Poetry Sunday

In the wake of the appalling decision by the Supreme Court in the case of Trump v. United States, which basically says the nation no longer has a president, but a king with unbounded power, this poem by Robert W. Service speaks to all of us who care about the nation ... and reminds you that you need to vote carefully in November ...

It Is Later Than You Think

by Robert W. Service

 

Lone amid the café’s cheer,

Sad of heart am I to-night;

Dolefully I drink my beer,

But no single line I write.

There’s the wretched rent to pay,

Yet I glower at pen and ink:

Oh, inspire me, Muse, I pray,

It is later than you think!

Hello! there’s a pregnant phrase.

Bravo! let me write it down;

Hold it with a hopeful gaze,

Gauge it with a fretful frown;

Tune it to my lyric lyre ...   

Ah! upon starvation’s brink,

How the words are dark and dire:

It is later than you think.

Weigh them well .... Behold yon band,

Students drinking by the door,

Madly merry, bock in hand,

Saucers stacked to mark their score.

Get you gone, you jolly scamps;

Let your parting glasses clink;

Seek your long neglected lamps:

It is later than you think.

Look again: yon dainty blonde,

All allure and golden grace,

Oh so willing to respond

Should you turn a smiling face.

Play your part, poor pretty doll;

Feast and frolic, pose and prink;

There’s the Morgue to end it all,

And it’s later than you think.

 

Yon’s a playwright — mark his face,

Puffed and purple, tense and tired;

Pasha-like he holds his place,

Hated, envied and admired.

How you gobble life, my friend;

Wine, and woman soft and pink!

Well, each tether has its end:

Sir, it’s later than you think.

See yon living scarecrow pass

With a wild and wolfish stare

At each empty absinthe glass,

As if he saw Heaven there.

Poor damned wretch, to end your pain

There is still the Greater Drink.

Yonder waits the sanguine Seine ...

It is later than you think.

Lastly, you who read; aye, you

Who this very line may scan:

Think of all you planned to do ...   

Have you done the best you can?

See! the tavern lights are low;

Black’s the night, and how you shrink!

God! and is it time to go?

Ah! the clock is always slow;

It is later than you think;

Sadly later than you think;

Far, far later than you think.

Get angry and vote in November for decency and the rule of law that we edge ever closer to losing.

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

So much for July being any better than June ... 

The Supreme Court delivered a serious blow to the concept of equal justice under law by ruling that presidents have virtually unlimited immunity for prosecution for crimes committed while in office; former New York mayor and disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred by the state of New York for lying repeatedly about the outcome of the 2020 election; Carlo Maria Vigano, an ultraconservative Italian archbishop and staunch critic of Pope Francis, has been excommunicated by the Vatican, on a charge of schism; President Biden is facing growing pressure to withdraw from the presidential race because of concerns over his health and mental acuity; and in Vietnam, the School of Management and Business at Hanoi's Vietnam National University has announced that female students must be at least 1.58 meters tall and male students at least 1.65 meters to be considered for admission, because it believes the connection between height and success is so significant that people who are supposedly "too short" should no longer be allowed to study.  

Since our politics are getting pretty hairy nowadays, I thought we might visit somebody whose hairy problems are a bit funnier - Rapunzel ... 

Ordering in bulk saves money ...

Things are tough all over ...

I guess it's easier than climbing the golden stair, as long as your balance is good ...

Ouch! ...

Rapunzel really gets down ...

It does make things easier ...

What was your first clue? ...

Have a seat ... this may take a while ...

Oops ... wrong tower ...

Hmmm ...

 

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, that I may climb the golden stair. No, not the ones in any of Der Furor's places.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday visits the Bard of the Yukon for a timely poem ... see you then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

First collection for the new month! Get 'em while they're hot! ... 

They can probably save money on entertainment at the Christmas party ...

Darn those rocket scientists ...

It's important to use proper kerning ...

Well, they probably do their jobs doggedly …

No comment …

Must be a decoy …

I wouldn’t call Ms. Simon if I were you …

In or out? …

You can save money by ordering the soup/dessert combo …

Decisions, decisions …

And so it goes. See you tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when Rapunzel lets her hair down - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

Independence Day, 2024

Today is Independence Day here in the United States. On July 4th, 1776, the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to adopt the Declaration of Independence which spelled out the rationale for the thirteen American colonies to seek independence from Great Britain and reject rule by an all-powerful king.

Things are different in 2024 ...

This past week, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Trump v United States that an American president has virtually complete immunity from criminal accountability for his (or, eventually, her) actions taken while in office. We now have the king we rejected in 1776 and the proof - if you still needed it - that the cherished concept of equal justice under law is dead.

