Cartoon Saturday

Good Lord, isn't this month over yet?

A Russian businessman with ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to help finance Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding after-party in the Bahamas this year; Der Furor downplayed growing concerns about unrestricted development of AI, claiming that all that is needed is "... a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!*"; the Supreme Court has rejected Der Furor's attempt to add new Postal Service restrictions on mail-in voting, at least for the upcoming midterm elections ... Der Furor is, as you might imagine, enraged; in response to continuing inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised the interest rate by a quarter point ... Der Furor is, as you might imagine, enraged; Der Furor has banned three news organizations - CNN, MS NOW, and Politico - from the White House, a petulant and blatantly unconstitutional action certain to be challenged in court; and in - where else? - Texas, a photo on the state sex offenders' registry of a convicted megachurch pastor shows him with a huge black eye, and his attorney has the world's best explanation of how he got it.

Since the country, under Der Furor's "management" and "leadership" is going to the dogs, I figured we might as well feature them this week ...

This one is a lot funnier than it ought to be ,,,

Uh, oh ...

This is the sort of medical advice I'd expect from RFK, Jr ...

Look closely ... you'll get it ...

Canine inventors work tirelessly on the next great breakthrough ...

Some dogs, like some people, are more trainable than others ...

Smile when you spell that, pardner ...

I wish I could get one of those ...

I think he works part time for the Heritage Foundation on the pet portions of Project 2025 ...

They tend to be very fluffy ...

And that wraps our Cartoon Saturday salute to Man's Best Friend - I hope it helped you get over the craziness of the past week.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday returns with a new twist on a Bob Dylan classic. See you then.

Bilbo

* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!

Cartoon Saturday

I think we need to go back to having the news delivered by a town crier, as it usually makes us cry, anyhow.

The Republican Party held a two-day deification rally for Der Furor in Dallas, thinly disguised as a midterm convention, at which Der Furor promised a $5000 payment to every American, but only if the Republicans win* ... he also said that people who don't vote (presumably for Republicans) will literally go to Hell; in a major toughening of its stance toward Israel, the United Kingdom banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing "settler terrorists" of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians; Der Furor's departure from Washington for his deification rally in Dallas on Wednesday was delayed when, prior to takeoff, an emergency slide accidentally deployed from his Qatari-gifted flying palace; and as Halloween approaches, the Brachs Candy company plans to introduce a new seasonal perfume that smells like candy corn.

This week, as the midterm election season kicks into high gear and Der Furor works hard to engineer his desired outcome, I thought I'd feature a collection of cartoons about the election circus ...

How our yo-yo election system works ...

It's the batty signal ...

One of the most accurate Venn Diagrams I've ever seen ...

Slowly, ever so slowly, the light is starting to dawn ...

The "working hard" part is actually optional, except as it applies to fund-raising ...

Equal time, you know ...

I'd always suspected that this is the way it works ...

This reminds me of the old joke about the preacher who says his church accepts all denominations, but prefers the 50 and the hundred ...

I'd be thinking hard at this point, too ...

I think they probably will ...

And that's it for our tongue-deeply-in-cheek Cartoon Saturday look at the election season. You've gotta laugh, because crying doesn't help.

Be sure you've checked to make sure your voter registration is current, and make sure you plan to vote, whether in-person early, by mail, or in person on election day. The challenge is real - the vote is yours. Do it.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Poetry Sunday, when we consider early warnings. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* A blatantly illegal act under 18 U.S. Code §597: 

"Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and

"Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote—

"Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

Too bad we don't have a functioning Justice Department any more.

Cartoon Saturday

Geez, we're not even a full week into September yet ...

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling largely along ideological lines (though Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberal wing), has allowed construction of Der Furor's gigantic ballroom at the Gilded House to continue, ruling that historical preservationists opposed to the construction lack standing to oppose the project while avoiding ruling on the project's legality ... Interior Secretary Doug Burgham also announced that construction of the massive, garish Arc de Trump will begin within two weeks, regardless of lack of formal approvals; the House passed a stopgap spending bill, preventing the embarrassment of a government shutdown before the November midterm elections and postponing it long enough to threaten Christmas; famed feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem passed away at age 92; three California college students had to be rescued from Mount Shasta after relying on questionable advice from an AI tool to plan their climbing route and supply requirements; and in Houston, Texas, a homeowner was shocked to see that the DoorDash driver delivering dinner to his home was stark naked. His money was refunded.

