Flim Flam Boss

I'm sure many of you have read the various pieces in the media, chronicling the long litany of lies spewed by the Orange Menace. It's almost the converse of the old adage - you tend to loose the trees through the forest, the forest being, of course, the main storyline: that Donald Trump has to be the worst, least qualified President in the history of the United States. By all accounts, he is on track to do the most harm to the U.S. and the rest of the world with his hate-filled, white supremacist-driven agenda of returning this country back to the nightmare days of Jim Crow...while simultaneously trashing this country's standing to play any kind of role on the global stage.

Now, THAT takes real talent. Believe me, believe me.

Not sure that this toon is necessarily topical but it's just as pertinent now as it was the first time Trump opened his triple chinned greasy pie hole. At some point we have to recall each and every lie that Trump has thrown out there for us to swallow, and then hold him accountable for each one. Each constitutes an indelible stain on the legitimacy of the office of the presidency, a stain on the institutions of democratic governance and a stain on the honor of this country. In fact, that's exactly what Donald Trump is: a filthy, reeking stain, the kind you have to treat your drawers for before throwing them in the washing machine. Otherwise, you're stuck with the streaks.

And need I remind you, GOP, that's your spoiled rotten brat out there. So whatever he's doing to this country with your complicity and support, that's entirely on you. If he streaks it, you own it.

Try shouting that out.

Out With the Old, Trash the New

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays, reconnecting with family and friends...and binging on carbs and sweets. Now we have the new year to look forward to and with all of our best intentions we will all try to make resolutions to do better, be better...at least that's what most of will be doing. But I know one person who won't be bothering with such introspective pursuits so filled is he with narcissistic self-regard and disdain for anyone and anything else in this world.

Which is why I can't say I'm really look forward to 2018. We'll have at least one more year of Trump unfettered, certainly not by the band of soulless Republicans enablers in Congress. Pundits talk about how they haven't accomplished much besides the massive tax cut and confirmation of the Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court judgeship they stole from Merrick Garland. I would respectfully disagree - look at the massive rollback of environmental, health, labor, financial and consumer safety regulations. These regulations were designed to respond to real, documented abuse by private sector actors and to protect our society's most vulnerable from the real costs of our Social Darwinian economic system.

I'll focus on just one example of this frightening reverse a century's worth of social and economic reforms - the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It has been said that the compassion and strength of a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. It that's the case, then the refusal of the Republican Congress and the Trump administration to renew and sustain CHIP stands out as one of the more egregious examples of their examples of hypocrisy as the self-appointed party of "Family Values." Combined with the reverse Robin Hood tax cut that lavishes benefits on the wealthiest, this callous act of omission has reinforced what has been apparent to most for past 50 years, the Republican Party's complete and utter moral bankruptcy. Happy New Year, kids, and good luck with that.

Fake Jews...and I Imagine They're All Very Fine People

Donald and the rest of the Trailer Park Wahhabis recently declared victory in their Crusade against the Infidels who were committing apostasy by wishing folks, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." With all the problems we face as a nation, and THIS is what has occupied Trump's tiny brain for the past 2 months? Not that I'm surprised. It probably provides a useful distraction when he's fretting about the latest fake news that's flashing on his big screen TV in his man child cave in the White House residence.

And who better than to aid and abet in overcoming the heretics spouting fake news then Trump's very own Fake Jews! Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh on National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who did express his distaste for the Tiki Torchnacht march in Charlottesville after his boss made heroic efforts to try to normalize the neo-Nazis and white supremacists and what they stand for. And then he clammed up and went on his business developing the horror show that is the Republican tax cut, which is about to be voted on in Congress.

Cohn, Kushner and Miller are all very much behind Trump's plutocratic-fascist agenda. Thanks to them, many of their fellow Americans are worse off and this country is now firmly on a glide path for the rubbish bin. Shame on them. I thought that when Hillel (and others) offered the golden rule it was "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," not "Screw all the others and do what's good just for you." I must have missed that lesson in Hebrew School.

The Grinch Who Cut Taxes

Looks like the GOP will give the Donald his Christmas wish: the passage of his big, beautiful - more beautiful than this country has ever known - tax cut. Now all of the GOP donors will stuff their minions' stockings with more campaign contribution loot instead of coal, although they probably wouldn't mind a little clean coal to heat their McMansions and power their luxury yachts.

I have to admit that I'm at a bit of loss when I try picking out which aspect of the 500+ pages of this Reverse Robin Hood bill revolts me the most: permanent tax cuts for corporations that are already sitting on trillions of dollars in cash with no elimination of the many loop holes; reduction of the top tax bracket's marginal tax rate for the wealthiest; eliminating the alternative minimum tax for, again you guessed it, the wealthiest; and an increase in the minimum required for levying the estate tax, which will benefit...wait for it...YES! The congenitally silver spooned.

Of course, this is only the first move in the GOP's mad dash to undo 80 years of socioeconomic progress. Next up? Taking an ax to our already frayed social safety net - medicare, medicaid and social security - because, these plutocrat lovers claim, such social programs, which benefit mostly the rest of us, are the real driver of the federal deficit, not, of course, the additional $1-1.5 trillion they will have added with this bill. So get ready, Christmas Eve is just a week away, and since jack-booted border patrol agents will have probably refused Ol' Saint Nick entry at the border, most of us will be welcoming the Grinch into our homes instead. Be sure to leave out plenty of Diet Coke and Big Macs, and tune your TV to Fox & Friends - maybe he'll leave you a few crumbs after he has robbed us all blind.

