is presented to

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Mike Johnson (R, LA-4)

Mr Johnson could easily have won this award, his second*, simply on the basis of his success in masterminding Congressional approval of Der Furor's disastrous "One Big Beautiful Bill," but he cemented his dishonor in the wake of the terrible flash floods that killed more than 100 people in Texas this past week. When an interviewer on “Fox News** Sunday” asked whether there was more that Congress might do to help the victims of the disaster, Mr Johnson said that,

“In a moment like this, we feel just as helpless as everyone else does ... all we know to do at this moment is pray.”

  

In response, commentator Fred Wellman responded,

"No. That's what pastors and civilians should be doing. We pay members of Congress to ask hard questions, start investigating, find out if the government could have done more. Do it now before the next storm. We aren't paying you to pray. We are paying you to help all of us."

I could not have crafted a better response myself. The House of Representatives, once regarded by many as possibly the finest deliberative body in human history, is now an emasculated joke, driven by a Speaker who wields his power not in service to the people, but to the whims of a rudderless, transactional buffoon who is, in turn, driven only by his appetite for power and revenge. Congressional leadership is an oxymoron, with a figurehead Speaker interested only in gaining cheap political advantage and staying out of Der Furor's social media crosshairs. 

We deserve better, but we elected worse, and we have only ourselves to blame.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the first Poison Ivy Cluster to his Tinfoil and Toilet Paper Crown is presented to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for July, 2025. I weep for the nation's future.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when - in honor of the anniversary of the Roswell UFO Incident - we'll feature cartoons about interstellar illegal aliens. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* He was the Left-Cheek Ass Clown in December, 2023, which makes this second award his first Poison Ivy Cluster to his Tinfoil and Toilet Paper Crown.

** The official mouthpiece of the Republican Party.

The Cross of Electrons

On July 9, 1896, William Jennings Bryan delivered what many historians consider the greatest political speech in American history - his famous "Cross of Gold" speech. 

At the time, the United States dollar was unofficially on the gold standard used by major trading nations. This made trade simpler, but limited the money supply, leading many businessmen and economists to advocate for "bimetallism," or the coinage of silver as well as gold. Mr Bryan, seeking the Democratic nomination for president, was a strong advocate for the free coinage of silver, as opposed to his Republican opponent, William McKinley*, who advocated remaining on the gold standard. Although Mr Bryan eloquently insisted in his famous oration that "you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold," he lost the election of 1896 to Mr McKinley, who officially placed the United States on the gold standard in 1900. The nation remained on the gold standard until 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt ended it for domestic transactions, and 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended the international convertibility of the dollar to gold, effectively ending the gold standard for global transactions. The dollar is now considered a "fiat currency," with its value determined by market forces rather than the value of a physical commodity like gold. 

And now we find ourselves in 2025, when a new form of currency has arisen - the so-called "cryptocurrencies" like Bitcoin, the value of which is tied not to some physical asset, but to the market forces of supply and demand.

I wrote about cryptocurrencies in March of this year, when I commented on Der Furor's royal decree Executive Order 14233, "Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile." I noted at the time that there were six attributes a fiat currency (like the dollar) required to be acceptable as a medium of exchange:

Durability - it must stand up to use;

Portability - it must be able to be moved around as needed;

Divisibility - it must be conveniently divisible into smaller units as needed;

Uniformity - each unit must look like and have the same value as every other unit;

Scarcity - the value is shored up by limits imposed on the quantity available; and,

Acceptability - users both at home and in other countries agree to take it as payment.

One can argue whether any cryptocurrency meets those requirements, as I discussed in my earlier post. All things considered, I don't believe that cryptocurrencies (at least, as they now exist) are a viable unit of exchange. Of course, I'm hardly an expert on the topic ... but then again, neither is Der Furor or anyone in his fiscal entourage.

And an economy weakened by economic blows like the ongoing tariff chaos and relentless focus on tax reductions drives investors from the dollar, once the world's preferred reserve currency, to alternatives like cryptocurrencies ... benefiting those who produce or invest in those cryptocurrencies. Like Der Furor, oddly enough. 

I fear we are no longer in danger of being financially crucified on a cross of gold, but rather on a cross of electrons.

I wonder what Mr Bryan would have had to say if he were giving his famous speech today.

Have a good day. Don't take any wooden nickels. Or electronic ones, either. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Mostly remembered today for his advocacy of tariffs and consequent deification by Der Furor.

Creative Ways to Honor Der Furor

Back in 2010 I wrote a blog post about the frantic rush by Republicans to name everything they could think of after Ronald Reagan, the man who was the same sort of GOP demigod for his time that Der Furor is today. Within a few miles of my home in Northern Virginia alone, we have the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in downtown DC, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), and the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Highway (a portion of State Route 234 near Manassas). The Reagan Presidential Library has a convenient list (by state and overseas location) of all the things named after Mr Reagan, if you want to see a more-or-less full list.  

