tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94408922024-03-13T08:24:16.133-07:00p3 - Persuasion, Perseverance, and Patiencep3 - Persuasion, Perseverance, and Patience: A blog with an almost Rain Man-like inability to connect with a regular audience. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3650125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-49087466731707893552017-11-23T12:00:00.000-08:002017-11-24T12:08:06.273-08:00Tonight begins the annual running of the "War on "The Little Drummer Boy."Tonight, in at 12:01am Friday, November 24, 2016, begins what we've somewhat arbitrarily (since the actual origin is shrouded in prehistory; see below) declared the twenty-first annual running of the "War on the Little Drummer Boy." You are invited to take part. No registration fee or peeing in little cups is required.<br />
<br />
The (revised) rules are as follows:<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background: rgb(164, 164, 164); padding: 10px;">
1. The challenge begins at 12:01am local time on the day after Thanksgiving – this year that's tonight, November 23rd. It ends at 12:01am local time on December 24th.<br />
<br />
2. If you hear even a tiny snatch of TLDB at any time during that period, and it's recognizable as such, the game's over until next year. Thanks for playing.<br />
<br />
3. There are <i>three exceptions</i> to Rule #2.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
3a. The first exception is that if someone deliberately plays TLDB just to make you lose, it doesn't count (this, I'm sorry to say, is known as the My Sister Jane Exception).<br />
<br />
3b. The second exception is that <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2007/12/pound-for-pound-this-still-out-weirds.html">the early 1970s cover of TLDB by Bing Crosby and David Bowie</a> doesn't end the game. I treasure it for its transcendental weirdness.<br />
<br />
3c. (Added by the Commissioner in 2017) The third exception is <a href="https://youtu.be/C_BRd1fegBw">this scene from Tne West Wing</a>. If you happen to see or hear this specific scene, it doesn't end the game. (And yes, if you've ever been to a burial with an honor guard, you'll already know: even if you're braced and prepared, those rifles feel really loud.) <br />
<br /></blockquote>
4. (Based on the 2013 ruling by the Commissioner.) Since the date of Thanksgiving floats, scoring is based on how many days remain until Christmas, not how many days have passed since Thanksgiving. So, e.g., December 15th from any year always beats December 14th from any year. </blockquote>
<br />
(Note that Rule #4 will mean that this year has a slightly higher degree of difficulty than usual, since in 2017 Thanksgiving falls on one of the earliest calendar dates possible.)<br />
<br />
Chances are better for those who do not work in retail, who do their holiday shopping online rather than in stores, and who do not spend time in cars with the radio tuned to all-Christmas channels. Beyond that, you're on your own<br />
<br />
Last year, <span id="goog_819233453"></span><a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/12/im-out-see-you-at-spring-training-next.html">I made it to December 23rd</a> -- a decent, but hardly record-breaking score.<br />
<br />
The precise origins of The Annual "The Little Drummer Boy" Competition are lost to antiquity and legend, but many reputable historians of the sport believe it may trace back to <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2011/12/saturday-morning-tunes-season-ended-at.html">this moment on December 18, 1963</a>.<br />
<br />
You can read more about my war with "The Little Drummer Boy," and relive highlights from previous seasons-- including the crucial importance of Rule 3b -- <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/search/label/My%20War%20on%20%27The%20Little%20Drummer%20Boy%27">here</a>.<br />
<br />
If you played last winter, I hope you'll play again this season. If you're a beginner, I hope you'll join. Feel free to check in via the comments here, or at my Facebook Page, to let me know how you're going.<br />
<br />
May the odds be ever with you.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-44750418842650646762017-05-04T14:30:00.000-07:002017-05-05T00:10:56.990-07:00A synoptic history of the separation of church and state: Our first update for 2017!<span style="font-size: medium;">(And it's a doozy!):We update this history today for the first time since 2015 when Jeb! Bush, who almost – but not quite
– reclaimed some Kennedy territory. But <b>p3</b> First Amendment fans ain't seen nothin' yet!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">(NOTE: This timeline was originally published in shorter form in <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2009/11/unforgiving-minute_13.html">2009</a>, driven by the somewhat-naive thoug ht that the time that then the process of theocratic overreach in the US was probably already at or near its zenith. Now it appears that </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>p3</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> must stand ready for further revisions from time to time, as the exigencies of Republican electoral politics require it. We welcome the task.)</span></span></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Establishment_Clause"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">1791</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>James
Madison</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">: </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Congress
shall make no law</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">1802</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thomas
Jefferson</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment guarantees
Americans </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>a
wall of separation</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> between
church and state.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">1954</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Dwight
Eisenhower</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state surely </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>won't
be hurt by adding "under God"</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> to
The Pledge of Allegiance in the name of anti-Communism, will it?</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">1960</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>John
F. Kennedy</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>absolute</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
My church will not dictate my policy decisions.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.mittromney.com/News/Speeches/Faith_In_America"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2008</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Mitt
Romney</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>relative</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
My church will dictate my policy decisions, but only to the extent
that I will <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2007/12/romney-on-religion-think-of-it-as-john.html">discriminate
against the same people Christian conservatives would already be
discriminating against anyway</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33852621/ns/politics-health_care_reform/"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2009</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Bart
Stupack</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>a
fairy tale</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
My church will show up at the Capitol steps in a limo to dictate
policy.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/santorum-says-he-almost-threw-up-after-reading-jfk-speech-on-separation-of-church-and-state/2012/02/26/gIQA91hubR_blog.html"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2012</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rick
Santorum</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>an
abomination</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
"Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read
the speech [by JFK to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in
1960], and I almost threw up."</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/romney-captures-the-god-vote-at-first-debate/2012/10/04/e897f44c-0de3-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2012</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Sally
Quinn</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>impossible</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
“This is a religious country. Part of claiming your citizenship is
claiming a belief in God, even if you are not Christian.”
Agnostics, atheists, and other nonbelievers need not apply.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-santorum-separation-church-and-state-communist-idea-not-american-one"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2014</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rick
Santorum</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (again):
The very notion of the separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>"a
Communist idea that has no place in America."</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/poll-57-percent-republicans-christianity-national-religion?utm_content=buffer2b566&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2015</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Fifty-seven
percent of surveyed Republicans</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>sacreligious</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">,
since the U.S. Constitution is a document inspired by Our Lord Jesus
Christ, so <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_08/bibliolatry_at_the_heart_of_co051502.php">it
counts as Holy Scripture</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/03/28/rand-paul-gay-marriage-debate-a-moral-crisis/">2015</a> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rand
Paul,</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> libertarian-of-convenience:
The separation of church and state is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>a
one-way street</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">:
"The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It
doesn't say keep religion out of government."</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/jeb_bush_promises_to_be_the_anti_jfk_if_elected_my_catholic_faith_will_influence_how_i_govern"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2015</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Jeb
Bush,</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> "moderate"
GOP presidential candidate: The separation of church and state is
nothing more than a </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>"game"</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> of </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>"political
correctness."</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/05/19/3660790/jindal-discrimination-executive-order/"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">2015</span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Bobby
Jindal,</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> 2016
vice-presidential hopeful (and staunch <a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=4755">opponent
of executive orders, when it's Obama,</a> who not that long ago
told fellow Republicans they had to stop being <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/bobby-jindal-gop-must-stop-being-the-stupid-party/2013/01/26/fdd7236c-67ea-11e2-83c7-38d5fac94235_video.html">"the
party of stupid"</a>): The separation of church and state </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>can
be disposed of by simple executive order</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> from
the governor, even after the GOP-controlled state legislature <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/05/19/3660790/jindal-discrimination-executive-order/">killed
the same anti-LGBT bill the week before</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/jeb-bush-knocks-pope-on-climate-change-push-119084.html">2015</a>
<b>Jeb Bush (again)</b>, apparently ignoring his promise of roughly six weeks earlier (see above)
that his Catholic faith would naturally influence how he governed as
president: </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>"I don’t get economic policy
from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope,"</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
adding "I think religion ought to be about making us better as
people, less about things [that] end up getting into the political
realm.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Ooh! <i>So close</i>
to what JFK promised in 1960 (also above) – <i>so close!</i>
Except that Kennedy pledged that the church would not dictate his
policy decisions – Period. Full stop. – whereas Jeb only pledges
that the church won't dictate his <i>economic</i>
decisions. This means that, as both a good <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122056/last-time-conservatives-dismissed-major-encyclical-it-ended-terribly">Cafeteria Catholic</a> and a Republican candidate who must pander to his base to make it through the primaries alive, he feels free
to ignore anything he doesn't like that the Pope says about matters like climate change, economic inequality, privatizing Social
Security, or similar things that could make a difference to his donors' bottom line.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But, of course, he considers himself totally free to invoke his
faith in the name of being anti-choice and anti-contraception, to say
nothing of attempting to use the Florida National Guard to cruelly prolong
the life of <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a31593/charlie-pierce-terri-schiavo-jeb-bush-idiot-america-excerpt/">Terri Schiavo</a>. (You didn't forget <i>that </i>one, did you?)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/politics/trump-religious-liberty-executive-order/index.html?sr=fbCNN050417trump-religious-liberty-executive-order0430PMVODtopVideo&linkId=37195642">2017</a> <b>45th President and widey-noted Christianity practitioner Donald J. Trump,</b>signing his "Religious Liberty Executive Order" coinciding with National Prayer Day: <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">"The order, which Trump inked during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, directs the IRS to exercise "maximum enforcement discretion" over the Johnson amendment, which prevents churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. It also provides "regulatory relief" for organizations that object on religious grounds to a provision in Obamacare that mandates employers provide certain health services, including coverage for contraception.</span>"We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore,"</span> Trump proclaimed during his remarks.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-39492037412972649242017-01-20T09:01:00.000-08:002017-01-20T09:01:10.289-08:00Turn the pagePresented without further comment:
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tXUi2muN3Gg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXUi2muN3Gg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-9261355493894870992016-12-23T15:49:00.000-08:002016-12-23T19:35:10.048-08:00I'm out! See you at spring training next year.<a href="http://www.gifbin.com/981296" title="Funny Gifs"><img src="http://www.gifbin.com/bin/272909002.gif" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
I got nailed in the great <b>p3 </b>“Little
Drummer Boy” challenge last night, Thursday the 22nd, at 8:30pm,
with two days and a threee-plus hours before the deadline. It's one
of my best non-winning scores.
