Frame and Fortune

 

"You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold!"

As it turned out, the nails were needed elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signing Off

 

The show about nothing.

The war about nothing.

Wrap party

Graphic Grandeur (Weighing the Evidence Edition)

 

Meanwhile at the Justice Department:

 

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

Quips and Quotations (Flamingo Road Edition)

 

Trump did ruin bad taste. It's no fun anymore.

--John Waters

Orange hair back in the day.

 

Graphic Grandeur (Lip Service Edition)

 

If Penguin sez it's a classic I guess it must be, though I confess I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I did see this Nick Anderson cartoon:

 That should tide me over until I can find time for Niccolo.

Graphic Grandeur (Asymmetrical Warfare Edition)

 

The question must be asked:

Cartoon by Clay Jones.

Senate Minority Pride

 

You may have heard the Trump administration removed a rainbow flag from the Stonewall Inn, the site of the famous LGBTQ uprising ("the hairpin drop heard around the world" as journalist Dick Leitsch put it) and nowadays, per President Barack Obama, a national monument, a good thing until you realize that Obama is no longer president, and the man who is can do, or thinks he can do, whatever the hell he wants with a historic landmark. Still, his lackeys put in charge of running the National Park Service felt they at least should give a reason--thank you for that! --and the reason given is that "only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags," can be flown on "NPS-designated flagpoles." Well, then, the solution to that is to somehow make the rainbow flag authorized.

That's where Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) comes in. Like a lot of old guard Democrats, Schumer has been criticized for blinking when confronted with the threat of imminent dictatorship. Well, it looks like he might have been administered some eye drops recently. Schumer and U.S. Representative Dan Goldman (also D-NY) have introduced legislation making the rainbow flag a congrssionally-approved flag that can be flown at national monuments, including, and especially, Stonewall. Way to go, Chuck! Still, there's a rub. As the title of this post indicates, Schumer is Senate Minority Leader. The GOP control both houses of Congress. So you need bipartisan support, and let's face it, Schumer may occasionally blink, but those Republican eyes are epoxied shut. Thus, passage seems unlikely, but not impossible. Life is full of surprises. Just ask any NYPD cop who happened to be at the Stonewall on June 28, 1969. 

 

Origin of Speciousness

 

OK, OK, let's all try to keep an open mind about this.

Hmm...They don't look like apes to me. Do they look like apes to you?

Not that there aren't apes in our future. After all, this remains a distinct possibility:

The Obamas just won't be the ones who bring it about.

Graphic Grandeur (Star Force One Edition)

 

 

You can fret about what went on at Davos all you want. As for myself, I worry more that...

...Earth may soon be paid an unwelcome visit by otherworldly beings!

Cartoon by Matt Reuter

Graphic Grandeur (You Don't Know Dickens Edition)

 

And then there was Venezuela...

Cartoon by Clay Jones

Graphic Grandeur (Supply and Demented Edition)

 

It's a truism in American politics that people vote with their pocketbook.

Sometimes to confusing effect:

Cartoon by Drew Sheneman.

Quips and Quotations (Roaring Twenties Edition)

 

I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made....

--F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 

Graphic Grandeur (A River Runs Through It Edition)

 

OK, you've seen all the news coverage, but what was the President's reaction?

Cartoon by Nick Anderson

Cabinet Cabaret

 

 

Overture, curtain, lights
This is it, the night of nights
No more rehearsing and nursing a part
We know every part by heart
Overture, curtain, lights
This is it, we'll hit the heights
And oh what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it.

"Mr President, you ARE the Second Coming!"

 

The Apprentice

 

"YOU'RE HIRED!"

A Runaway Production

 

Now it's movies?

All I know is Jon Voight's name has been bandied about. Has to do with the company he keeps.

 

 

"Hey! I'm walkin' here!"

 

Vital Viewing (The Hannibal Run Edition)

Today's not Conan O'Brien's birthday, but there's reason to celebrate anyway as just the other day The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. presented the man with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Now, you may have heard that thanks to an "Executive Order", TJFKCFPA has come under the thumb of the current occupant of the White House, something that may have been on O'Brien's mind as he gave his acceptance speech:

I've watched many of these Mark Twain Prize telecasts over the years, and the recipients very rarely mention the man the prize was named after, so as a Twain fan it pleases me to no end that O'Brien did and did so at such great length.

It also makes me think I should include an accompanying video of Twain, but that's not really possible. Late in life he did appear on film, but it was silent film, so we're denied the Great Man's acerbic witticisms. The best I can do is this:

And that's what Conan was talking about!

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1936-2025

The Mark Twain Prize seems to have passed Ruth Buzzi by, but that's the Kennedy Center's loss and not the loss for those of us who lived through a time when she was a regular, and a regularly hilarious, presence on television. Buzzi was best known for Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and on that once-well-known rapid-fire sketch comedy show she was best known for her portrayal of homely, purse-battering Gladys Ormphby, but she played other characters as well. Perusing through what YouTube has to offer, the following comedy of manners is what gave me the biggest laugh:

Twain, that old foe of propriety, would have loved it.

Vital Viewing (Precious Meddles Edition)

 

Ah, yes, Fort Knox, where some 147.3 million ounces of gold bullion is stored--or is it? New doubts have been raised:

What I gathered from watching that is, no matter what the conspiracy theorists say, the gold is there after all. Still, in the off-chance it's not, what can the United States do to stave off...whatever bad thing that happens if the gold isn't there?

 

The solution may lie in one of our oldest fairy tales. Take it away, Edward:

 

Turnips instead of gold? In that case we would need Fort Knox more than ever. After all, turnips are vegetables and as such last much longer in a...

 ...sealed container.

 

As Is

 

This former president was once compared to a "used car salesman."

This current (as well as former) president has been compared to the president who I just told you was once compared to a used car salesman.

But it's an unfair comparison.

As you can see, he's really a NEW car salesman.

Either way, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware.)

Quips and Quotations (Tried and Trudeau Edition)

 

Trump has suggested that Canada become the 51st state in our union. Does that mean that we can adopt the Canadian health care system and guarantee health care to all, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and spend 50% less per capita on health care? I'm all for it.

--Bernie Sanders