Roll Tide

It ain't over yet, but it looks like Doug Jones will be Alabama's next senator, and Roy Moore can go crawl back under his rock and maybe take some of his hater followers with him. They probably won't all be able to fit, but hopefully there are more rocks down in Alabama so they can all keep each other company, stewing in their supremacist hatred and self-righteousness.

And then there's the Donald, who blew it again. No amount of alternative facts and spin will remove the stink from this one. He blew it, BIG-ly, and now he gets to reap what he sowed - the beginning of the end. Throw in Mueller & team's continued steady progress on peeling back each layer off the stinking onion that is the Trump administration's corruption and collusion with the Rooskies, and I can only imagine that there's been an uptick in deliveries of Depends to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Finally, we have the GOP, which was agin Moore afore they was fer him. They might think that they are now stink-free of this pedophile, but they better think again. Remember, Moore did the same thing Trump did, albeit with minors, but as we've learned from Al Franken's forced resignation, there's not much public appetite for splitting hairs when it comes to sexual harassment and assault. 

Politically, the Trump and Moore only offered the unvarnished version of what the GOP has been pushing for the past 45 years, and frankly I'm not sure how much varnish they bothered to apply in that godforsaken tax cut bill they're so dad gum proud of. Nothing says, "Screw you, 'takers,'" like a massive redistribution of income from those who have the least to those who have the most. 

Hopefully, enough Americans realize what's going on and shrug off their cynical apathy to send a message next November. Roll over GOP, Donald & Co. and, "let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." In other words, "Roll Tide!"

Me Me Me Me Me Me Meeeeee

For many of you who have been keeping up with this blog's rants 'n' raves, you will know my position on the many recent revelations of acts of sexual and gender-based violence committed by powerful men: there needs to be a public accounting of them and these need to be held accountable. Full stop. With that in mind, today's blog is not about having a few yuks. I genuinely want to have a serious discussion here.

I remain deeply disappointed by the Democratic Party's decision to force out Al Franken. What he did was mostly, in my view, juvenile behavior, which still merits closer investigation and, based on the results of that investigation, consequences commensurate with harm caused by his acts. I see what he did as being categorically different from the acts purportedly committed by many of the other men whose actions have come to light: preying on teenage girls (and boys, as the case might be), grabbing them and then bragging about it, forcing them to witness and/or perform in sexual acts, etc.

My point is this: if we don't differentiate between the various categories of sexual and gender-based violence then we are falling into a trap that only benefits the powerful perpetrators. We will have framed the public discussion in such a way that any accuser must be pure as the driven snow if she or he is to be considered at all credible. Because if those without or with less power have committed so much as a single act, no matter how insignificant or not, that might be interpreted as less than 100% ethical, moral, legal, etc. then the powerful will be able to point out these imperfections and delegitimize both the message and the messenger.

And that situation only benefits those who have committed much more serious, damaging acts of sexual and gender-based violence, because they will be able to silence the voices that could and should be heard. It also cuts off any sort of meaningful public discussion. Put differently, anytime you hear someone insisting on "zero tolerance" for an act, they are intentionally setting the bar so high for remedying the public problem (sexual and gender-based violence in this case) so that they can cripple any serious effort to address it. Public policy in response to social issues cannot be restricted only to black and white solutions. These social issues - and their drivers - are much too complex.

Bottom line: don't the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence deserve better than having our politicians focused solely on scoring political points and grandstanding? Me thinks so.

Here's the toon:

The Dope

It saddens me to see so many folks support the squeeze that Donald Trump has foisted on the Palestinians. Official recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital is a Pyrrhic victory at best. The Americans are no longer considered an honest broker in the Middle East peace process, and the Israelis enrage the Palestinian people needlessly, further deepening the latter's cynicism that they have a good faith partner in the former in the peace process.

We all long for peace in this part of the world, and it must be a just peace, one that is built one equity and respect for the dignity and rights of all people. Using the same tactics one would use to stiff a contractor in building a casino may not be the most appropriate for trying to mitigate and ultimately resolve a decades-long violent conflict. But what do I know? I'm just another fool who's wasted his time actually reading books and trying to ask questions.

Of course, the Donald just loves to stir things up - all for the adoration he gets from of his base whenever he sticks his little stubby finger in the eye of moral rectitude, decency and, in this particular case, decades of diplomatic efforts. Oh well; it's just another chunk of concrete out of the fast-eroding foundation of American credibility and leadership. I think I'm starting to get sick of winning.

Hide & Subpoena

Well, it's official. The Trump campaign and transition team were colluding with the Ruskies. Michael, or should I say "Mikhail," Flynn lied to the FBI about his various interactions with the Russians during the presidential campaign and immediately following the election - while Barack Obama was still the President of the United States. Whoops.

Enter Robert S. Mueller, Esq. After a long period of slow, deliberate investigation, things have begun to hot up, with initially small and then increasingly bigger pins falling left and right. Pretty soon will be looking at a potential fall of the Day-Glo orange kingpin himself. Wouldn't that be grand? Meanwhile, the Republicans are working feverishly and as fast as they can to ram through as many reprehensible, regressive pieces of legislation for Trump to sign before the U.S. public wakes up and votes them out of one or both houses of Congress.

I'm guessing that we are going to see any of the following:

1. Another Saturday Night Massacre, and/or 
2. An acceleration of the slow onset disaster of our democratic norms, and/or
3. A mockery of our oversight mechanisms.

I vote for all of the above, so duck and cover and hope for the best but expect the worst.