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
oh,
who am I kidding? I didn't have a “best non-winning score;” I
lost. Period. <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/11/let-games-begin.html"> Rules are rules</a>. I have to wait until next year to try again.
I'll be ready.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I got
caught by the host at pub trivia, who played the Pentatonic cover of
the dreary holiday classic in question between rounds. Ironically, I
had a near miss about an hour earlier when he played the Bowie/Crosby
1972 cover. After that one came and went, I breathed a sigh of
relief, since that version is specifically exempted under <b>Rule 3b.</b> Obviously, that was a bit presumptuous of me. Still, as Commissioner; I have to set an example.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Several
worthies have already gone out (and there's certainly no shame in that); at
least one from outside the US. The International “Little Drummer
Boy” Commission thanks them for making the competition all that it is
by taking part. And at least three friends remain in the running,
two of them back in the state of my birth (if not the state that I'm
from); good luck to you all. May the odds be ever in your favor.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'll
join you back here at 12:01am, Friday, November 24, 2017, when next
year's games begin.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-36914638872068601862016-11-26T09:13:00.000-08:002016-11-26T09:13:06.713-08:00Place your bets it'll probably be as safe as putting the money toward your 401K)The <b>p3 </b>over-under for the moment (assuming it didn't already happen and I missed it) when a congressional Republican, or a member of the Trump inner circle, or one of their spokespersons goes on TV and proclaims that deficits no longer matter (again): <b>11:00am Sunday, November 27th.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Tie-breaker: Whether the interviewer pushes back in any detectable way.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-33958607678412606962016-11-24T23:59:00.000-08:002016-12-23T15:51:13.715-08:00Let the games begin!Tonight, in just two minutes at 12:01am Friday, November 25, 2016, begins what the Commissioner has somewhat arbitrarily declared the twentieth annual running of the "War on the Little Drummer Boy." You are invited to take part. No registration fee or peeing in little cups is required.<br />
<br />
The rules are as follows:<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background: rgb(164, 164, 164); padding: 10px;">
1. The challenge begins at 12:01am local time on the day after Thanksgiving – this year that's today, November 27th. It ends at 12:01am local time on December 24th.<br />
<br />
2. If you hear even a tiny snatch of TLDB at any time during that period, if it's recognizable as such, the game's over until next year. Thanks for playing.<br />
<br />
3. There are two exceptions to Rule #2.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
3a. The first exception is that if someone deliberately plays TLDB just to make you lose, it doesn't count (this, I'm sorry to say, is known as the My Sister Jane Exception).<br />
<br />
3b. The second exception is that <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2007/12/pound-for-pound-this-still-out-weirds.html">the early 1970s cover of TLDB by Bing Crosby and David Bowie</a> doesn't end the game. I treasure it for its transcendental weirdness.</blockquote>
4. Since the date of Thanksgiving floats, scoring is based on how many days remain until Christmas, not how many days have passed since Thanksgiving. So, e.g., December 15th from any year always beats December 14th from any year. (That's based on a 2013 ruling by the Commissioner.</blockquote>
<br />
(Note that Rule #4 will mean that this year has a slightly higher degree of difficulty, since Thanksgiving falls on one of the earliest calendar dates possible.)<br />
<br />
Odds favor those who do not work in retail, and who do not drive around in cars with satellite radio tuned to all-Christmas channels.<br />
<br />
Last year, for the first time in at least 15 years, meaning well before the sport went pro and appointed a league statistician and its first commissioner, I successfully made it to 12:01am December 24th without hearing "The Little Drummer Boy," which means I earned the equivalent of straight 10.0's from the judges.<br />
<br />
The precise origins of The Annual "The Little Drummer Boy" Competition are shrouded in antiquity and legend, but many reputable historians of the sport believe it traces to <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2011/12/saturday-morning-tunes-season-ended-at.html">this moment on December 18, 1963</a>.<br />
<br />
You can read more about my war with "The Little Drummer Boy." and relive highlights from previous seasons-- including the crucial importance of Rule 3b -- <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/search/label/My%20War%20on%20%27The%20Little%20Drummer%20Boy%27">here</a>.<br />
<br />
If you played last winter, I hope you'll play again this season. If you're a beginner, I hope you'll join. Feel free to check in via the comments here, or at @nothstine, to let me know how you're going.<br />
<br />
May the odds be ever with you.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-5601221402677211792016-11-24T09:13:00.000-08:002016-11-24T09:13:02.507-08:00The definitive Thanksgiving song.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m57gzA2JCcM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m57gzA2JCcM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-322290724381615432016-11-24T00:13:00.000-08:002016-11-24T00:13:04.397-08:00It's almost as if they were . . . organized!One of the two best 1970s sitcom moments <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92I04DkMEps">(here's the other one,</a> but it doesn't have anything to do with Thhanksgiving, so . . . ). Slightly edited, the only way this clip seems to be available now.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lf3mgmEdfwg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lf3mgmEdfwg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-85028333920573020892016-11-23T09:13:00.000-08:002016-11-23T09:13:09.158-08:00I wonder . . . <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tXUi2muN3Gg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXUi2muN3Gg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-85869094614945928552016-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:002016-10-27T17:04:53.261-07:00The unforgiving minute: Re-evaluating my entire adult life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9VEGrZjJqRE/RqV3_GOJgDI/AAAAAAAADTE/pi1P87xmt5MUg1p4b00iYOfEVKeYexLhwCPcB/s1600/dali_watch.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9VEGrZjJqRE/RqV3_GOJgDI/AAAAAAAADTE/pi1P87xmt5MUg1p4b00iYOfEVKeYexLhwCPcB/s200/dali_watch.gif" width="158" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(I also posted this on my Facebook feed, but trust me: no one there will notice this.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A "mondagreen" is a song
lyric that you've gotten wrong because you mis-heard the original,
e.g.: "Hold me closer, Tony Danza," or "Revved up like
a douche," or "El Kabong, what's that flower you have on?"</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Pandora just played <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP94PlEtsEQ">The Hollies' 1972 classic "Long Cool Woman,"</a> and for the first time I
followed along with <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hollies/longcoolwomaninablackdress.html">the lyrics </a>and discovered that over the last 44
years that entire song -- except for the title itself, which I got
entirely right -- that song has been, for me, one complete 3-minute
15-second mondagreen. Every single line I had wrong. Every one. That
song hasn't even remotely been about what I always thought it was
about. Not. Even. Close.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have to think about this.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The one song I ever came this close to
getting entirely wrong was “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the only song
my high school garage band ever wholly ruined.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Minute's up.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-46337777951102257762016-10-26T17:15:00.000-07:002016-10-26T19:21:18.843-07:00Quote of the day: Special Fact-Check Edition<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(<b>Updated</b> below.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s1600/QOTD_books.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s200/QOTD_books.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
They are truly floundering now, and it's a marvel to see, like watching armadillos try to swim.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>- Charlie Pierce</b>, the Sultan of
Similes, the Ace of Analogies, and Master of Mammal Metaphors,
<a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a50020/trump-surrogates-7th-circle-crazy/">marveling
at the dreadful performance</a> byTrump surrogates in the run-up to
Election Day.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's a wonderful image – suggestive
of plummeting to the bottom of the lake with a minimum of satisfaction and a maximum of splash. And
that's certainly the situation Trump surrogates find themselves in
these days.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But as it turns out, it's not the
situation that actual living armadillos find themselves in. The
Google thing took less than a second to point me to a web page called
<b>Armadillo Fact File</b> (yes, <a href="https://armadillo-online.org/facts.html">of
course it exists</a>) in response to my three word search query: <i>can
armadillos swim? </i>(Click to enlarge. )</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWZqRfZRdsw/WBFFJhZn2PI/AAAAAAAAG2A/s3SGVigEeyYgDRgXL60tDhxmyAt5LqVxQCLcB/s1600/swimming%2Barmadillos.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="62" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWZqRfZRdsw/WBFFJhZn2PI/AAAAAAAAG2A/s3SGVigEeyYgDRgXL60tDhxmyAt5LqVxQCLcB/s320/swimming%2Barmadillos.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<blocv style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One
tinkers with brother Pierce's prose at one's peril, but I modestly –
humbly – suggest that the position that Trump surrogates like
Gingrich are finding themselves in is less like a happy armadillo skillfully crossing a
river (although the disturbing image of “gulping air into their
intestines” sounds nearer the mark than any of us should find
comfortable) and more instead like a luckless, lumbering creature trying desperately but
unsuccessfully to avoid a particularly unattractive Nemesis.
</blocv>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Perhaps
it's more like watching an armadillo try to outrun a 1958 Buick
Roadmaster.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Just a suggestion.<br />
<br />
<br />
(<b>Updated</b>, later the same day:<br />
<br />
Okay, now I'm flattering myself that Pierce is just messing with my head. Here he is, <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a50026/trump-hotel-dc-cocktails/">reflecting on the $100 eponymous signature cocktail</a> at the newly opened Trump International Hotel, a few blocks away from -- and as close as Trump'll ever get to -- the White House:<br />
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
I'm really not ready for someone to tell me that the problem with my Bloody Mary is that there isn't enough winter-wheat in the Yeltsin Juice. But it is of a piece with the candidate himself, who has the over-aesthetic taste of a Bonobo in a $1,000 tux.</blockquote>
Yes, the somber, sad-eyed bonobo does look dreadful in a $1000 tux.<br />
<br />
Ì Googled it.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-39131584497012698632016-10-21T16:31:00.001-07:002016-10-27T02:36:20.704-07:00You heard it here at p3 first!<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Welcome Crooks & Liars readers! And thanks yet again to friend of <b>p3 </b>Batocchio!)<br />
<br />
So Donald Trump Jr. (that's the brother
who takes his hair grooming tips from early-1990s Bret Easton Ellis
serial killers rather than from his father) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jr-step-down_us_58083b7be4b0b994d4c42fcf?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003">had
this to say about his father and the presidency</a>:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
“Unlike Hillary Clinton ― who’s gotten very rich being a politician, peddling American influence ― he hasn’t,” he continued. “This isn’t only a step down, but he wants to make sure that all Americans, all ethnicities and backgrounds, have the same opportunities to do what he’s been able to do, to start a great family, start a great business.”</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Really. Seriously. This is what Donald
Jr. <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii">considers
a “step down” for his dad</a>:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
<br />
<br />
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
<br />
<br />
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Well, first of all, of course he thinks that,
because it's never entered the head of father or son that this might
be about anything but money and brand.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But second, I called this! <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/07/this-is-insult-to-rats.html">I
called this back on July 5!</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
If Trump does bail out, I'd expect him to justify it much like Farage did: He's accomplished everything he set out to do (of course he has! he always does!), so why waste his time actually being President of the United States -- which he could easily do, if he wanted, and he'd be so good at it you wouldn't believe it -- when it's so obviously a step down from being Himself?</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You're welcome, America.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-80939255817526187392016-10-20T15:20:00.001-07:002016-10-20T15:20:38.184-07:00Quote of the day: Trophy kills<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s1600/QOTD_books.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s200/QOTD_books.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
Adventure tourism for the idiot rich</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>- Matt Tiabbi</b>, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-fury-and-failure-of-donald-trump-w444943">describing
the buzz</a> driving Donald Trump's presidential campaign.<br />
<br />
The description could be applied just as appropriately to the <a href="http://www.snopes.com/donald-trumps-son-game-hunting-photos/">“big game” African safaris of his two sons</a>. The only difference would be
that the carcasses left behind by the father include the traditional
transfer of presidential power, the modern Republican party, and the
very idea of an American political commonwealth, whereas his sons
left behind a trail of needlessly dead elephants, leopards, et
cetera.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Donald Jr. (that's the one who takes his
hair grooming tips from early-1990s Bret Easton Ellis serial killers
rather than from his father) even carried on the family tradition of
Love for the Little Guy by insisting
that “the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don't
often get to eat. Very grateful.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-67146283260288924452016-10-06T16:00:00.001-07:002016-10-06T16:00:40.196-07:00Quote of the day: Dodging versus deferment<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Also known as the First Law of
Conservation of Schmuckiness.)</div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
If Trump is a draft-dodger for having taken a II-S (or four of them), he is among millions of "draft dodgers" and so you need to STFU because you're outnumbered.
<br />
<br />
The heel spurs letter is more interesting, mostly because of the timing.
<br />
<br />
Spurs are not permanent and, had the lottery not made it irrelevant, he'd have had to go back to confirm that they were still an issue, but, yes, he dodged the draft, based on one medical deferment. And, as Chris Britt notes, it puts him in no position to comment on other people's service.
<br />
<br />
Here's the thing: You don't have to lie to make this guy look like a schmuck, and you don't even have to lie to make him look like a draft dodger.
<br />
<br />
And you sure as hell don't have to slander the millions of us who took student deferments. </blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's Mike Peterson, known to loyal <b>p3</b>
readers for his blog <b>Comic Strip of the Day</b>,
<a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/10/past-present-future.html">clarifying
an important legal and ethical distinction</a> that seems poorly
(sometimes, I suspect, willfully) misunderstood in the age of the
all-volunteer army.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eleven
years ago, I found myself in the wretched position of having to
defend the bloodthirsty likes of John Bolton and Dick <i>“five
deferments – count 'em, five!”</i> Cheney, in defense of a larger principle. Or at least to make sure
that they were damned for what they really are. As <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2005/04/2-s-1-s-1-1-h-when-numbers-get-serious.html">I
wrote at the time</a>:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
Claiming a legal deferment instead of enlisting is no more "draft dodging" than taking the standard exemption on your 1040 form is "tax evasion."
<br />
<br />
On the subject of "dodging" the draft: If you don't want people to have legal ways of getting out of military service, don't create legal ways for them to get out of military service. If they avoided service legally, and you still don't like it, then your problem is with the law, not the person.
<br />
<br />
And--here's where the trouble lives--a law that's administered unequally, depending on how wealthy and connected you are, is a law worth having a problem with.</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Legal
ways to avoid service have always existed, often but not always tied
to how much disposable income you have. The thing about Trump is that
he thinks anything that doesn't benefit him first, most, and –
ideally – alone, is for chumps. If, instead of a military draft,
we'd had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/30/clinton-to-offer-national-service-initiative-during-florida-swing/">a
Clinton-style national service program</a> at the time, he'd have
pulled whatever strings he could to get out of <i>that</i>,
too. It's of a piece with his stated belief that not paying taxes makes him
“smart” – he believes the opposite, that the idea of a
commonwealth is stupid.<br />
<br />
<br />
(And no one asked me, but I have to say that giving <b>Ann Telnaes</b> a<a href="http://www.anntelnaes.com/2012/11/cheney-banana/"> live target</a> would almost -- not quite, but almost -- be worth having Cheney back in the public light again.)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-83378923741603663982016-10-01T08:13:00.000-07:002016-10-01T08:13:00.213-07:00Let's review: The absence of a federal Election Day holiday is not theproblem<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've been seeing a lot of items on my Facebook
feed the last day or two showing President Obama and Senators Warren and Sanders touting
the notion of an Election Day federal holiday. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I still say that's a
solution in search of a problem.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As I <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/05/forget-about-federal-election-day.html">wrote
in May</a>:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
A federal holiday for Election Day (or moving it to the weekend) misses the point. The problem is hardly that Americans are yearning for more time to participate in the Norman Rockwellesque living tableau of exercising their freedom to vote.[...]
<br />
<br />
Consider the status quo, where Republican-controlled statehouses, encouraged and abetted by the Roberts Court, are ever on the lookout for innovative ways – as well as tried-and-true favorites from the days of Jim Crow – to suppress voting by the wrong people, such as making them stand in line for hours at a polling place, perhaps only to find out that it had mysteriously run out of Democratic ballots, or had been deliberately understaffed, or moved to the far side of town, or closed altogether, or required some form of ID that was expensive if not completely unobtainable. And that's if they haven't had their names struck from the rolls by some bureaucratic error (always an "error;" never a "purge.")
<br />
<br />
All that a federal holiday for Election Day would accomplish is letting them draw holiday pay for the experience, rather than having to take the day off on their own nickle. I suppose that's an improvement, but not much of one. It certainly doesn't do anything to get at the basic problem, which is that one of our two political parties has vote suppression baked into its basic electoral strategy.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you want a voting system that tends
to raise participation while being nearly, if not completely,
impervious to suppression (as well as statistically nonexistence
“voter fraud”), you want the Oregon vote-by-mail model.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And as a bonus, you won't have to listen to the Chanber-of-Commerce types complain about <i>yet another</i> federal holiday for which workers will expect to get paid.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-91164486494528294162016-09-30T09:13:00.000-07:002016-09-30T09:13:00.703-07:00Quote of the day: The great white absence-of-hope<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s1600/QOTD_books.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s200/QOTD_books.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
If all the jobs are moving overseas, why wouldn’t the white working class vote for Trump? What good reason do they have for not doing so? I know why the black and Latino working class won’t–because of the racism of the Trump campaign. But if you have no hope except for being white, why not vote for your racial dominance? That’s what Trump offers.</blockquote>
<div 10px="" bayle="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
- That's <b>Erik Loomis</b>, <a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2016/09/trade-trump-and-the-debate">putting
it about as clearly</a> as I've ever seen it. Jeezus.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-62799255577617645612016-09-29T09:13:00.000-07:002016-09-29T15:21:43.917-07:00The unforgiving minute: Decideds and undecideds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9VEGrZjJqRE/RqV3_GOJgDI/AAAAAAAADTE/pi1P87xmt5MUg1p4b00iYOfEVKeYexLhwCPcB/s1600/dali_watch.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9VEGrZjJqRE/RqV3_GOJgDI/AAAAAAAADTE/pi1P87xmt5MUg1p4b00iYOfEVKeYexLhwCPcB/s200/dali_watch.gif" width="158" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Last night I heard a woman sitting a
few seats down from me say this to the man she was with. For verisimilitude's sake, you have to
imagine it delivered in a classic early 1980s Valley Girl-speak, and without
the slightest trace of irony:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
"I've decided to be less judgmental of women. [Pause.] It's not fair to hold them up to my standard."</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My initial impulse, of course, was to grab the man
by the arm and shout, "Run away! Run away!"</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
/But then I realized that he knew
perfectly well what he had gotten into; they'd been trading
passive-aggressive barbs since the moment he sat down with her. He'd
long-since made his choice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I feel much the same way about voters
in this election. I've read a number of posts and articles this week mentioning "undecided"
voters. I don't believe there are very many of those -- certainly not
if the choice is about Trump versus Clinton. Maybe a few dazed or
confused Democratic or Republican voters can still be picked off by third-party candidates, or vice-versa.
And a lot of voters -- particularly Trump voters, I suspect, and
particularly Trump voters who haven't been in the habit of voting for
years -- may be undecided about whether they'll actually cast a
ballot at all.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But this year, pretty much anyone who
makes it to the voting booth has already made up their mind about who
they're voting for, and why.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Turnout, I suspect, will be
everything.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Minute's up.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-78066778725657511852016-09-27T21:11:00.000-07:002016-09-28T01:52:25.211-07:00Tuesday evening's toons: I'm not sure why we're even calling it a “debate” anymore<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s1600/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s200/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Welcome to a Very Special
Post-Debate edition of <b>p3</b>'s
Sunday morning toon review.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So it's come to this:
America is <a href="http://montypython.50webs.com/scripts/Series_3/27.htm">the
Argument Clinic customer</a> and last night we were shut up in a room
with Mr. Vibrating. The host – it's silly at this point to use the
term “moderator,” let alone “judge;” probably “ringmaster”
is nearest the mark – has promised no penalty for making stuff up.
(Unlike the establishment media, I have no problem pointing out that
Trump is a liar; if I sometimes avoid the word, it's because actually
lying is only one of the weapons in his arsenal: along with
self-contradiction, there's subject-changing, free-form delusion, as
well as <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NK6z70-4X3VLI3VTL5tShCSTyGOFE3mQsWQH72JAHvg/edit">the
standard tools of the craft</a>.) The Republican candidate has
promised – by his extensive track record of mendacity and by his
opposition even to the flimsy and inadequate practice of
“fact-checking” – that he's going to be making stuff up. And
now the head of the Commission on Presidential Debates has said that
she believes it's good enough simply to have Candidate Clinton use
her own response time to fact-check Trump. (Has this person watched
<i>even a minute</i> of television in the last fifteen months?)</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So if you were hoping for to
see a connected series of statements intended to establish a
proposition last night, you should probably have looked elsewhere
than the first round of presidential whatever.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Any political cartoonist who
tried to capture last week the full magnitude and horror of what we
were going to get last night would be laughed out of court, so
cartoons prior to Monday night that dealt with the debates were
forced to go for the evergreens, picturing Hillary surrounded by
books, legal pads, pencils, etc., while Trump is admiring himself in
the mirror, practicing insults, etc. Or fact-checking. Or the low
bar. Among the best in this difficult catgegory: <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/clayjones/2016/09/25">Clay
Jones</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jackohman">Jack Ohman</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/joelpett/2016/09/26">Joel Pett</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/garyvarvel/2016/09/26">Gary Varvel</a>,
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some of the more interesting
work came from artists who were sketching in real time, including <a href="https://www.facebook.com/anntelnaes/posts/1112064832182123?pnref=story">Ann
Telnaes</a> and <a href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/matt-davies-draws-as-hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump-debate-1.12369333">Matt Davies</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Although
a few got out there quickly with images that seemed to reflect the
(un)reality of the evening, including <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/claybennett/2016/09/27">Clay
Bennett</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jen-sorensen/2016/09/27">Jen
Sorenson</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2016/09/27">Tom
Toles</a>,</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Deadlines drove some
cartoonists last night. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154623511032193&set=a.10151889474007193.1073741826.552322192&type=3&theater">R.
J. Matson</a> posted this on Facebook today, and admitted he wasn't
quite satisfied with it:
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
”I drew this before the debate started last night to meet Roll Call's publication deadline for today's paper. It's not entirely off target, considering what transpired on stage and in spin rooms everywhere, but it could be sharper. Back to the drawing board today...”</blockquote>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(If
I were going to quibble – and regular readers (all five of 'em) know that's <i>so</i>
not me – I'd say cartoon's problem is not so much
about sharpness as that Trump is shown <i>clearing</i>
his much-lower bar, but a lot of post-debate commentary, focus
groups, etc., suggest he didn't even manage that.)</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One last thought on last
night's debate (and the campaign in general): When Trump says not
paying taxes “makes me smart,” when he brags about having made
money off the Great Recession and insists that doing so is simply
“called business,” when he muses on the equivalent of strategic
bankruptcy for the federal government, when he says he'd tear up
existing international treaties (the equivalent in his mind of
business contracts?) – those are all morally sketchy but currently
acceptable business tactics that have helped bring him whatever
wealth he has. In a smarter world than ours, this would put to death
forever the foolish idea that America is a business and should be run
as a business by a CEO in Chief.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Meanwhile, it's still 2016
in America, so every cartoonist has many opportunities to sharpen his
or her cartoons about police shooting black citizens. Since there are
only so many ways you can depict police standing over a dead civilian
or black parents having The Talk with their children, kudos to <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2016/09/23">Mike
Luckovich</a> for finding in the particulars of the Terence Crutcher
killing something on which to base some novel but admittedly
ultragrim humor.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's toons were selected
from the week's offerings at <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/">McClatchy
DC</a>, <a href="http://www.cartoonmovement.com/">Cartoon Movement</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/">Go Comics</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/">Politico's
Cartoon Gallery</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/">Daryl
Cagle's Political Cartoons</a>, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/">About.com</a>,
<a href="https://thenib.com/">The Nib</a>, and other fine sources of
cartoon goodness.</div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The regular <b>p3 </b>
toon review will be back Sunday-ish.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-30733023186489814932016-09-18T16:23:00.000-07:002016-09-18T16:23:14.794-07:00Sunday afternoon toons: A Trump-heavy week. Alas.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s1600/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s200/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(I haven't updated the list of <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/06/from-nation-that-gave-us-milton-and.html">epithets and sobriquets for Donald Trump</a> lately, but midway through AMC's airing of all three "Back to the Future" films yesterday a new and especially apt one re-entered my head: "Alternate-Reality Biff Tannen." <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/21/how-back-to-the-future-predicted-trump.html">Story here.</a>)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, Trump <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwicit23u5fPAhVN92MKHW-DDAgQFghSMAk&url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-birtherism-campaign-statement-228261&usg=AFQjCNGiyzVksNRlalTqbueyW9dK1MVLxA&sig2=fZC_j4brN9tNG4FCEhB9zA&bvm=bv.133178914,d.cGc">claimed</a>
that Hillary started Obama Trutherism and that he himself put a stop
to it. And yes, Trump <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/16/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-guns-secret-service/">speculated
again</a> about what would happen if Second Amendment types got an
open shot at Hillary. Are you thinking that this one is finally The
One? <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-quantum-of-umbrage-there-is-no-line.html">Silly
you.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also: Who really cares in 2016 about
<a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2008/04/that-sound-you-hear-is-last-tiny-shred.html">Colin
Powell's opinion</a>? About <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-quantum-of-umbrage-colin-powells.html">anything</a>?
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I suppose the only thing that's good
about Trump putting thinly dog-whistled threats out there against
Hillary this time is that it briefly diverted attention from Hillary's
health, which briefly diverted attention from Hillary's foundation,
which briefly diverted attention from Hillary's email accounts, which
brifely diverted attention from Benghazi!!! Gosh, do you thik there's
<a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/7/6/8900143/hillary-clinton-reporting-rules">a
pattern</a> here?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's toons were selected from the
week's offerings at <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/">McClatchy
DC</a>, <a href="http://www.cartoonmovement.com/">Cartoon Movement</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/">Go Comics</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/">Politico's
Cartoon Gallery</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/">Daryl
Cagle's Political Cartoons</a>, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/">About.com</a>,
<a href="https://thenib.com/">The Nib</a>, and other fine sources of
toony goodness.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Picks of the week: </b>Mike<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/bobgorrell/2016/09/15">Bob
Gorell</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/drewsheneman/2016/09/14">Drew
Sheneman</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/signewilkinson/2016/09/15">SigneWilkinson</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/stevebenson/2016/09/16">Steve
Benson</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mattwuerker/2016/09/16">Matt
Weurker</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/jeff-koterba/2016/09/learning-about-candidates">Jeff
Koterba</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/pat-bagley/2016/09/wells-fargo-weenie-wagon">Pat
Bagley</a>, and <a href="http://www.cagle.com/monte-wolverton/2016/09/trump-child-care">Monte
Wolverton</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Best of Show:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/chanlowe/2016/09/12">Chan
Lowe.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Legion of Merit:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jeffdanziger/2016/09/16">Jeff
Danziger.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ann Telnaes</b>
wonders why, after a quarter-century in the game, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2016/09/13/how-the-clinton-campaign-handles-optics/?utm_term=.dad830f2602d">things
like this keep happening</a> to Hillary. (For a possible answer, see
<b>Jen Sorenson's</b> bit,
below.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mark Fiore</b> digs into <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/16/1570329/-Cartoon-Deplorables">Hillary's
"deplorable" comment</a> (which has been superseded by
about five other things since she said it only days ago). He seems to
think it was more of an unforced error on her part than I do.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Follow
along in your guide books, everyone, as <b>Tom Tomorrow</b>
teaches you to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/12/1568668/-Cartoon-Hero-worship">say
"loser" in Russian</a>!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Keith Knight</b> imagines <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/13/1569852/-Cartoon-Taco-Trucks">a
better world</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But <b>Reuben Bolling</b><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/15/1569867/-Cartoon-Life-under-President-Trump">
doesn't</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Carol Lay</b>
has <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2016/09/16">another
happy ending</a>. Seriously. It ends happily.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Red Meat</b> presents The Priest,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2016/09/16">contemplating
the face of the divine</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Comic Strip of the Day </b>manages
to use both "priate" and "lapriscopically" in the
same post. That alone makes it worth the click, in my judgment. The
main story does raise an important question, though: <a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/09/it-takes-a-lot-of-gall.html">Aren't
libertarians the ones who hold property rights and contracts as
sacred?</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>"Did you ever see a dream
walking? Well, I did."</b> "A Dream Walking," directed
in 1934 by Dave Fleischer, cashes in on the popularity of the title
song, which had been recorded the previous year by fellow Paramount
star Bing Crosby. Uncredited:
Seymour Kneitel (animation direction), Sammy Timberg (music
direction), Billy Costello (Popeye), William Pinnell (Bluto), and Mae
Questel (the (The Slender One).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qIDDk1S-YDM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qIDDk1S-YDM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Unbelievably Great Oregon Toon
Block:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman</b>
is too nice to <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jackohman/2016/09/14">Wells
Fargo</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><a href="http://khn.org/multimedia/my-experience-with-obamacare/">Documented</a>
Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen </b>advances
one explanation for <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jen-sorensen/2016/09/13">why
things like this keep happening to Hillary</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Matt Bors</b> marks upon <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/matt-bors/2016/09/13">the
intelligence of the contrarians</a>!
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Jesse Springer</b> points out that
the economic good times in Portland have <a href="http://www.springercreative.com/?cartoon=768">gone
off the rails</a> for some.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vqvP-wzXstg/V98eI-Loi5I/AAAAAAAAGuU/GhCzVBJUq8om8Qacc7X6j2xss96IqhyXACLcB/s1600/Springer_derailed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vqvP-wzXstg/V98eI-Loi5I/AAAAAAAAGuU/GhCzVBJUq8om8Qacc7X6j2xss96IqhyXACLcB/s400/Springer_derailed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Test your toon-captioning mojo at <b>The
New Yorker's</b> weekly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/caption">caption-the-cartoon
contest</a>. (Rules <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/captioncontestrules">here</a>.)
And you can browse <b>The New Yorker's</b> cartoon gallery <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/">here</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along:</b>
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.UuVzZhDTnIV">Pearls
Before Swine</a>, <a href="http://doonesbury.slate.com/">Doonesbury</a>,
<a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Rhymes with Orange</a>, <a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Zits</a>,
<a href="mailto:Adam@Home">Adam @ Home</a>, <a href="http://muttscomics.com/">Mutts</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/#.UuV1HhDTnIU">Over the
Hedge</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy#.UuV1QRDTnIU">Get
Fuzzy</a>, <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Prince_Valiant">Prince
Valiant</a>, <a href="http://blondie.com/todays_strip/">Blondie</a>,
<a href="http://bizarrocomics.com/">Bizarro</a>, <a href="http://www.grimmy.com/">Mother
Goose & Grimm</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/roseisrose#.UuV30BDTnIU">Rose
is Rose</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/luann#.UuV38RDTnIU">Luann</a>,
<a href="https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/hagarthehorrible/">Hagar
the Horrible</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pickles#.UuV4URDTnIU">Pickles</a>,
<a href="http://www.creators.com/comics/rubes.html">Rubes</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/grand-avenue#.UuV48BDTnIU">Grand
Avenue</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/freshlysqueezed#.UuV5QRDTnIU">Freshly
Squeezed</a>, <a href="http://edisonleecomic.com/">The Brilliant Mind
of Edison Lee</a>, and <a href="http://jumble.com/games/info/13">Jumble</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-33124023725554675632016-09-14T18:10:00.000-07:002016-09-14T18:10:52.898-07:00Quote of the day: And for this America should be grateful?<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s1600/QOTD_books.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s200/QOTD_books.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
With every new poll that is released, I comfort myself with the knowledge that Donald Trump is not willing to put in the hours to be a competent authoritarian, which is cold comfort, I know, but you take what you can get.
<br />
<br />
That cannot be said of the next guy to try it, and there will be a next time, because the basic tectonic plates beneath our democracy have shifted so as to make the next guy inevitable.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
- <b>Charlie Pierce,</b> who
sees the fault as not being in The Media, but in <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a48604/donald-trump-tyranny/">our apathetic,lassitudinous selves</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No big, funny mammal analogies today.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-36623920394320535082016-09-11T14:31:00.002-07:002016-09-11T17:21:26.950-07:00Sunday early afternoon toons: Lauer-ing the bar, monetizing the memory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s1600/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s200/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The sad part is that, just as Trump
will apparently never be able to blurt out something so toxic that he can't
recover from it (assuming it doesn't increase his approval rating from
the get-go), my guess is that Matt Lauer's terrible job as the
overmatched host of the Commander in Chief forum last week will soon
disappear down the memory hole. Using one third of his time with Clinton rehashing the
asked-and-answered "questions" the emails? Ignoring the
Dye-Blond Buffoon's lies, evasions, and inaccuracies? Pffft. Put Matt back on the
Today show for a week and let him land that day's "get" – perhaps
a collie who rescued a boy from a mine by running to town for the
sheriff – and all will not only be forgiven, it'll be forgotten.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And, for the record, I'm <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a48413/nbc-commander-in-chief-forum/">with
Brother Pierce</a>: I object to calling it the "Commander In
Chief Forum," because the country is slowly but surely coming to
think that the Presidency has no other function, and that being CinC
makes the president the boss of me. (Spoiler: Nope.) And, although
Pierce doesn't mention this himself, I object to the symbolism of holding it
on an aircraft carrier. Have we really forgotten the last time a big
press draw like this was held on an aircraft carrier? A Facebook commenter
said yeah, but what about veterans' issues, to which I should have
replied (but didn't, alas) that Veterans' Affairs is a cabinet post
(hence, part of the Executive branch), not a wartime responsibility of the
CinC, and so we don't need the invocation of the latter role to
expect presidential candidates to answer policy questions on the
topic. If I really wanted gratuitous military symbolism, I'd be
watching an NFL game right now. Unfortunately, I imagine the CinC
Forum is here to stay as a part of the presidential election ritual.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also, what's the big deal about
athletes kneeling during the national anthem, rather than standing at
attention with hand over heart? First amendment issues aside, we're
once again confusing football and soccer uniforms with military
uniforms, and the standards of behavior appropriate to each. Besides,
kneeling is also a way to show respect, and even subservience – ask
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFyHTU8tg_0">Zod</a>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And finally, our highest honors to to
ex-Oregonian <b>Jack Ohman</b> for
recognizing that <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jackohman/2016/09/08">we
will never forget the meaning</a> of today's anniversary until <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-advertisers-exploiting-the-sept-11-attacks-to-push-their-brands/">the
last advertising account manager no longer remembers</a>. As a
parallel piece, <b>Comic Strip of the Day</b>
looks back at what was <a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/09/911-obituary-cartoons-for-a-moment-not-a-person.html">not
political cartooning's finest hour</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's toons were selected by an
underqualified morning talk show host from the week's offerings at
<a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/">McClatchy
DC</a>, <a href="http://www.cartoonmovement.com/">Cartoon Movement</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/">Go Comics</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/">Politico's
Cartoon Gallery</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/">Daryl
Cagle's Political Cartoons</a>, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/">About.com</a>,
<a href="https://thenib.com/">The Nib</a>, and other fine sources of
cartoon goodness.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Picks of the week: </b><a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2016/09/09">Mike
Luckovich</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jeffdanziger/2016/09/08">Jeff
Danziger</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/johndeering/2016/09/10">John
Deering</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lisabenson/2016/09/10">Lisa
Benson</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/tim-eagan/2016/09/08">Tim
Eagan</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/signewilkinson/2016/09/08">SigneWilkinson</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jeffstahler/2016/09/09">Jeff
Stahler</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mattwuerker/2016/09/06">Matt
Weurker</a>, and <a href="http://www.cagle.com/monte-wolverton/2016/09/trump-dog-whistle-politics">Monte
Wolverton</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Best of Show:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mattdavies/2016/09/08">Matt
Davies.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Legion of Merit:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/stuartcarlson/2016/09/09">Stuart
Carlson.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Medal of Mandatory Freedom (tie):</b>
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jimmorin/2016/09/09">Jim Morin</a>
and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/9/1566962/-Cartoon-The-self-appointed-protest-referee">Brian
McFadden</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ann Telnaes</b>
is relieved: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2016/09/09/the-trump-plan-to-reduce-sexual-assaults-in-the-military/?utm_term=.1a70eb8fa4c5">Trump
does have a plan after all</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mark Fiore</b> presents Suzie
Newsykins, whose only summer mistake was <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/9/1567852/-Cartoon-Turning-a-corner">listening
to grown-ups</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Tom Tomorrow</b> has
too nearly captured <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/5/1566132/-Cartoon-21st-century-news-cycle">the
essence of my Twitter feed</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Keith Knight</b> asks
an interesting question, but it's hard to tell <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/6/1567120/-Cartoon-Brock-Turner">which
answers (if any) are made up</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Reuben Bolling </b>wins
the<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/8/1567544/-Cartoon-The-view-from-Trump-Tower">
Saul Steinberg Prize</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Carol Lay</b>
returns to a theme she owns: <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2016/09/09">the
search for the perfect Other</a>. <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/09/monday-afternoon-toons-end-of-labor-is.html">Once</a>
<a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/08/sunday-morning-toons-on-political.html">again</a>:
happy ending or not?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Red Meat</b> celebrates a
generational rite of passage: <a href="http://www.redmeat.com/max-cannon/band-saw-manicure/Content?oid=2139705">summer
camp</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Comic Curmudgeon</b> salutes <b>Six
Chicks </b>for <a href="http://joshreads.com/?p=28249">committing</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sometimes it seems like <b>Comic Strip
of the Day </b>and<b> Sophie
Yanow </b>are about the only ones
out there in the Tooniverse <a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/09/trail-of-broken-promises.html">paying
attention to Standing Rock</a>. Although I suppose that may change<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/10/breaking_arrest_warrant_issued_for_amy">
if Amy Goodman is indeed arrested.</a> To be clear, I'm a fan of both
Goodman and the First Amendment, but I suppose I feel the same way
about Standing Rock and the prospect of its white First Amendment
martyr as I used to feel about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons
for the Muscular Dystrophy Association: If a spectacle like this is
what it takes to get some action on the problem, then so be it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Read the label!</b> As a shout-out
to a friend, here's "Hopalong Casualty," directed in 1960
by Chuck Jones from his own story.
I usually don't feature Warner Bros cartoons from beyond the
mid-1950s because the production values got poorer and poorer (and
you can see it happening here), but this is a gem, mainly because
Jones is a master of timing and understood the logic of the Coyote and Road
Runner (his own creations, after all) so well. Almost half of this
toon is taken up with the "Acme Earthquake Pills" gag,
which is one of the funniest bits in all of cartoondom. If you
Google "acme earthquake pills" you'll find there are two or three clips of just that three-minute bit, but they're all ruined by the same
well-meaning but thoroughly misguided overdubbing of music director
Milt Franklyn's minimalist soft-tympani-roll driven build-up and use
of bizarre sound effects – and silences, which always signaled
something worse was to come – with someone's heavy-handed use of
"creeepy music" that only occasionally syncs with the mood
of the exact moment. (No links.) <a href="https://vimeo.com/60624">Enjoy
Hopalong Casualty at Vimeo.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Magnificent Oregon Toon Block:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman </b>observes
that <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jackohman/2016/09/07">everyone
in Casablanca has problems</a>. Maybe theirs will work out.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><a href="http://khn.org/multimedia/my-experience-with-obamacare/">Documented</a>
Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen </b>watches as <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/6/1567089/-Cartoon-The-world-reacts-to-EpiPen-price-gouging">the
world reacts to the EpiPen scandal in the US</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Matt Bors</b> hits
it on the nose: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/7/1567386/-Cartoon-Don-t-say-Hillary-Clinton">This
election though, am I right?</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Jesse Springer</b> <a href="http://www.springercreative.com/?cartoon=767">looks
on with concern</a> at the latest symptom of Oregon's seemingly
perpetual budget woes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2YqIhk85uaA/V9XKL7csZRI/AAAAAAAAGs8/aZO6CrTsq4cKkvFOUMbuqEvgNtRa-RiIQCLcB/s1600/Springer_bong%2Bwater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2YqIhk85uaA/V9XKL7csZRI/AAAAAAAAGs8/aZO6CrTsq4cKkvFOUMbuqEvgNtRa-RiIQCLcB/s400/Springer_bong%2Bwater.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Test your toon-captioning mojo at <b>The
New Yorker's</b> weekly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/caption">caption-the-cartoon
contest</a>. (Rules <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/captioncontestrules">here</a>.)
And you can browse <b>The New Yorker's</b> cartoon gallery <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/">here</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-28194581721391643762016-09-08T13:26:00.000-07:002016-09-08T13:26:42.081-07:00Quote of the day: The Caudillo's rhinocerous<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s1600/QOTD_books.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kqPJEXC7cFI/S6LQLZL3oTI/AAAAAAAADvI/VdZpB3ZEXkMYheOCh1lJBGAKvi5hcUYEgCPcB/s200/QOTD_books.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: #A4A4A4; padding: 10px;">
If you assume, as I do, that simply telling <i>El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago</i> that he is a lying sack of hair who knows less about most major issues than a rhino knows about differential calculus would be frowned upon at the upper echelons of NBC, then there wasn't much for poor Lauer to do.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Charlie Pierce</b> – the Sultan of
Similies, the Ace of Analogies, and Master of Mammal Metaphors – on
the bad hand that Matt Lauer was dealt last night at the so-called
Commander-in-Chief Forum.*</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2016/01/quote-of-day-shooting-off-third-toe.html">Other</a>
examples of his craft <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2011/09/quote-of-day-so-whats-deal-with-hippos.html">here</a>.<br />
______________<br />
<br />
*Note that the fact that Lauer was dealt a bad hand doesn't get him off the hook for playing the cards he did get so badly. Even in bridge, with the worst hand imaginable, there's still a right way and a wrong way to bid and play it. (Really? Half of your Clinton questions about emails? Seriously>)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-72237835359589905572016-09-05T15:59:00.000-07:002016-09-05T21:15:30.439-07:00Monday afternoon toons: “The end of labor is to gain leisure.”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s1600/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s200/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Aristotle. Can't go wrong with
Aristotle. Know what I'm saying?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Just a reminder: Oregon was the first
state in the union to make Labor Day a state holiday, in 1887. (<a href="https://ouroregon.org/a-peek-into-the-oregonian-publishers-union-busting-past/">Take
that</a>, former <b>Oregonian</b> publisher N. Christian Anderson
III! I haven't looked at the print <b>Oregonian</b> in a long
while, but I imagine the strongest sign in the Big <b>O</b>
that it's Labor Day will
be the matress and car ads rather than the reporting on unions and
Oregon's workers.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And "taco truck on every corner"
is a <i>threat</i>? Pal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uub_Oqwefwc">you
lost that argument over twenty years ago</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Gene Wilder's gone. Not much to be done
about it, apparently, but crank out some Wonka-at-the-Pearly-Gates
panels, which didn't make the cut today – not even the ones where
he was in the steampunk glass elevator car.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If Colin Kaepernick had asked me for
advice beforehand, I'd probably have said, "Lose the pig socks;
it distracts from the central issue." But otherwise, I frankly
can't find much to fault about his use of his First Amendment freedom
to call attention to the increasing militarization of the police.
He's been far more patient and on-message than I'd be – and he's
doing it in the most jingoistic of the major professional sports
leagues. Good on him.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's toons were selected from the
week's offerings at <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/">McClatchy
DC</a>, <a href="http://www.cartoonmovement.com/">Cartoon Movement</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/">Go Comics</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/">Politico's
Cartoon Gallery</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/">Daryl
Cagle's Political Cartoons</a>, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/">About.com</a>,
<a href="https://thenib.com/">The Nib</a>, and other fine sources of
cartoon goodness.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Picks of the week: </b><a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2016/09/04">Mike
Luckovich</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/joelpett/2016/09/02">Joel
Pett</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/signewilkinson/2016/09/03">SigneWilkinson</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/stevebenson/2016/08/31">Steve
Benson</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mattwuerker/2016/09/02">Matt
Weurker</a>, and <a href="http://www.cagle.com/monte-wolverton/2016/08/obama-economy-and-trump">Monte
Wolverton</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Best of Show:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/clayjones/2016/09/05">Clay
Jones.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Legion of Merit:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/garyvarvel/2016/09/05">Gary
Varvel.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ann Telnaes</b>
worries that the only part we'll enjoy is <a href="https://thenib.com/trumpinata">whacking
him with a big stick</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mark Fiore</b> wonders about <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/2/1565735/-Cartoon-What-do-you-have-to-lose">a
presidential campaign whose slogan amounts to saying</a>, "How
can things possibly get worse for you?"</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Tom Tomorrow</b> covers <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/29/1563440/-Cartoon-Trump-Trump-Trump">The
Twilight Zone election</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Keith Knight</b> Kaptures (see what
I did there?) the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/30/1565274/-Cartoon-Kaepernick">reactions
to the Great Sit-Down of the 2016 NFL season</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Reuben Bolling points yo</b>u toward what you fear most: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/2/1565735/-Cartoon-What-do-you-have-to-lose">when
instinct takes over a hominid from the Pliocene Eoch</a> – in a
Western-theme barbecue restaurant.
Not pretty.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Carol Lay</b>
presents The Story Minute, in which <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2016/09/02">Mr.
Know-It-All finds Ms. Right</a>. It's actually pretty charming.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You
probably know where this week's <b>Red Meat,</b> featuring
Bug-Eyed Earl, is headed, but <a href="http://www.redmeat.com/max-cannon/comedys-carbuncular-cream/Content?oid=2139681">I
bet you won't be able to look away in time</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Comic Strip of the Day </b>reviews
the concept of "an old man's argument" and reminds us of
the extraordinarily talented, but now silenced, singer – <a href="https://nothstine.blogspot.com/2013/08/saturday-afternoon-tunes-gee-but-its.html">a
favorite here at p3</a> - <a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/09/long-ago-and-far-away.html">who
liked smart guys who cared about things that matter</a>. (Bonus
challenge: In addition to name-checking Cat Stevens and Linda
Ronstadt, <b>CSotD</b> also
works in a nod to James Taylor, if you can find it.)
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>"The Champ's a bum!"</b>
"Rabbit Punch," directed by Chuck Jones in 1948 from a
story co-written by heavyweights Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese,
pits Bugs in the boxing ring against Battling McGook, when the
original challenger, Dyspeptic McBlaster, fails to go the distance.
Uncredited: Billy Blechter (McGook). McGook would return as the The
Crusher in a 1951 wrestling remake of "Rabbit Hugged," also
directed by Jones. (We'll probably feature that next week.) For those who
need to know, the "1043" on the steam engine in Round 110
(you'll see) is the production number for that cartoon. The WB
animators knew how to keep themselves amused. <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fby3f">Watch
"Rabbit Punch" at VideoMotion.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Completely Dignified Oregon Toon
Block:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman </b>wonders
about <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/jack-ohman/article99665072.html">takin'
care of business</a> all these years later..</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><a href="http://khn.org/multimedia/my-experience-with-obamacare/">Documented</a>
Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen </b>mocks
the U of Chicago president's eminently mock-worthy <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/30/1565031/-Cartoon-The-University-of-Chicago-guide-to-free-speech">message
to the incoming class of 2020</a>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Matt Bors</b> discovers <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/matt-bors/2016/08/31">the
mother lode of all further election coverage</a> this cycle.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Jesse Springer</b> still <a href="http://www.springercreative.com/?cartoon=766">doesn't
like any tax plans</a> coming out of the legislature these days (this time it's a <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/Monday%20afternoon%20toons:%20%E2%80%9CThe%20end%20of%20labor%20is%20to%20gain%20leisure.%E2%80%9D">gross receipts tax</a>, which obviously the Oregonian doesn't like either).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6D5pYgA8VY/V833qYv9omI/AAAAAAAAGsM/p0LLjYxkMt4ubHyG0HPVHK0tTRVHBTOHgCLcB/s1600/Springer_tax%2Bwaterfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6D5pYgA8VY/V833qYv9omI/AAAAAAAAGsM/p0LLjYxkMt4ubHyG0HPVHK0tTRVHBTOHgCLcB/s400/Springer_tax%2Bwaterfall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Test your toon-captioning powers at <b>The
New Yorker's</b> weekly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/caption">caption-the-cartoon
contest</a>. (Rules <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/captioncontestrules">here</a>.)
And you can browse <b>The New Yorker's</b> cartoon gallery <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/">here</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along:</b>
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.UuVzZhDTnIV">Pearls
Before Swine</a>, <a href="http://doonesbury.slate.com/">Doonesbury</a>,
<a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Rhymes with Orange</a>, <a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Zits</a>,
<a href="mailto:Adam@Home">Adam @ Home</a>, <a href="http://muttscomics.com/">Mutts</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/#.UuV1HhDTnIU">Over the
Hedge</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy#.UuV1QRDTnIU">Get
Fuzzy</a>, <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Prince_Valiant">Prince
Valiant</a>, <a href="http://blondie.com/todays_strip/">Blondie</a>,
<a href="http://bizarrocomics.com/">Bizarro</a>, <a href="http://www.grimmy.com/">Mother
Goose & Grimm</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/roseisrose#.UuV30BDTnIU">Rose
is Rose</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/luann#.UuV38RDTnIU">Luann</a>,
<a href="https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/hagarthehorrible/">Hagar
the Horrible</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pickles#.UuV4URDTnIU">Pickles</a>,
<a href="http://www.creators.com/comics/rubes.html">Rubes</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/grand-avenue#.UuV48BDTnIU">Grand
Avenue</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/freshlysqueezed#.UuV5QRDTnIU">Freshly
Squeezed</a>, <a href="http://edisonleecomic.com/">The Brilliant Mind
of Edison Lee</a>, and <a href="http://jumble.com/games/info/13">Jumble</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-25440914448915256702016-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:002016-08-31T09:13:00.194-07:00Eight years ago in p3: The second Alaska gold rushSarah Palin made her first <b>p3 </b>appearance on <a href="http://nothstine.blogspot.com/2008/08/sunday-morning-toons-special-circle-of.html" target="_blank">Sunday Morning Toons, August 31, 2008</a>.<br />
<br />
Sensing immediately, like nearly everyone on earth who wasn't John McCain or Bill Kristol, that she would become comedy gold, I used the post to launch my "the governor, not the Python" gag, which I continued to milk for the duration of that electoral season, and to mock the utterly mockworthy Joe Lieberman, who had the unenviable experience of being Palin's beard until the announcement of McCain's choice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440892.post-55308054736760468642016-08-28T09:13:00.000-07:002016-08-28T09:13:00.171-07:00Sunday morning toons: On the political-cultural significance of Reno<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s1600/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eLk1N_eu_gQ/U1yWhC_YXgI/AAAAAAAAD7k/hst6UuzSmv4L9wIhz7Za73GZ0OKle_w7ACPcB/s200/Betty-Boop-frame.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm probably the last to finally allude to the
Johnny Cash lyric to describe Hillary Clinton's speech last week on
Donald Trump's many shortcomings as a candidate, a leader of a party,
and a human being, and anyway – strictly speaking – she didn't
shoot him in Reno "just to watch him die."
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm also one of those who put aside his
initial disappointment that she didn't target the entire GOP
apparatus that has been building Trump in its basement laboratory
since the early 1980s. Partly that's because declining to go full
slaughterhouse mode on them slightly ups the odds that those voters
will stay home out of embarrassment, waste their vote on a
third-party candidate, or (least likely) actually vote for Clinton –
in each case driving up the margin of her increasingly-likely
victory. Along the same lines, elected Republicans who appreciate
that they were allowed to save some small amount of face (however
undeserved) when Clinton declined to lump them into the same
crazy-bowl as their candidate, might have at least some tiny
motivation to do their damned jobs and work with her administration
on some things at least, whereas history teaches us that they will have zero
motivation to do so otherwise. (<a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a48071/republican-plan-ruin-clinton-presidency/">Pierce
cites evidence</a> this last is even more of a pipe dream than I'd
guessed. Ah well.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As fun as it is to imagine the
Republican party collapsing like a wet taco – or the Whig Party –
over the next four to eight years, I confess I wouldn't want to be
the Democratic president trying to keep a lid on things while the
Grand Old Party was going through its death throes at the other end
of Pennsylvania Avenue. I imagine it would look a lot like the T-1000
falling into the vat of molten metal, flailing and shrieking and spasming through
every guise it had ever taken on to do its evil work as it went down.
Not something you'd want to be standing near as it happened. (And even if every congressional Republican resigned his or her seat tomorrow, the state-level incubators from which many of the worst of them first emerged will still be operating around the clock.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And of course, the conspicuous silence
of every top Republican (except for the Trump campaign itself, which
unsurprisingly squealed like a stuck pig in 140 characters or less)
after Clinton's take-down was eloquent.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
They've got the slow drip of Clinton's
e-mails and foundation, stories which continue to go nowhere at twice
the speed of sound, but that's really it. Things could somehow turn
around for the GOP in the next 71 days, but it would take a miracle
(actually, it would take a disaster), so for now, sucks to be them.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Oddly enough, although Clinton's
Reno speech came early enough in the week that political cartoonists
had time to think it through, we didn't see a lot about it in
this week's <b>p3</b> toon review,
although some harmless fun was had at the expense of Trump campaign handlers and surrogates. Perhaps this is evidence supporting the theory that the smartest thing for the Republican establishment to do, post-Reno, is to ignore it and deny the political press any fuel for the fire. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In any case,
people with life-threatening allergies got a blunt reminder this week
of why public health shouldn't be traded on the stock exchange.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's toons were selected from the
week's offerings at <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/">McClatchy
DC</a>, <a href="http://www.cartoonmovement.com/">Cartoon Movement</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/">Go Comics</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/">Politico's
Cartoon Gallery</a>, <a href="http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/">Daryl
Cagle's Political Cartoons</a>, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/">About.com</a>,
and other fine sources of toony goodness.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Picks of the week: </b><a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2016/08/26">Mike
Luckovich</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/chanlowe/2016/08/25">Chan
Lowe</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/stevebenson/2016/08/24">Steve
Benson</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jeffdanziger/2016/08/22">Jeff
Danziger</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/glennmccoy/2016/08/27">Glenn
McCoy</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/matt-bors/2016/08/23">Steve
Breen</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/tim-eagan/2016/08/25">Tim
Eagan</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/clayjones/2016/08/25">Clay
Jones</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/mattwuerker/2016/08/26">Matt
Weurker</a>, and <a href="http://www.cagle.com/monte-wolverton/2016/08/local-ca-zika-in-los-angeles-county">Monte
Wolverton</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Best of Show:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/bobgorrell/2016/08/26">Walt
Handlesman.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Legion of Merit:</b> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/26/1562714/-Cartoon-The-future-of-climate-denial">Brian
McFadden.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>p3 Certificate of Achievement for
Ignoring Away Trump Campaign's <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06">Billions
in Free Media</a>:</b> <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/bobgorrell/2016/08/26">Bob
Gorrell.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ann Telnaes</b>
has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2016/08/24/men-stop-telling-women-what-to-wear/?utm_term=.3954512b9863">a
simple request</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mark Fiore</b> invites us to
celebrate some of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/26/1563635/-Cartoon-America-s-worst-idea">America's
Worst Ideas</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Tom Tomorrow</b> charts election
phenomena in 2016 – <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/22/1561921/-Cartoon-Election-phenomena">and
beyond</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Keith Knight</b> shares a golden
oldie: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/23/1563189/-Cartoon-Gay-Gene">Wondering
what the heck is all this commotion?</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Reuben Bolling's </b>Super-Fun-Pak
Comix features the return of a <b>p3</b>
favorite: Percival Dunwoody, Idiot Time Traveler from 1909. But it's
<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/25/1563218/-Cartoon-Super-Fun-Pak-Comix-feat-Hillbilly-Robot-and-more">Imaginary
Friends & Their Imaginary Friends</a> that really made me laugh.
And then go, "hmm."</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Carol Lay</b>
shares <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2016/08/26">the
truth about creativity and love</a>. Happy ending? You tell me.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Red Meat</b> probes <a href="http://www.redmeat.com/max-cannon/soup-skins-for-top-feeders/Content?oid=2139667">the
eternal optimism of Milkman Dan</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Comic Curmudgeon</b> is <a href="http://joshreads.com/?p=28170%27">enjoying
the current story arc</a> in <b>Spider-Man</b>, but fails to
appreciate Stan Lee and Larry Lieber's awesome <a href="http://flavorwire.com/202873/our-favorite-lines-from-dorothy-parkers-most-scathing-reviews">shout-out
to <b>Dorothy Parker</b></a> and her review of <b>House on Pooh
Corner</b> in the second panel.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Comic Strip of the Day </b>discusses
<a href="http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2016/08/the-facades-of-responsibility.html">scandals,
knife fights, and things that were horrifying in 1971</a>, finding
time along the way to be provoked by the same Jen Sorenson toon I did
(below).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>"If that cat's been in that
kitchen . . . !"</b> And there you have most of the plot of "The Midnight Snack," directed by
Joe Hanna and William Barbera (uncredited) in 1941, the second Tom
and Jerry cartoon, although the first in which they're referred to by their
now-familiar names. (In their first short, "Puss Gets the Boot,"
they're named, respectively, Jasper and Jinx.) I love the deep blues
and shadows – like "Puss Gets the Boot," "The
Midnight Snack" is set in a darkened house, lit mainly by
refrigerator lights, radio dials, etc. And, of course, Tom still
looks like a Russian Blue cat. The character of the black house
maid, nearly always shown only from the shoulders down (sometimes
knees down) was voiced by veteran radio/TV/film actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Randolph">Lillian
Randolph</a>, who made a pretty successful alt-career playing black
house maids and similar characters during that era. (She did the maid
in several Tom and Jerry shorts between 1940 and 1952.
The character's name, which I don't recall ever being used on-screen,
is Mammy Two-Shoes. Consider yourself warned. For TV syndication, the
voice of Mammy Two-Shoes was redubbed by other actors, notably June
Foray – later to voice Rocky the Flying Squirrel and many others –
as a white teenager. Sometimes Mammy's lower body was replaced with
that of a typical teenaged bobby-soxer from the era and sometimes –
inexplicably – not.) <a href="https://vimeo.com/57778071">Watch
"The Midnight Snack" at Vimeo.com.</a></div>
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<b>The Transplendent Oregon Toon Block:</b></div>
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<b>Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman</b>
demonstrates <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jackohman/2016/08/23">the
fundamentals of the pivot</a>.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><a href="http://khn.org/multimedia/my-experience-with-obamacare/">Documented</a>
Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen </b>has a
strip today that reminds me of a store about three blocks from where
I'm sitting right now, called Nature's Grocery. Despite the friendly
green store name, most of its products are <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/jen-sorensen/2016/08/23">wrapped
and packaged</a> like they're expecting a drive-by shooting on the
way to check-out. Do ramen noodles really need two layers of
packaging?</div>
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</div>
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<b>Matt Bors</b> outlines <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/matt-bors/2016/08/23">a
perfectly understandable good-faith error</a>.
</div>
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<b>Jesse Springer</b> looks at another
victim of Oregon's pattern of <a href="http://www.springercreative.com/?cartoon=765">nickel
and diming things that should be top priorities</a>:
the chronically underfunded and understaffed Oregon Department of
Forestry.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Qf7wknVhYw/V8I8dqclYkI/AAAAAAAAGpM/4Sz0ncuZGcwzwEzBv4OjWz4rSF3CuQ33ACLcB/s1600/Springer_forestry%2Bdept%2Bcuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Qf7wknVhYw/V8I8dqclYkI/AAAAAAAAGpM/4Sz0ncuZGcwzwEzBv4OjWz4rSF3CuQ33ACLcB/s400/Springer_forestry%2Bdept%2Bcuts.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Test your toon-captioning kung fu at
<b>The New Yorker's</b> weekly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/caption">caption-the-cartoon
contest</a>. (Rules <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/captioncontestrules">here</a>.)
And you can browse <b>The New Yorker's</b> cartoon gallery <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/">here</a>.</div>
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<b>The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along:</b>
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.UuVzZhDTnIV">Pearls
Before Swine</a>, <a href="http://doonesbury.slate.com/">Doonesbury</a>,
<a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Rhymes with Orange</a>, <a href="http://rhymeswithorange.com/">Zits</a>,
<a href="mailto:Adam@Home">Adam @ Home</a>, <a href="http://muttscomics.com/">Mutts</a>,
<a href="http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/#.UuV1HhDTnIU">Over the
Hedge</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy#.UuV1QRDTnIU">Get
Fuzzy</a>, <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Prince_Valiant">Prince
Valiant</a>, <a href="http://blondie.com/todays_strip/">Blondie</a>,
<a href="http://bizarrocomics.com/">Bizarro</a>, <a href="http://www.grimmy.com/">Mother
Goose & Grimm</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/roseisrose#.UuV30BDTnIU">Rose
is Rose</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/luann#.UuV38RDTnIU">Luann</a>,
<a href="https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/hagarthehorrible/">Hagar
the Horrible</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/pickles#.UuV4URDTnIU">Pickles</a>,
<a href="http://www.creators.com/comics/rubes.html">Rubes</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/grand-avenue#.UuV48BDTnIU">Grand
Avenue</a>, <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/freshlysqueezed#.UuV5QRDTnIU">Freshly
Squeezed</a>, <a href="http://edisonleecomic.com/">The Brilliant Mind
of Edison Lee</a>, and <a href="http://jumble.com/games/info/13">Jumble</a>.</div>
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