The Supreme Court also, in the case of Snyder v United States, legitimized bribery of public officials, as long as the bribe is given after the fact as a gratuity in appreciation of past services rather than as an enticement to perform future services. Government is now as much for sale as it is in the most corrupt third world country. 

As you enjoy your picnics and fireworks and inspirational speeches on this Independence Day, consider the choice you will make in November. It is a choice between democracy and monarchy, if not outright fascism*. It is a choice between competent government that works for the common citizen and government that exists to advance the interests of corporations and the very wealthy. It is a choice between an idealized vision of a glorious past that never existed and a clear-eyed vision of a dangerous future yet to come. 

Choose wisely.

Have a good day and enjoy your holiday with an eye to an uncertain future.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Read the Project 2025 plan if you doubt it.

Der Furor Gets the Return on His Investment

Historian Heather Cox Richardson began her "Letters from an American" essay last night with these words: 

"Today the United States Supreme Court overthrew the central premise of American democracy: that no one is above the law."

And ended with these words:

"Today’s decision destroyed the principle on which this nation was founded, that all people in the United States of America should be equal before the law."

In a blizzard of highfalutin' language that ignored the lessons of history and the very reason the United States sought independence from Great Britain nearly 250 years ago, the Supreme Court gave Der Furor the gift he wanted, the power that no other president in history has ever felt he needed ... absolute immunity for any action he takes. In the words of the decision in the case of Trump v. United States, Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the 6-3 (no surprise, there) majority,

"Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts."

And who decides which acts are "official" and which are "unofficial?" The Supreme Court*.

And what of the concept of criminal intent that applies in every other criminal trial? It doesn't apply. In the words of the decision,

"In dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the President’s motives. Such a “highly intrusive” inquiry would risk exposing even the most obvious instances of official conduct to judicial examination on the mere allegation of improper purpose ... Nor may courts deem an action unofficial merely because it allegedly violates a generally applicable law. Otherwise, Presidents would be subject to trial on 'every allegation that an action was unlawful,' depriving immunity of its intended effect."

Other commentators more legally educated and eloquent than I have expressed shock and outrage at this appalling decision that makes a mockery of the words Equal Justice Under Law engraved on the Supreme Court building and contributes to the ongoing destruction of the court's reputation.

If you didn't think it was important to vote in November, and the implications of the ultraconservative Project 2025 don't bother you, think again. As President Biden said in the wake of the decision,

“There are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States ... (with) today’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. For all practical purposes, there are virtually no limits on what the president can do. It’s a fundamentally new principle and it’s a dangerous precedent because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law even including the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Have a good day, and get angry enough to do your civic duty. Come November, vote like your democracy depended on it, because it does.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* When it's not too busy deciding whether executive agencies can impose rules based on laws passed by Congress, or what reproductive freedoms women can have.

Musical Sunday

There's so much great music out there, and yet I find myself drawn to the many great song parodies that are current as the election approaches ... like this one, with apologies to The Drifters ...

I know a classic parody when I hear one!

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

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Boy, am I glad THIS month is almost over ... 

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that ultraorthodox Jewish citizens of the country will no longer be exempt from mandatory military service; the Supreme Court has sided with a suit brought by January 6th rioters, ruling that the Department of Justice overstepped its authority when it charged them with "obstruction of an official proceeding;" President Biden and Der Furor squared off in the ugly and unsettling first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign; the Chief Education Officer of Oklahoma announced that all Oklahoma schools must immediately incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments in their curriculums; and from the Department of Did You Really Pay Money for That Study?, the Hawaii Tourism Authority's latest Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Survey results show that visitors’ experience on Maui have improved since the Aug. 8 wildfires.

After the presidential debate this past week, it's clear that only one person can fix our problems ... Superman!

Uh, oh ...

I wonder if John ever had problems like this back in his magician days ...

Who'd have thought I'd have something in common with Superman? ...

Even superheroes aren't immune from identity theft ...

Yeah, that would have been me ...

With great power of attorney comes great responsibility. We need more attorneys who can act responsibly ...

Superman: the golden years ...

The lineup ...

Texting while flying can be as dangerous as texting while driving ...

I've often wondered if that wasn't a drawback to the power of flight ...

And there you go - the final edition of Cartoon Saturday for the month of June. I hope it gave you a few laughs to help get over all the depressing news.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for an updated version of The Drifters' classic tune "Up on the Roof." See you then with more thoughts.

Bilbo

The Gish Gallop

I don’t usually post twice in a day, but this one needs to go out while it’s fresh.

I learned a new term this morning in the wake of the appalling spectacle of last night’s presidential debate: the Gish Gallop. 

The Gish Gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a debater attempts to overwhelm his or her opponent with a blizzard of arguments without regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments, prioritizing quantity of verbiage over quality of argument. The term was coined in 1994 by anthropologist Eugenie Scott, who named it after American creationist Duane Gish and argued that Gish used the technique frequently when challenging the scientific fact of evolution.

The format of last night’s “debate” allowed Der Furor - unburdened by real-time fact checking and hammering at lightning speed at an opponent with a known stutter - to, in the immortal words of Steve Bannon, “flood the zone with shit” in the knowledge that he could not be effectively challenged. Sadly, all too many people will ignore … or even celebrate ,,, this shameless and ugly display of rhetorical cowardice, or forget it by the time the election rolls around.

Don’t be one of them. Don’t allow yourself to be trampled by the Gish Gallop.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming. 

Bilbo

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2024

Well, friends, we've come to the end of another month of blistering heat, not made any more bearable by the gusts of superheated air coming from one political rally or another. I just wish there was a way to harness all that energy in the service of something useful.

But I digress.

It's time to close out our Ass Clown Awards for the month ... and the choice is as difficult as ever. But the more I reflect on the choice, the more it seems to me that there's an obvious winner.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, today we present the award for

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for June, 2024

to - for the fourth time* - 

The American Electorate

At a time when most Americans don't seem to like either one of the leading candidates, it seems that all too many people are having a difficult time deciding whether to vote, much less who to vote for. I find this to be utterly incomprehensible, for as humorist David Sedaris put it in a meme that recently went viral ...  

American voters tend to have short memories that gloss over the bad parts of the past and focus on the ills of the present. 

They forget the years of inept leadership that diminished America's standing in the world, and the millions of our fellow citizens who died because of the mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. We clutch our pearls over President Biden's age while ignoring the fact that he is only three years older than his presumptive opponent. The media furrows its collective brow in concern when President Biden stutters or appears off his A Game, while ignoring the bizarre and nonsensical word salads, outright fabrications, and increasingly violent rhetoric of Der Furor. We fail to read and comprehend the import of Project 2025, which seeks to impose a rigidly conservative regime should the GOP win the upcoming election. We ignore the looming threat of government by a party intent on imposing a particular set of religious beliefs and values on all Americans. We diminish the importance of having a president with a documented record of delivering (or, at least, trying to deliver, however imperfectly) for all of our citizens, rather than one who is interested only in his own aggrandizement, the benefit of his wealthy supporters, and the admiration of his fellow autocrats.

To many who are weighing their votes today, quiet competence and decency in the service of all Americans are less important than bluster and buffoonery that play well to adoring crowds of the uninformed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, it is with profound sadness that I present the tinfoil and toilet paper crown to the collective winner of the Left-Cheek Ass Clown Award for June, 2024 - the American Electorate ... which may or may not choose squander the nation's future come November. My fingers are crossed.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when we visit the man who embodies "truth, justice, and the American Way" ... but is not, sadly, running for president. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* The three previous awards were: May, 2016 Right-Cheek; Ass Clown of the Year for 2016; and April, 2023 Left-Cheek.

Poetry Sunday

I found this poem online a while back, and it immediately reminded me of this photo ... the shadow of me and my (then-much-younger) granddaughter Leya many years ago as we watched the famous Pony Swim at Chincoteague Island. 

Two Shadows

by Maurice Manning

The little one belongs to her

and the taller one is mine, though I doubt 

she knows the shadows walking hand in hand 

ahead of us in the field 

are ours. If I walk behind her, mine, 

without a word, overshadows 

all of hers, a magic I think she likes.

And when I walk at her side again, 

the two of us return, a giant 

and his long-legged little helper, 

who's new enough to walking still 

she manages a wobble or swings 

a foot in picking the place to put it.

None of this beautiful, secret love 

will last. Other shadows will come 

along, and she'll see her own one day 

apart from mine. But before those fates 

arrive, I'm going to stretch my arms, 

and tipping and twirling, I'll show her how 

to turn her shadow into a bird 

and rest it softly in the tree, 

and afterward, when she sees a shadow, 

perhaps she'll think of birds or me.

My shadow is diminished, while those of my children and grandchildren grow. Give them your love and enjoy theirs while you can. And be sure to stay in the shade as much as possible on this devastatingly hot weekend.

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

Bilbo