The Art of the Con

Yesterday we got to read about how the number of Republican senators holding out on the Trump reverse Robin Hood tax cut bill began to drop precipitously. Evidently, they all either were convinced that the Donald was going to address their needs or they were too afraid to hold out any longer. I would offer a third possibility: they really never gave a rat's patootie about whatever it was that had inspired them initially to oppose the tax bill.

John McCain: back when he gave his famous thumbs down on Trumpcare, he claimed that he was deeply concerned about the welfare of the institution of the Senate and the lack of open debate in a participatory, deliberative and bipartisan process around the bill's passage. Now? Not so much.

Susan Collins: she claimed to be concerned about the forecast 13 million who will likely lose health care coverage as a result of the tax bill destroying the individual mandate. Now? She believes, actually believes, that this issue will be addressed later by Trump in some still to be determined process at some still to be identified time.

Bob Corker: a self-proclaimed budget hawk who would not support the tax cut bill if it so much as added one penny to the deficit. Now, thanks to some fuzzy, still-to-be-specified trigger mechanism, he believes that Trump and the GOP will agree to raise taxes should the voodoo economic forecasts of rapid economic growth not generate sufficient tax revenue.

Ron Johnson: the gentleman from cheesehead state has insisted that the the tax bill do better by small businesses. He received the same vague promises of being made right and then folded like a card table and got in line with the rest of the GOP.

The point is that none of these folks ever really seriously considered opposing this tax bill, which is the Republican Holy of Holies, a massive regressive redistribution of income and wealth to the most privileged, entitled and well-off. The American electorate finally gifted them with the harmonic convergence to advance their real agenda of unbridled greed and corruption - total control of two of the three branches of government with the third quickly falling in line with a slew of hard-right nominations to the federal bench.

It's all a con, and we'll all be left holding a losing hand.

Bad Santa Goes to Washington

Looks like the Donald has officially pitched in his lot with Roy Moore. What shall we call them? Here are my top choices:

1. Tweedle Scum and Tweedle Scummier
2. Predator vs. Pedo-phalien
3. Grabber and Groper
4. ...You get the idea

I guess it's only logical. Trump needs that Senate seat to remain Republican, and in this age of win at any cost, democratic norms be damned, why should we be surprised. It's a bit hard for me to take the Senate Republicans' efforts to come up with ways that they won't actually have to seat Moore, should he win, and make no mistake, he most probably will win. Some Alabamians are even considered moving out of the state, which will make it an even more concentrated version of its present self: racist, homophobic, and pedo-friendly.

So, great. The Democrats either get to win a seat that they hadn't expected to win or they get to hang Roy Moore all over the Republicans. I cannot say that either option really offers me much hope. But then I'm not really what actually does. After all, given the gerrymandered Congressional districts, it's highly unlikely the Democrats will take back either house of Congress, and even if they did they've been proving themselves thoroughly incapable of articulate a clear alternative message to Trumpism. So I'll just keep my ink cartridges ready for more opportunities to generate some laughs, smirks and giggles. Hope you keep coming back for more.And now, the toon:

Christmas Comes Early for the Donald - Part I

I think it's not just Santa. We all know who's been naughty and who's nice. And we all know one spoiled rotten grabby little boy who ain't going to be nominated TIME Magazine person of the year. Instead, he's going to get to get what he deserves: a stocking full of coal. That's the same big coal he's promised to bring back, despite basic economics telling anyone with half a brain that coal is dead. But Trump and his supporters never let a little reality get in the way of pursuing their glorious path to go right off the cliff in making America great again all the while claiming that their "winning."

I don't know about you, but I sure as heck haven't seen too much winning lately that Trump & co. can claim as their own. But why should that surprise any of us. For Trump, it's really always been about losing. He squandered the lion's share of his inheritance from his father instead of actually making something of himself. He had to declare bankruptcy multiple times because he was a failure as a businessman; everything he touched turned to lead. All the while, he was fleecing anyone who was stupid enough doing business with him. In fact, maybe that's his real bottom line. He knows he's a loser - always has been, always will be - but as long as he can make all of the other schlubs lose just a little bit more than him, then he can salvage some small speck of self-worth.

Sad!

Here's the toon.

Pardon me, who's the turkey?

Good to see that the Donald decided to keep the annual pardon of the Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House, although that's something President Mike Pence might have to do for him sometime soon, but maybe that's just wishful thinking - no, not the part about Mike Pence becoming president, or even Donald Trump getting pardoned. I was just, you know, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump might get impeached, preferably sooner than later. Is by tomorrow asking too much?

I imagine there will be a whole flock of Trump administration turkeys that will need a pardon once Bob Mueller finally wraps up his investigation. Or maybe that's more wishful thinking. Anyway, it's late, my brain is at low ebb. Hope everyone enjoys a a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and whatever you do, don't think of Trump while eating your turkey. You don't want to ruin your appetite.

Christmas Comes Early to Trumpland

Now that Congress is halfway to achieving the Republican Party's dreams - making the U.S. one of the most entrenched plutocracies in the world - all of the Trumpistas must be waiting with bated breath. I mean, what goes better with white supremacy but a Gini coefficient that would make our friends in pre-liberation South Africa blush? And to think that so many of the very people who will suffer the most as a result of this abomination of fiscal recklessness are the very ones who voted Sir Grabsalot into the White House. Karmic justice or just another day in the Oval Office for the Greatest Con Show on Earth?