Of course, a man like Ronald Reagan would be primaried into electoral insignificance by today's MAGA Republicans who worship at the festooned altar of Der Furor. Indeed, by MAGA standards, Der Furor is the greatest president of all time, far outshining any past or potential future incumbent, and so there's been an unseemly rush of honors proposed by Republican members of Congress and other officeholders eager to osculate the ample posterior of their Fearless Leader. These include:

Texas Representative Brendan Gill’s Golden Age Act of 2025 recommends replacing Benjamin Franklin on the $100 with Der Furor;

New York Representative Claudia Tenney introduced legislation to make Der Furor's birthday a federal holiday;

North Carolina Representative Addison McDowell introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport for Der Furor;

Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna submitted a bill to add Der Furor’s likeness to Mount Rushmore, placing him alongside Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt (unlikely ever to happen, for practical geological reasons);

South Carolina Representative Joe Williams has introduced legislation to create a new $250 bill with Der Furor's likeness to commemorate his idol and recognize the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026; and,

Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles has introduced legislation proposing a Constitutional amendment that would allow selected presidents to serve a third (or more) term, which is now forbidden by the 22nd Amendment. Mr Ogles carefully worded his proposed amendment so that it would not apply to other former two-term presidents, such as (naturally) Barack Obama.

Of course, a man as brazenly self-absorbed and self-congratulatory as Der Furor would consider all of this as no more than his due. After all, he's been whining long enough about being under-appreciated and not being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Plus he's already famous for putting his name not just on all his properties, but on everything from sneakers to cybercurrencies to trading cards and NFTs to fragrences.

So, Dear Readers, it's clear that Der Furor considers himself sadly under-honored, and his sycophants agree. What are some other places or things that we ought to apply his name to ... assuming that any remain? I think we could start with renaming the "detention center" for arrested migrants in the middle of the Florida Everglades from "The Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport" or "Alligator Alcatraz" to the "The [DJT] Immigrant Pre-Deportation Misery Enhancement Center."

Any other ideas? Leave a comment.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Good Sunday morning, Dear Readers! As we put up with the noise of our neighbors firing off the last (hopefully) of their remaining fireworks, let us ponder, as Hal Sirowitz suggests, an unexpected benefit of an active lifestyle ...

The Benefits of an Active Lifestyle

by Hal Sirowitz

You seem to like things the most

if you can do them while you're sitting,

Father said. It doesn't seem like it's

the books you're reading that give

you pleasure, but that you read them

while you're sitting down. You

get most of your satisfaction from doing

things that require very little physical effort.

It's not that your brain needs to be filled

with new facts, but that you have grown

accustomed to being lazy. You can learn

just as much from being active. And since

that'll put you with other active people,

none of them will have the time to sit down

& read a book to prove that the information you got was wrong.

And aren't we all awash in wrong information nowadays?

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Well, so much for July being an improvement on June ...

Der Furor traveled to Florida this week to open a bleak new migrant detention facility nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz;" the Senate passed Der Furor's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" on Tuesday after Vice Emperor Vance cast the tie-breaking vote; Paramount announced that it has agreed to pay Der Furor $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” possibly to grease the skids for the administration's approval of the proposed sale of Paramount to Hollywood studio Skydance; Andrey Bedelov, Vice President of Russia's "Transneft" company, died on Friday after falling from his Moscow apartment window (wink, wink); and in Orlando, Florida, a driver clocked at 104 mph on Monday became the first person arrested under Florida’s new "Super Speeder" law ... the law went into effect at 12:01 AM on July 1st, and the unlucky winner was arrested two minutes later.

As the beat goes with Der Furor's boasting over Congress's passage and his signature of the Billionaire Enhancement Act, I thought a collection of cartoons about piñatas would be appropriate ...

Well, there's that ...

I don't want to have to beat it out of you ...

For real ...

Her expression says otherwise ...

Well, where did you think piñatas came from? ...

Whoever strikes first ...

Oops ...

Piñata ultrasound ...

It was an honest mistake ...

You'd think they'd have thought of that sooner ...

And sic transit gloria Cartoon Saturday for the first Saturday in July ... aren't you glad there's no sound, since you're probably still deaf from the past week of fireworks?

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

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Happy Fourth of July! I thought about writing an Independence Day-themed post today, but given the state of the nation, anything I'd have written would be too dark for the all-American holiday, so we'll just stick with the rotation and bring up the month's first set of Great Moments in Editing and Signage. Shall we go?

I wonder if it must be kept refrigerated ...

Um ... okay ...

I think they probably meant "retinal," but what do I know? ...

Some editorial assistant who's probably looking for a new job just couldn't pass up writing this headline (I think my British friend Ross, the donkey rescue volunteer, can appreciate it) ...

I think I'd rather have the Soylent Green, thanks ...

It was nice of them to make the linguistic effort ...

Oh, the horror! ...

It's nice that the ladies can drop in for a bite to eat after taking care of business ...

It's quite an advertising come-on ...

So, where else would you wear it? ...

And that's it for our Fourth-of-July edition of Great Moments ... I hope it gave you a bit of a lift in these trying times.

Have a happy holiday, drink responsibly, be careful with the fireworks, and come back tomorrow - preferably with all your digits still attached - for a Cartoon Saturday that promises to be a big hit ... if you're a piñata, that is.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo