Meanwhile, back in the world ...

Juxtaposition of the Day

Bring it on, Dear Leader.

Scott Stantis, who wasn't at the Satire Symposium but whose name came up, and Ann Telnaes, who was at work on the above piece even as things went on around her, both pull the nose of our would-be dictator.

Let's point out that Hustler v Falwell not only upheld the First Amendment but was unanimous, making it very unlikely to be overturned.

But let's also point out that Brown v Board of Education was a unanimous decision and yet our schools remain segregated even without specific laws requiring it.

Making America Great Again requires both protecting the system -- like getting the Senate out of Mitch McConnell's hands before Ginsburg steps down -- and not relying on the system alone to protect us.

Because pulling Dear Leader's nose is not simply fun. It's a way of reminding each other that he's just one of us despite his bluster, and that one of the best days of childhood came when some daring classmate pantsed the schoolyard bully and made him cry.

(By the way, did you know that Trump is barely computer literate and has a ghost-Twitterer? Even @TheRealDonaldTrump is a sham.)

Juxtaposition of Himself

(Candorville, yesterday and today)

(Darrin Bell's latest editorial cartoon)

Darrin Bell needs to slow down, but I'm glad he doesn't, because he represents a critical voice.

Starbucks appears to be making an honest attempt to reconcile a corporate policy of not being racist jackasses with a local practice of doing just that, and I'm fascinated by his ability to get a strip onto the page with such little lead time, as well as his keeping up with the second example of a local manager screwing up.

Part of the issue with Starbucks is its phony-baloney fancy-pants elitist identity, which adds to the insult in a way that this happening at a 7-11 would not.

If Starbucks really were the chummy little coffeeshop it pretends to be, the owner would be right there to either take the heat or fix the problem, not sitting in some corporate tower a thousand miles away.

Meanwhile, Bell nails the situation in Flint, where the issue of clean water appears to be more rooted in public relations than in public safety and a federal judge has upheld the right of the state to stop providing people with bottled water.

This revives a rant of mine, which is that, while the old anti-bottled-water claim that public water tests clean and safe is technically accurate, it's being tested at the plant, not after it has passed through ancient, decayed, contaminated water mains to individual homes. I hauled spring water 10 miles for a year because I lived in an area where the tap water was clean when it left and disgusting when it arrived, but I'm sure most Flint residents in the most affected neighborhoods don't have that option.

And damn well shouldn't have to, anyway.

Is it racial or a matter of class or a matter of not giving a damn? Well, what it is is unsafe water. That's what it is.

Meanwhile, Marty Two Bulls notes yet another broken treaty, or, in this case, basketful of broken treaties, and this really is racism.

The deliberate despoiling of Bear Ears is at least an insult delivered in full view of the public. Two Bulls is protesting a more insidious violation of tribal sovereignty, America's honesty as a treaty partner and some basic tenets of human decency in noting the cutting of treaty benefits to Indian nations in the GOP budget, a betrayal that reminds us of the days of rancid flour and spoiled meat being delivered to reserves.

At least that was being done to skim profits for individual crooks, rather than as a matter of national policy.

What is happening in Flint, and in Indian Country, is not just wrong for those people. It's a "canaries in the coal mine" indicator of where the government's sense of responsibility towards all of us lies.

To which I would say thank god Scott Pruitt hasn't the sense to stop digging when he finds himself in a hole, and thank god Mike Luckovich can provide us with a laugh as the nation implodes.

(And Marty Two Bulls would point out that the metaphor is based on Hollywood's largely historical myth of Indian attacks against settlers in wagon trains. Here's a somewhat encouraging article on that sort of thing.)

Make America Giggle Again

Willie 'n Ethel is one of those strips done in what I refer to as Bob Newhart Show style, where you know what's coming and that's part of why you laugh when it does. The mystery is why, when some strips telegraph their predictable gags it is completely lame and when others do, it's hilarious.

But, yeah, Bob Newhart not only got away with it but made it the defining feature of the show. Ditto with this strip.

On a similar note, with all the depressing stuff that's going on in the world, it's good that Scott Hilburn has time for some clever dumb humor in the Argyle Sweater.

Clever-Dumb is not an oxymoron -- people like Albert Einstein and Isaac Asimov relished silly jokes. Though I'm sure that, if you're smarter than either of them, you're probably above all that.

In fact, I'd bet on it. But to collect, you'll have to prove the first part.

I'm not afraid of having to pay off -- though I doubt I'd have to -- because, like Earl and Opal in Pickles, I'm currently working on my third million. Maybe my fourth.

I was doing some financial planning in my head the other day and I think I can afford to be 84, by which time Soylent Green will be cheaper than cat food, so I can probably even stretch it a little farther.

Or become part of the solution.

Now here's your not at all oxymoronic moment of zen