Well, maybe, just maybe we'll luck out and some of these wobbly so-called moderate Republicans will find it in their hearts to find an ounce of morality and refuse to join the rest of horde of hard charging Koch (Brother) suckers and vote against the bill. If I were a betting man...well, what happens in Vegas, eventually gets exposed. So, all that being said, let's just hold thumbs, as our chums in South Africa would say, and hope for the best while expecting the worst.

Remember, these Republicans are the same bunch who are keeping quiet as church mice (sewer rats?) while Trump engages in some ill-advised Schadenfreude over recent revelations of Al Franken's frat-boy behavior from 11 years ago.

But I digress. Here's the toon...

The Golden Pig

Ol' Roy Moore. He just doesn't know when to quit. As more and more women are coming out with similar accusations of sexual harassment, he chooses instead to double down and to sic his trolls and shysters on them. And, for good measure, he's threatening the media outlets that are reporting on the victims' claims with lawsuits. Now that is a guy I want upholding the Constitution and making the laws of the land.

And then there's our Predator-in-Chief, who has remained largely, uncharacteristically mum about all of this, because really what can he say? Fer Pete's sake, his own political party is running away from Moore as fast as it possibly can while telling Moore to step down, please step, pretty please? And all of these Trump Enablers are making a big show of just how mortified, horrified, petrified they are with Moore's behavior. So, uhm, where was that gallant sense of righteousness a little over year ago when the Hollywood Access tape was released, showing the Donald bragging about being able to grab and grope women with impunity?

Real paragons of integrity, this lot. Glad to know that they, or a portion of them anyway, draw the line on molesting children. Now, of course, they have no problems whatsoever letting the Children's Health Insurance Program expire or deporting the dreamers or robbing poor, working and middle class kids of opportunities to access higher education by pulling the plug on much-needed tax deductions on student loan interest. But child molestation, well, that's another story, and the subject of another blog...coming soon!

When Donny Met Roddy

It's late, and I should be turning in for bed but I'm milking this dial-up speed Internet connection while overseas to post my latest toon. It's only fitting that the Donald wind up his Asian trip with a visit to his alter ego, Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, and a self-proclaimed murderer who is now a widely reviled mass murderer.

I think Donald has dic-tator envy, just like he has with his first man crush, Vladimir "Tutti Frutti Pooty" Putin.

The Donald is probably wondering what it would be like if only he could order Jeff Sessions to round up all them Muslims, Mexicans, transgender folks and whoever is in his hate parade for that day and then wipe them all out with the stroke of a pen. Ah, that would be grand, wouldn't it? Then he could boast to his bud, Roddy, that he used his awesome power to unleash the same heartless, amoral cruelty that Duterte has used to go after...mostly innocent children, sick addicts and, maybe, on a good day, the occasional small-time retail drug dealer.

Two brothers from another mother? More likely two self-obssessed sociopaths bent on dragging their respective countries into a living hell.

Republican Rebrand? How about Rehab

Hi Sportsfans,

Well, now that the floodgates have opened, decades' and decades' worth of the slime has begun to ooze out. Powerful, (again, and I will not tire of mentioning this, mostly white) men are finally being held to account for their abuses of power and of their victims' rights. And just when you thought it couldn't any sicker or ickier - I mean, c'mon Louis C.K., really? - the Washington Post revealed that Roy Moore, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, preyed on a 14-year old girl along with several other adolescent girls.

This is the same guy who lost his job (twice) as the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice. In the first instance, he refused to remove a statue of the eleven commandments from public property. Yes, you read that right, eleven commandments, including the one he and his twisted god of self-serving narcissism sneaked in when nobody was watching: "Thou Shalt Not Get Caught."

And, as if that weren't bad enough, Roy an' the Good Ol' Boys in the 'Bama and the national Grand Ol' Party are all doing their best to deny, minimize and rationalize away what were obviously the immoral actions of a deeply sick individual. Rolling out every reprehensible PR tactic they can, they are re-traumatizing these women who stand to gain nothing except maybe, one would hope, the satisfaction of having used their voice to speak truth to a powerful, perverted pedophile.

I hope that the people of Alabama wake up, realize what is at stake, retrieve their lost sense of right and wrong, and remove this sick pedo from the ballot. I hope that they choose not to elect this scumbag. If they do otherwise, while it wouldn't be surprising, it will only serve as another example of just low they and all the other conservatives in the U.S. have sunk to justify their generations-long embrace of white supremacism.

Be a Lover, Not a Trumper

The VA elections? Beginning if the end? Probably not, but as Sting and the Police sang 35 years ago, "it’s a humiliating kick in the crotch" for the Donald. His reaction was predictable: try to walk back his endorsement of Gillespie, who did his best to be a Trump mini-me, transforming himself from a swamp-dwelling establishment-serving Republican reptile to a cross-burning, Confederate statue-loving white supremacist. Wait, oops. My bad. They're both one and the same. One is with filter; the other without. Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Whatever.

Anywho, I’m glad to see the good guys put a “W” on the board.

La luta continua! So let’s get back to work.

Going Mental

The mass shooting massacre in Texas that took place this past Sunday reminds us of just how much our government is in the deep pockets of the arms industry. The Republican Party is bought and paid for. The Democrats are all too scared of the arm's industry enforcer, the NRA, and too wishy washy to come to a consensus on how to confront this menace.

Instead of any real reform coming out of our political process we get subjected to an endless series of meaningless motions, repeated in true Groundhog Day fashion. The various actors assume their predictable positions, give their same tired old lines, and then hope that everyone stops paying attention after a few days. That's exactly what happened after the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, the Emmanuel AME Church mass murder in Charleston, and the recent slaughter at the country music concert in Las Vegas music. And, as you all know, this list is far from complete.