This week, in remembrance of the late Dolly Parton and her dedication to promoting reading for children through her Imagination Library, I thought a collection of cartoons about books and reading would be appropriate. 

He's got a point ...

It always works for me ...

Sometimes, you've just gotta take the win ...

It's the 21st century version of the faux-intellectual home library ...

I think all the librarians would agree with this one ...

When a book is really interesting, it's tough to interrupt it for anything else ...

I think this one is my favorite of the week ...

It's a common-sense rearrangement ...

I understand the dog ...

Wolf as MAGA ...

And that ends our first Cartoon Saturday of the month, and our tribute to one of the last of the truly great Americans.

Have a good day and a great weekend. Read a good book, and encourage your children to do the same. They'll thank you for it one day.

More thoughts coming tomorrow, when Warren Zevon presents the ballad for modern political America. See you then.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Only two more days left in this @%$&! month. Thank goodness!

Dolly Parton, the beloved country star, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and genuinely wonderful person, died on Tuesday at age 80 - that sound you heard was millions of hearts breaking; in the latest example of gratuitous buffoonery vis-a-vis our northern neighbor, friend, and ally, Der Furor has signed a royal decree executive order directing that Lake Ontario be referred to in the United States as "Lake America;" hundreds of people are dead and thousands missing in the aftermath of huge floods in Nepal caused by the collapse of a glacier; Der Furor has formally proposed a pay freeze for most federal workers for 2027, but a 3.8% raise for law enforcement personnel; and in Monrovia, California, a wanted man who escaped police twice by running onto a freeway was arrested after officers recognized him when he walked into a Panda Express where they were eating lunch ... the Monrovia Police Department commented in a social media post that "... we're not sure if it was good police work, bad timing, or the irresistible smell of chow mein." 

This week, as children head back to school, I thought a collection of cartoons about modern-day education would be timely ...

So did RFK, Jr ...

You can tell how old this cartoon is ... all the "nows" look really cheap compared to the now now ...

Oh, the horror! ...

All of us who've been parents have been there ...

Ain't that the truth ...

When I was in grade school, our jobs included banging chalk dust off the blackboard erasers. Times change ...

When my parents took us to buy new school clothes and supplies, their defensive characteristics were less important than the cost ... 

I'm not so sure about that ...

I think the children are often a lot more perceptive than we know ...

I wonder if I'd have been recognized from some of the pictures my children and grandchildren drew of me ...

And that's it for the last Cartoon Saturday of August, 2026 ... I hope it helped give you a chuckle in the face of the tsunami of suck the year has offered up so far. 

Have a good weekend and be sure to come back tomorrow for the last Poetry Sunday of August, when we reflect on the warning we didn't pay attention to so long ago. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Can we please hurry up and get this month over with?

Having failed to alienate enough allies, Der Furor this week threatened to "bomb the [feces] out of" Oman if it interferes with his plans (such as they are) to open the Strait of Hormuz, and ordered the Department of Defense (not War) to scale back "insulting" (to fellow autocrat Kim Jong-un) military exercises with South Korea; the national debt has exceeded a staggering 40 trillion dollars; the share of Americans who say they drink alcohol remains at a record-low 54% for the second consecutive year; after reports of a weakening job market in the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday claimed that the economy needs to produce fewer jobs because deportations and reduced immigration have reduced the size of the needed workforce; and in Romania, a body was found in the search for an 18-year-old who went missing while hiking near Dracula’s castle ... there was no word on whether the body had been drained of blood.

This week, in honor of dealing with news that never ends and never seems to improve, I thought a collection of cartoons about Sisyphus, the original hard rock artist, would be topical ... 

I can sympathize ...

This is sooooo accurate ...

This could have been Der Furor, except he's never done enough work to warrant a comparison to Sisyphus ...

I never thought about it before, but this would be a beautiful friendship ...

But he'd need at least three for a stereotypical snowman, wouldn't he? Might take a while ...

I wonder if that would actually have worked ...

Rockin' with the oldies ...

I'm not sure that would be any better but, hey - go for it ...

Now, this is a Sisyphean task I can understand ...

Uh, oh ...

And that's it for this week's Cartoon Saturday, dedicated to everyone employed in a miserable, dead-end job. I love my retirement.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday joins The Grandsons for a look at how the other half lives. See you then.

Bilbo