January 6th

On this date in 2021, a howling mob of Der Furor's supporters stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The entire nation watched on live television as a huge riot overwhelmed police, resulted in five deaths, hundreds of injuries, and millions of dollars in damage to the Capitol Building, and, in the end, failed to stop the counting of electoral votes and the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

Since that time, Der Furor and his supporters - including spineless Republican members of Congress who cowered in their hiding places during the riot, have worked tirelessly to rewrite and whitewash the events of that day. They claim the rioters who smashed windows in the Capitol and smeared feces on its walls, sprayed police officers with bear spray and beat them with American flags, were nothing more than simple tourists enjoying a visit. They claim that evidence the riot was a "peaceful protest" was ignored and then destroyed. They attempt to picture the members of the House Select Committee that investigated the insurrection as "thugs." They claim that rioters responsible for wild vandalism and violence convicted of their crimes and sentenced to prison for their behavior are "political prisoners."

And in just two weeks, Der Furor - the man who even now refuses to acknowledge his loss of the 2020 election, the man who inflamed a violent mob and sent it to the Capitol, the man who whines about being persecuted while he pursues vengeance against those who defend the truth - will once again take the oath of office he has already defiled. He has pledged to pardon rioters who were arrested, tried, convicted, and  imprisoned "on day one."

Do not forget what actually happened that day. Read the Report of the January 6th investigation and look at the evidence for yourselves, and do it soon, before a GOP-controlled Congress moves to bury it. Do not allow Der Furor and his besotted followers to, in the words of Washington Post opinion writer Margaret Sullivan, "go full Orwell" on all of us.

Remember what actually happened before your eyes on January 6th, 2021 ... and what could easily happen again if we let it.

Have a good day. Defend democracy against those who would take it away from you.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

The new year is less than a week old, perhaps too soon to make a prediction of how it will compare to 2025 ... although the presence of the new Furor-Musk administration is not a hopeful sign. We'll just have to take it as it comes, as Ella Wheeler Wilcox* suggests in today's poem ...

The Year

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What can be said in New Year rhymes, 

That's not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go, 

We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light, 

We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings, 

We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed, 

We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear, 

And that's the burden of the year.

Let's shoulder the burden of 2025 and get on with it ... it is, after all, the first step toward 2026.

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

Bilbo

* Is there a law that says poets must have three names? Discuss.

 

Cartoon Saturday

Tired of 2025 yet? Yesterday's snow squalls here in NoVa certainly didn't help improve the other news ... 

At least 15 people were murdered during New Year's Eve celebrations in New Orleans when an Army veteran and longtime Texas resident drove a pickup truck at high speed through the crowd before being shot dead by police; in a powerful statement about how 2025 will go, a Tesla cybertruck apparently fitted out as an apparent car bomb exploded in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas - the driver (an active duty Army Green Beret) shot himself before the blast, and several people were injured in the explosion; US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called for risk warnings on alcoholic beverages, similar to those already on tobacco products; Louisiana representative Mike Johnson has been elected as Speaker of the House, following Der Furor's 11th-hour arm-twisting of Republican holdouts; and according to an unconfirmed report from Moscow, deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad may have been poisoned, apparently because he refused to get close enough to upper-floor windows to facilitate defenestration. 

Let's start the new year of Cartoon Saturdays with a random collection, because they're popular and because, why not? ... 

I wonder if I'd be able to do that ...

I think the staff forgot to put out the tongue scraper ...

Well, fair's fair ...

Well, it's worked for Der Furor ...

Just another sign that things are a lot different, now ...

A true Man of the People. Remind you of anyone? 

I think this is absolutely hilarious, and said so in a comment to the post where I found it. I found myself in the minority, but who cares? 

It worked for the MAGAts ...

I think I got out of the workforce just in time ... now, I can be old and irrelevant without worrying about job security ...

Somehow I don't think counting tofu would have the same effect, but to each their own ...

And that's it for your first Cartoon Saturday of 2025 ... helping to set the stage for surviving what promises to be a pretty bizarre year.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we celebrate the first Poetry Sunday of 2025. See you then!

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Welcome to the first edition of Great Moments in Editing and Signage for 2025! Let's get right to it -

Are they selling vasectomies or snacks?

I've long known that the math used by car dealerships is a little dodgy ...

I know what they meant to say, but ...

If you need a polka table, call now!!

This is the sort of care you can expect when you have a single-payer health care system (aka, "socialized medicine") ...

The lesson here is: don't mail your gallstones to your friends, use FedEx or UPS ...

MAGA pets ...

Athletes' math is almost as good as auto dealers' math ...

I wonder if it was the painter's last day ...

Someone really had a blast writing this headline ...

And that's it for your first Great Moments post of the new year - hope you enjoyed it.

If you need a New Year's resolution, why not resolve to seek out Great Moments in your environment and send 'em to ol' Bilbo ... he can always use the help!