This sequence is almost as sickening to watch as the replays of the actual events themselves. None of the victims ever thought they might be in danger of losing their lives, because they all believed they were in safes where they could let down their guard and simply enjoy their lives. Not in Trump's America. No-siree, the problems isn't guns. Guns, in case you didn't know, are the answer.

So what exactly is the problem? Well, according to Trump, the problem is a mental health issue...at the highest level, he says. Right, exactly. It starts with that worthless, swirly combed over sack of potatoes he calls a head. THAT is our country's biggest mental health issue, one for which, sadly, there is no cure.

Donald Does Asia

"Donald Trump visits Asia." What other four words strike more fear in one's heart? How about, "No meds; no parental supervision"? Okay, that was five words, but you get the point. I'm waiting for him not so much to embarrass himself and our entire country. That's a given. Rather I'm terrified that someone or something will piss him off enough that he'll ask for "the football" and give the unchecked, unbalanced order that some country (you know which one) "be met with fire and the fury like the world has never seen."

For all we know, he'll probably wind up nuking the Japanese, because some poor presidential chef might refuse to ruin Trump's Kobe beef steak by overcooking it, as per Trump's well-known preference. Anything could happen with that lunatic, such are the levels of his staff's self-serving enabling, coddling and knee-knocking deference to his psychoses.

I'm trying to think of something that will give us all some hope that what I've just written isn't even in the realm of possibility. Maybe it's the jet lag - just arrived in Burkina Faso last night - but I can't. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to hope for the best while knowing that just when you think things can't get much worse with this administration, there's always one more swish in the toilet bowl. Thanks, Donald, for doing all that you do when do what you do. .

No Country for Old Reptiles

It's been a veritable deluge of skeeziness with the recent outing of so many cases of powerful (mostly white, it must be said) men whose crimes and misdeeds are only now being revealed after years of either paying off or otherwise silencing their accusers. Of course, last year was a banner year, too, after we sent Donald Trump to the White House to become our very own predator-in-chief. It's no surprise then, because what we're seeing is nothing new. There's only more public awareness about the endemic hyper-sexism, male chauvinism and sexual and gender based-violence, all of which have always been parts of our society and culture.

And I couldn't even manage to fit in all of the other skeeze-bag terrible lizards who deserve to be included in this cartoon - Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly and even NPR's own Mike Oreskes among others - all of which demonstrates that this has nothing to do with partisan politics but instead "body part-is-in politics." But then, what do we expect? These are big lumbering beasts with itty-bitty, teeny-weeny...brains...so I imagine their judgment probably isn't so good with all the blood rushing to their itty-bitty, teeny-weeny...anyway, you get the idea.

Let's all hope and pray that they go the way of the dinosaurs, extinct, sooner than later.

Robbery of Biblical Proportions

If you believe the Donald about the 2017 Republican Plutocrat Giveaway, i.e., the "tax reform" bill, I got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Honestly, you don't need to be a news junkie to take just a minute to figure out this is another three-card Monte Carlo swindle brought to by Don, the King o' Con.

The "mainstream" Republicans (is there really such a thing - I mean, how different are they really from the tiki torch bearing goons who oozed onto the scene not long ago in Charlottesville?) are doing their best to hide the salami as they push through this tax cut, evading and avoiding any semblance of good governance and parliamentary best practice. It's another page out of the same playbook - look right into the cameras, make a soppy serious big boy face and look oh so sincere while they lie, lie and lie through their teeth about their faux concern for the middle class. And then, once everyone is sick and tired of trying to figure out the difference between truth and lie, bull rush through some cockamamie bill chock full of goodies for their Richie Rich benefactors and patrons.

All the while, they'll be a hopin' and a prayin' that the Donald doesn't screw the pooch with his usual act of megalomaniacal self-sabotage, shifting his position for the umpteenth time or just unloading with another bit of denigrating, norm-bustin' filth to satisfy his "people," aka, white folks.

So, look out, Gracie, here comes the Donald and his hard charging herd of mad elephants, out to grab your handbag and pound your pretty little head into the ground for a life filled with poverty and misery.

Holy Moses and the Burning...Tush?!

In the dumpster fire that is the current administration, there are no firemen or first responders of any kind. Instead, there are only arsonists, chief among whom is none other than the Donald. What's sad - so sad, sadder than we've ever seen before - has been the willingness of his Chief of Staff, John F. Kelley, to allow Trump to drag his name and well-earned reputation through the mud, all in the service of protecting the Big Pig himself. Trump and Kelly then tag-teamed to hurl insults at a Member of Congress while at the same time managing to rub salt in the very fresh wounds of a grieving gold star widow. Finally, to seal the deal Kelly sanctimoniously cloaked himself in his own tragic loss to protect himself from anyone daring to level criticism at him for his behavior.


The Trump Administration's aggressive enforcement of reckless impunity and pathological refusal to accept responsibility for its actions are so transparently obvious, and they occur so frequently it appears that nobody, including the feckless Democrats, is willing to remind that crew that they work for us, the American people. And by American people, I mean all of us, not just the knuckleheads who couldn't get past their sense of righteous, white supremacist indignation to vote for Trump.

At this rate, after a full four years of this "Trumpster fire" of an administration, we'll all be left just holding our ashes.

Breaking Baddest, Badder Than The World Has Ever Known

Did anyone catch 60 Minutes last night? It exposed collusion between Drug Distributors the federal government (both Congress and the Obama and Trump administrations) in tamping down and finally snuffing out the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency for non-wonks) efforts to clamp down on illegal opioid marketing, distribution and sales. Fortunately, never fear, the Trump administration is on it, and I mean all over it.

