Sunday, May 25, 2025

"Decrepit is as Decrepit Does" Part 1

On Memorial Day weekend -- now mostly about barbecues, beaches, and beer consumption -- Americans once paused to honor our valiant soldiers who gave their lives in service to their country. Wars these days being big business for defense contractors, the armed services a jobs program for disadvantaged youth, and the USA not functioning like a democracy, it seems appropriate to this observer that we note the passing of different group of warriors and their lost battles for a cause that has long been beyond their reach.

Yes, it was a very bad week for Democrats, as everybody but their most devoted lickspittles were able to acknowledge.

Let's count the ways, starting at the top.
This cartoon is not a hit on Joe Biden. It’s a hit on the Democrats who enabled him to commit to a second term and helped hide his health issues. The question here is whether Democrats enabled it or if they just stuck their heads in the sand. [...] Don’t get mad at me for pointing that out. Get mad at the DNC. And maybe, just maybe, also get mad at Joe Biden. In 2020, he did state: “I view myself as a transition candidate,” and “I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else.”
Oh yes, Joementia had enablers aplenty. Including a most shameful one at CNN, who's now profiting from his collusion. Tap out, Jake.
We know they concealed his cancer because they obfuscated his Alzheimer's. They tried to drag him over the finish line, have him resign at some point and turn it over to Kamala. But that first debate -- where Meathead Reiner screamed, "we're losing" -- forced the switch. For Kam's part, she a) did get shafted by the DNC's refusal to act democratically and hold a primary which she likely would not have lost anyway; and b) earned her shellacking. She wasn't hamstrung by the calendar. She ran a ridiculously bad campaign.

Here's a few observations about Geriatric Joe from TwiX. I'll begin gently, but fair warning: if you spend all your online time in that silo where the skies are blue, it's going to sting, especially if you're still gripping your Donkey pride.


But this post isn't just about Biden and Harris, who wants to run for something in 2028, mind you. Presumably not on the old man's legacy again.
A moment of silence for Gerry Connolly, Raul Grijalva, and Sylvester Turner, because their missing votes were the difference in Trump's BBB win.


Congresssional Dems have conducted themselves poorly in other ways.

And Democratic governors (yes, the disgraced and disgraceful Andrew Cuomo's honorarium is still 'Governor', at least until New Yorkers elect him mayor).

I'll wind down this portion with some collated thoughts about where the party is headed from here.
The Democratic Party does not want a 'Joe Rogan of the left' because they cannot tolerate criticism of their bureacracy (see Hogg, David). The Generation Z voters they need to attract are demonstrably NOT going to vote for Gaza genocide, a lack of commitment to climate action, healthcare for all, and so on and so forth.

More about our lame-ass Texas Democrats, and more cartoons (some are funny!) in Part 2.
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Sunday, May 18, 2025

"A Whiter Shade of Migrant" Funnies


Is it really color or is it class?


And if MAGA ever comes to the realization that they're also casualties of the class war ... could that eventually break their fever?

A Fox News poll from late April 2025 showed Americans approve of Trump’s border security policies, 55% to 40%. To shift public opinion against him, a significant economic downturn might be necessary. Polls indicate economic concerns could erode his base: a Reuters/Ipsos poll (April 30, 2025) reported only 36% approve of Trump’s economic stewardship, with 56% disapproving, as fears of recession grow (82% of voters worried, per Decision Desk HQ/NewsNation). This highlights a troubling reality where economic stability overshadows other issues. If jobs vanish or inflation spikes -- 91% of voters are concerned about rising prices -- support for deportations may (finally begin to) wane, revealing our misplaced priorities.

So while we wait for them to wake up and catch up, it seems they're still engaged in culture war, taking exception to a woke pope.
King Donald meanwhile lashes out at the Boss. Michael de Adder surely did not realize his cartoon would blend so well with developing news when he drew it.


This cartoon (below) doesn’t get into the policy reasons that cars in the U.S. have gotten so big. But our individual preferences have been shaped by the way federal policy shapes our car norms.

Legally, car companies can avoid stricter emission standards -- and make higher profits -- by selling bigger SUVs and trucks. As a result of this loophole, auto makers have spent decades on a nonstop campaign to convince us that huge cars are a necessity.

There are also tax reasons. Tariffs -- which have been in the news a lot lately -- are the reason we don’t have more smaller cars to buy.


In the early 1960s, Europe raised the ire of American officials by slapping a 50 percent tariff on chicken exported from the United States. In retaliation, the US enacted a 25 percent tax on pickup trucks imported from abroad. The dispute is long forgotten, but the “Chicken Tax” lives on.

Although the tariff was initially aimed at Germany’s immense auto industry (Volkswagen in particular), it also applies to pickups imported from newer automaking powers such as Japan and South Korea, where carmakers are often adept at building vehicles much smaller than those available to Americans.


The Chicken Tax (a name sure to confuse) makes it impossible to make a profit selling small foreign cars in America. So they don’t.

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