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts coming tomorrow, in the first Cartoon Saturday of the new year. See you then.

Bilbo

The Ass Clown of the Year for 2024

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, you have spoken, and have done a much better job than the voters in that other election back in November.

Yes, it is time to announce the result of the voting for the Ass Clown of the Year ... but first, let's count down the finalists:

In fifth place, with 600 votes - three-time ACOY winner and late entry Mitch McConnell;

In fourth place, with 615 votes - The News Media, for its overall deplorable performance;

In third place, with 880 votes - the biggest snake to come out of Florida since the Burmese Python invasion, Matt Gaetz; 

In second place, our runner up with 1450 votes - Mar-a-Lago Pool Boy Elon Musk;

And now, our winner,

The 2024

Ass Clown of the Year

and winner - for the second time - of the prestigious tinfoil and toilet paper crown

with a towering 11790 votes,

The American Electorate

A slim majority of the American Electorate this year opted to reject a superbly qualified presidential candidate and instead return to the presidency the most un-statesmanlike, unqualified, petty, and vindictive individual possible. Glad you got what you wished for ... sadly, the rest of us and the rest of the world will suffer the consequences along with you.

By the way, Der Furor this year received the lowest vote total in the history of the Ass Clown of the Year awards - exactly one-half vote, cast at the last minute. He deserved more, but at least he made the final roster of nominees, which also included embarrassing Cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Der Furor's spokesogre Stephen Cheung, The Government of Israel, the Democratic Party, the 118th Congress, and "The Trump Cult."

Before we sign off, here's a recap of the Ass Clown of the Year winners since the annual award was first presented in 2011:

2011: The Republican Party

2012: NRA President Wayne LaPierre

2013: The Tea Party

2014: Former VP Dick Cheney

2015: Der Furor

2016: The American Electorate

2017: The Republican Party and Its Congressional Majority

2018: Sen Mitch McConnell (R, KY)

2019: Sen Mitch McConnell (R, KY)

2020: Sen Mitch McConnell (R, KY)

2021: Tucker Carlson

2022: Texas Governor Greg Abbott

2023: The Republican Party

2024:  The American Electorate

Enjoy the New Year's Holiday, and gird your mental loins for the coming year, which promises to be a wild ride as the new administration fights with itself and tries to meet the minimum standards for responsible governance. Good luck with that.

More thoughts coming in the new year.

Bilbo

The Final Ass Clown of the Year Voting Update!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, I hope your Holiday season of choice continues to be safe, happy and festive! With only two more days (counting today) left in 2024, we continue the search for that misbegotten symbol of all that is wrong with the nation and the world, The Ass Clown of the Year.

Voting has been steady since the race began on December 17th, and with mere hours to go, here's how the race is shaping up:

In fifth place with 590 votes, rebounding from an earlier displacement: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr;

Holding at fourth place, with 660 votes: The News Media;

Dropping down to third place, a late entry into the race with 1395 votes: President-Elect Elon Musk; 

Advancing to a very close second place on the strength of a sudden surge, with 1410 votes: former Florida representative and all-round despicable character Matt Gaetz; and,

Remaining in first place, with a commanding lead of 11,600 votes: The American Electorate.

Several other nominees have received smaller numbers of votes, among them Der Furor's Spokesogre Stephen Cheung (pushed out of fifth place at this update), The Government of Israel, The 118th Congress, three-time Ass Clown of the Year winner Mitch McConnell, and Czar of All Russia Vladimir Putin. Oddly enough, as of the time of this writing, Der Furor himself has received no votes.

You have less than 48 hours remaining to vote, so make sure your voice is heard: vote early, vote often, and help in our annual campaign to shine the light of condemnation on the most execrable ass clowns. 

This year's campaign ends at midnight tomorrow, and the tinfoil and toilet paper crown will be awarded on New Year's Day, Wednesday, January 1st!

Have a good day and vote now! More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Musical Sunday

Christmas is over for another year, but we can see the season out with this gorgeous rendition by the Celtic Women of a classic tune …

Happy almost-End of the Holidays. See you later with more thoughts. 

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to hit the eject button on this verkakte year ... 

Der Furor continued his program of distraction from the emptiness of his economic campaign promises by threatening aggression against another three countries in addition to Mexico: Canada, Panama, and Greenland; 38 passengers were killed and the remaining 29 injured when Russian air defenses apparently shot down an Azerbaijani airliner; a NASA research probe has made history by making the closest-ever approach to the sun; after nearly 250 years as the unofficial US national bird, the bald eagle formally received that designation in a law signed by President Biden on December 23rd; and in Warren, Ohio, police are searching for a man who stole more than $600 worth of printer ink from a local Sam's Club ... they hope to recover both ink cartridges soon. 

For our final Cartoon Saturday of the year, how about some New Year's-themed cartoons, eh?

Sometimes, vague is better ... 

This one goes back a few years, but is still spot-on ...

How our four-legged friends see things ...