Here's what Trump & Co. have done so far to combat an epidemic that has taken the lives of nearly 200,000 souls since 1999...64,000 alone in 2016...

...wait for it...





...still waiting? Please continue to hold...


It has yet to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency.

I guess we can all heave a collective sigh of relief. And while we're still waiting for them to extract their heads from the tuchises, we can always enjoy a little humor. I like the idea of Trump, who wouldn't so much as give someone a tissue if they sneezed (instead, he'd quickly spritz himself in anti-bacterial sanitizer), leading efforts to roll back one of this country's major public health crises. As with other major policy challenges, he more likely to be a part of the problem than the solution. Or as Bryan Cranston's Walter White would say, "He IS the danger. HE is the one who knocks."

Dr. Strangetrump

The Doctor is IN!!!

Talk about soul surgery. This is soul-sucking surgery, with the good Dr. Donald J. Trump attending as chief surgeon. He's going to make you feel so good, so healthy, so wealthy, you'll be tired of living so much. And good thing, too, because once he's successfully completed his sabotage of our health care system, tax code...plus environmental regulations, worker safety rules, democratic norms, the Constitution, relationships with our closest allies, our national defense, social safety net, and..(wait, what have I forgotten anything) you'll want to pinch yourself...and then put a bullet in your head.

Anyway, we'll all finally be the winners he promised us we'd all be. And life will be AWE-some, so very awesome, like we've never seen such AWE-someness before...

[We pause for a moment while the blogger/cartoonist rushes to the nearest sink to lose his breakfast.]

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Republicans are all holding their breath that Trump manages to actually pull off all of this national self-destruction, which has been the Republican Party policy agenda for the past 30 years running, before he finally pisses off Kim Jong-Un (or some other nuclear-armed crackpot) so much that country actually does get obliterated. Good those elephant men (and they are mostly men) have the country's best interest at heart.

And, no, Democrat jackasses don't get off the hook so easy. They're too busy twiddling their thumbs, trying to figure out how to lure back the love of their political lives: the  working class white man. Never mind that it's not the economy, stupid; it's all about race, racism and white entitlement. Always was, always has been, and most likely always will be until the Democrats stop talking out of both sides of their mealy mouths. They should all be required to sit down and read Ta Nehisi Coates' recent piece in the Atlantic. Maybe then they can get serious about offering policies that are genuinely inclusive and just for all people of all colors, creed, ethnicity and gender.

Meanwhile, I guess we can just hold our breath and pray that we can make it through the day.

"I did not and will not exhale..."

Priceless

There are several very good articles out there that provide some basic inventories of the Trump administration's corruption. David Leonhardt had a good one in the NY Times. But today's editorial included a much more comprehensive one. Both are disheartening; both remind you of just how much Trump and his cronies have turned a reptile-infested swamp into an even more sordid bordello, also infested by reptiles and various verminous beasts.

Here's my own admittedly incomplete illustrated list of corrupt practises that Trump & Co. have engaged in, all with a healthy, heaping helping of white entitlement, arrogance and presumed impunity. At least Price was shown the door, but he's only the tip of the stinkin', reekin' heap of horse pucky that passes for "governance" under the current regime. That's why I'm grudgingly willing to give outgoing Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) some props for calling out the potential risks to the world if we let Trump & Co. continue with her their dumpster fire o' chaos and destruction. I'll even show a little love to John "Pinky" McCain (R-AZ), although for the life of me I don't know why they needed to wait for so bloody long. I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of Republican conspiracy of dunces. Hope you're enjoying your Indigenous People's Day.

West Wing Story: I Like Some Help From America

It's been disheartening to say the least to hear the Twitter battle between Donald Trump and the Mayor San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz. One is a fearless leader who is doing her utmost to raise international public awareness around the plight of her citizens so that they get the help they need. The other is a narcissistic, pathological liar and sociopath, who spends all of his waking hours in search of personal gratification and aggrandizement.

Guess which one is letting down the people of Puerto Rico?

This is not a trick question, and it shows just how much we've had to lower the bar to even put the word "President" in front of Donald Trump's name; he is so utterly lacking in any of the qualities we look for and need in an elected official. With every breath he takes and every tweet he unleashes he makes the world a nastier, more brutish place.

Lo siento, disculpan nos, mis hermanos y hermanas puertorriqueño, por las acciones y las palabras de nuestro presidente. El no representa la mayoría del pueblo norteamericano. A pesar de todo que ha dicho estamos en solidaridad con Uds. No olviden que no estén solos. Estaremos siempre conjuntos, mano en mano hasta que salgamos de esta pesadilla.

PUDDIN'!!!

I know it's all about race baitin' distraction and red meat for his racist, hatin' base, but I still couldn't resist call out the Donald on his ludicrously inept attempt to divide professional athletes from the American public. It's beyond ironic that Trump has only galvanized the solidarity among professional athletes across the major professional sports leagues and even gotten the crusty members of the exploitation class, i.e., the team owners, to stand behind their players. Nice going, Donald. Keep up the good work.

And let's not let the fuming fans off the hook - you know, the ones who scream in full roar with foam flecked maws at the heinous treason the athletes are committing by exercising their first amendment rights by taking a knee or locking arms during the singing of the national anthem. These are the same wahoos who mangle the anthem after having thrown back a few watered down overpriced beers. Many of them probably haven't spent so much as a minute doing anything for their fellow human beings yet they sanctimoniously bellow about patriotism and loyalty to country. All I can say is they should just take a minute and realize that for every finger they point at "those people," or as Trump called them "those SOBs," they better realize there are three other fingers pointing right back at themselves. He who lives in a glass trailer should cast no remotes.

The Donald's Sing-a-long in Noo Yawk

I have a bone to pick with the media. In the lead up to Trump's "speech" at the United Nations today, they unquestioningly passed along the highly spun bit of bunk put out by Trump's handlers that "America First" was actually just standard interest-based foreign policy, something any country would and should sign onto. That's an abdication of their responsibility to dig a bit deeper and provide some of the context so that we can appreciate the real meaning of this jingoistic, xenophobic drivel. They can still remain plenty fair and balanced by doing this while holding it up as part of a long well-documented string of vile utterances emanating from that man's...puckered up orifice.

Because, let's face it: U.S. foreign policy - despite the presence of the "grown ups" in the cabinet - continues to plummet into something of a death spiral. Principals at State, DoD and the White House saying completely different things about critical foreign policy issues...and on the same day! Rex Tillerson hollowing out the State Department so that seasoned diplomats are fleeing in droves. And, of course, the Donald throwing out empty threats (G-d, I hope they're empty) that would throw parts of this world onto the edge of a nuclear holocaust.

But I'm sure that by reading from a teleprompter today Trump will explain all of this in a way so that it all sounds "presidential," just like "America First" sounds like an actual policy.

Hey, B'Abbott! Climate Change is REAL!

So...here we are in Hurricane season and only a week or so after Harvey walloped Texas, Irma has begun to hammer Florida. And yet...Governor Tweedledumb of Texas remains one of the biggest Climate Change deniers, but wait, he has company, Governor Tweedledumber of Florida. And they have lots of buddies, too. Members of their respective state delegations in the U.S. Congress voted against the disaster response assistance, "on principle," because the bill was tied to raising the debt ceiling. Seriously? What principle would that be? Some variant of trickle-down, voodoo economics? Something like, "Record (Hurricane-spiked) tides drown all lives?"

Knuckleheads.

Beyond their culpability in rolling back all policies that would have mitigated climate change as well as their Orwellian efforts to stifle even the mention of climate change in all official state communications, they are likely to squander this opportunity to reset and replace such policies with ones that are climate-smart and sustainable. Call it whatever you want - throwing good money after bad - but they are likely to bring back those very same no holds barred, regulation-free policies that promote hyper-development and socioeconomic inequality. These are the same policies that contributed so much to climate change in the first place and to the very conditions that enable it to have such a deadly impact on our communities. I tell you what I prefer to call it: insane, in line with Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

With more hurricanes already on the way, these knuckleheads, and the nincompoops who voted them into office, will have every opportunity to to test the veracity of that definition. Good luck with that.

Say it Ain't So, Joe - A First-Ever Imperial Wardrobe Two Fer

I want to first extend my sympathies to all of the folks in Southeast Texas who are currently enduring the most epic shock in recent or recorded history. I'll come back to that topic in another blog, because this isn't/wasn't just a "natural disaster," but no is not the time for that discussion.

It is the time, however, to try to unpack the President's sucker punch to the Constitution and the institution of the administration of justice. Of course, I could be talking about any number of raging dumpster fires set by the Donald and his minions, but in this case I'm talking about his pardon for ("Sheriff") Joe Arpaio. This is the self-styled Heinrich Himmler of the Southwest who terrorized anyone who might have resembled being Hispanic by ordering his deputies to aggressively round up possible illegal immigrant and then place them in detention centers, which Arpaio himself proudly referred to as "concentration camps." These detention centers were in the middle of the desert, and detainees were forced to live under the 145 degree sun with only a tent to protect them from the elements. And then there's their loss of dignity from having their liberty stolen by some jack-booted fascist thugs, who gleefully beat them while they were cut off from their loved ones and their livelihoods.

He would have certainly made "die Fuhrer" proud with his flagrantly ethnocentric-based abuses of human rights.

Of course, with pedigree like that, it's hardly a surprise that our Putin-worshiping, Nazi-lover of a President would extend a presidential pardon to Arpaio, whose terrorist tactics provide a concrete example of putting Trump's fear-based, hate-driven white nationalism into practice. Barring a miraculous growth spurt in spinal tissue among the Republican Party, this is what we have to look forward to for the next 3+ years. G-d help us all.

Winin' 'n' Dinin'

Just back from a much-needed break in the lovely Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. Of course I couldn't keep away from the news, especially not with the events in Charlottesville last week. No, I wasn't surprised at what happened. What was surprising was that the Nazi scum's muscle didn't open fire on the counter-protesters.

And I was especially not surprised by Trump's embrace and defense of the Nazi scum and their actions. Okay, I get it. His was the first full-throated defense of the indefensible by a U.S. president. So, what? All of the other presidents, many of whom were also racists and anti-Semites as much in word as in deed, get a pass because they used a dog whistle and not a bullhorn? It's got to be both and. All of the past U.S. presidents who failed to protect and promote justice for all citizens should be called to account by historians (acts of omission), AND all of them who perpetrated such acts of injustice should also be called to account (acts of commission).

Donald Trump, of course, is simply off the scale, so one cannot even consider him in the same conversation. He is simply the...worst...president...EVER. Period, Full Stop. The End.

The Lyin' King

It was almost within 24 hours of my last post that the Mooch got shown the door by Gen. John Kelly, the new White House Chief of Staff. I just can't keep up with this clown show, but then nobody really can. So, as much as I know I should pick something that is right in the moment topical, I couldn't resist this idea, which seems to be a bit more timeless, if there's ever any such thing with the current administration.