I'm down with that!!

I surely do wish this would work ...

It's more of a meme than a cartoon, but I think Ms Parker's 1929 observation applies equally well in 2024 ...

I'd agree with this approach to ringing out 2024 ...

It's another meme, but it matches my mood ...

I never knew Mark Twain (I'm not that old!), but I think I'd have liked him ...

I wonder if my formal lounging sweats still fit ...

And that's it for your last Cartoon Saturday of 2024. Let's hope that 2025 will be better, but let's also keep our emotional powder dry.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we observe the final Musical Sunday of the year. See you then! 

Bilbo

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for December, 2024

Well, Dear Readers, we've come down to the final Ass Clown Award of the year ...

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for December, 2024

It's been a difficult year for this award, not because of a lack of worthy nominees, but rather because of an overwhelming tsunami of potential winners. From politics to religion to the media to society at large, it's been a year of towering achievements in ass clownery, making each selection an exercise in hand-wringing desperation. But be that as it may, you depend on me to single out the winners, and I'm obligated to rise to the task.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, our final ass clown awardee for 2024 is

The 118th Congress

The 118th Congress is, by some measures, the most unproductive in decades, if not ever. From the ludicrous bureaucratic knife-fighting among House Republicans over the Speakership to the self-inflicted wounds of useless and ignorant poison-pill legislation, to the inability to simply pass a budget, to the craven submission to end-of-year pressure by President-Elect Musk and Junior Co-President Der Furor, Congress became a national and international laughingstock whose main achievement seemed to be allowing Italy to point to a nation with a more unstable government*. 

But how is Congressional productivity measured? Most media coverage of Congress’s productivity uses the number of bills passed into law as a yardstick. But this is an overly simplistic approach because it considers all bills, regardless of substance, as equally important. For instance, a measure naming a post office counts the same as a declaration of war or a multi-billion dollar spending bill, or major tax legislation. 

The raw number of bills passed also ignores the fact that since World War II, Congress has tended to pass fewer, but longer bills, such as the gigantic omnibus spending packages that have replaced the larger number of individual funding bills that were traditionally negotiated and passed. 

But it's the yardstick we have, and with it we can look at the statistics provided by LegiScan for the 118th Congress:

Number of Laws Passed (with a PL Number): 158

Number of Laws Which Named Public Facilities, Directed Award of Congressional Gold Medals, etc:  45**

This means that, in two years, the 118th Congress passed 113 pieces of legislation that - for better or worse - directly affected some segment of the American people. That works out to roughly 56 laws per year, or 5 per month.

Five pieces of meaningful legislation per month doesn't seem like very much, considering that each member of Congress has a staff of people to help with the research and writing, plus the resources of the Library of Congress and the Congressional Research Service, plus countless swarms of lobbyists eager to do the work of writing legislation so that the members don't screw it up. Of course, the relentless demands of political fund-raising, a slothful schedule (on average, 123 working days per year for the House and 144 for the Senate), and the need to bloviate every time the cameras are on eat into the time available for actual legislative work. 

What more can I say?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the final Ass Clown Awardee for 2024, the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for December, is the 118th Congress. That grinding noise you hear is the Founders rolling over in their graves.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for the last Cartoon Saturday of 2024. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Italy has had 69 governments since the end of World War II, each lasting an average of 1.11 years.

** This is my count, which I think is accurate, but which was done by counting lines of small print on four pages of entries using my tired old eyes. 

Ass Clown of the Year Voting Update

Well, friends, I hope you have had a wonderful start to your Holiday season, however you choose to celebrate! Even as we today celebrate Boxing Day and the next day of Hanukkah (sp?), we have to keep up with the work of seeking out and heaping dishonor upon that one deserving ass clown worthy of designation as Ass Clown of the Year.

The voting continues hot and heavy, and with less than a week to go, here are the current standings:

Slipping from third to fifth place, with 575 votes: Der Furor's Spokesogre Stephen Cheung;

Holding at fourth place, with 615 votes: The News Media;

In third place, making a strong break into the race with 880 votes: former Florida representative and all-round despicable character Matt Gaetz; 

Still in second place, with 1350 votes: President-Elect Elon Musk; and,

Remaining in first place, with a commanding lead of 11,300 votes: The American Electorate, given a strong boost by a dump of 10,000 votes from Mike. His compliance with the rules may be questionable, but his opinion certainly is not.

You have less than a week of voting opportunities left, so make sure your voice is heard: vote early, vote often, and help in our annual campaign to heap opprobrium on the most deserving ass clowns. 

The 2024 campaign ends at midnight on December 31st, and the tinfoil and toilet paper crown will be awarded on New Year's Day, Wednesday, January 1st!

Have a good day and vote now! More thoughts tomorrow, when we will announce the Left-Cheek Ass Clown for December - the final Ass Clown award for 2024 ... be sure to check it out and see if you need to adjust your votes!

Bilbo