I guess I'm unconsciously reading into the future. At some point, this savagely idiotic operation that is the Trump administration will begin eating its own young. Hence, the idea of portraying Junior as Simba, because I'm guessing he'll be the first of the brood to get thrown under the bus, or chucked over the cliff, as it were. And who better than to do the chucking then the administration's very own Jabba the Hutt, Steve Baboonon? Meanwhile, the Donald, a.k.a., MoFo-suh, will be sitting sphinx-like, if only for a NY minute, until he launches into another whiny embrace of victimhood, blaming everyone but himself for the deep pile of fecal matter he's managed to bury himself under.

Good luck, General Kelly; you're sure as heck gonna need it with this "pride" of lyin' so-and-so's.

Scarmoochie

When I finally saw Scarface in its entirety, I have to admit I felt a little let down. It was sooooooo over the top, but what else would you expect from Oliver Stone, who wrote the screenplay.

Sooooooo...it should be no surprise in another life-imitating-art moment that Anthony "Tony Montana" Scarmoochie would exhibit the same over the top flamboyance and pissantry, coming into his new position as Comms Director with a blaze of vulgar profanity-laced tirades. People refer to him as Trump's mini-me but I think that's giving Dr. Evil's alter-ego a bad name. By the third installment of the Austin Powers series I actually found the little fellow to be kind of sympathetic.

Not so with the Mooch, and don't blame it on his Noo Yawuh roots. Not all New Yorkers are such unrepentant, insufferable jerks. No, this is another deeply flawed individual who's looking to cash in working for an epically flawed president. At some point he'll be hung out to dry, too, in the dysfunctional merry-go-round that is the Trump "maladministration." And when that happens, I'll be the first to wave and say, "Say good-bye to my little friend!"

Three Alarm Fire

While his "agenda" was going up in smoke last week with the health care bill debacle, the Donald decided it was the right time to play fireman, something about promoting products that were "made in America." Let's leave aside the facile notion that in the current globalized, networked economy there's any significant volume of production that is built solely in one country. Let's focus instead on the rank hypocrisy of Trump and his brood trotting out this bit of red meat for their supporters when they clearly practice and benefit from overseas production/assembly/etc. of their many lines of schlock.

Oh, and lest we forget, the biggest accomplishment in trade policy this marketing "genius" pulled off was to sell off the integrity of our nation's political and governance institutions to Russia in return for receiving systematic hacking and media propaganda services during the 2016 election. If the Donald wants to blow off doing his job and play fireman instead so that he can ride on a firetruck put out fires he might start with dousing his own trousers, which he manages to light on fire every time he opens his...whichever orifice...to unleash another pants-on-fire barrage of bunk.

The Whopper

What I really appreciate about the Trump regime is its bottomless capacity to debase itself and the nation and people it purportedly serves, which would be...us. There are no lies too large or outrageous to heap on top of the already unwieldy pile of prevarication and deception. These folks really have no shame. I really do believe that they always knew that at some point the gig would be up. They're just waiting, daring us all really, to try to stop them.

Meanwhile, they'll abuse the office of the presidency and the executive branch for as long as the spineless, amoral Republican party sees it to be in their interest to let them do so. I guess that means that there will be no shortage of opportunities for me and my fellow cartoonists. That's the good news. The bad news is the heavy social cost this deadly charade of "governing" is exacting on our society and our institutions.

I hear so many people ask (rhetorically, I can only assume), "How can these people live with themselves?" I imagine the answer is very simple: soundly. Easy to do when they lack any sort of moral compass or if they do, it's been warped to point due south, straight down the crapper. Kind of like crap sandwich...like the Whopper! Hmmmmm...fast food...

Under Trumpcare, You're Covered...In 6 Feet of Dirt

With July 4th break over and nothing else better to do during the DC summer's hot, muggy days those wacky Republicans and the Donald are at it again, trying to destroy the nation's health care system. Like they say, if at first you don't succeed, lie, lie and lie again. Raul Labrador, a Republican member of Congress from Idaho, even told his constituents that, "Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care." Yeah, that went over real well. Got to hand it to him for trying to sell the baloney, but there's only so much baloney you can force anyone to eat.

Of course, remember folks, trashing the ACA isn't really about keeping a campaign promise. It's about setting the table for another massive tax cut for the uber-wealthy. Besides, when you're predisposed to denying reality in general and scientific facts in particular (Exhibit A: see climate change; Exhibit B: evolution), you eventually convince yourself of the lies you regularly tell others. At some point you really are dwelling in a parallel universe with alternative facts. I just hope they have good cable and flush toilets there.

Alaska Cream Pie - Trump's Special Recipe

Well, it's official. North Korea can now reach us with one of it's newly tested intercontinental ballistic missiles. All it needs now is to figure out how to shrink one if its deadly nukes so that it can fit into said ICBM. So now we are back to feeling "safe," because surely the two tragically coiffed madmen who North Korea and our own country will practice...MAD, mutually assured destruction. Not exactly the stuff of a mind at ease, never a good night's rest.

So, it's back to ducking under our desks and hoping and praying that neither one of them does or says something stupid enough to piss off the other one enough so that he does the unthinkable. Oh, what I wouldn't do for a little adult supervision for the "leaders" of this world. Barring that, maybe we could lock them all up in some mile-deep vault for a really long timeout. I can always dream...

America's Favorite Passtime

This shooting was a tragedy. Not surprisingly, several Republican "leaders," both in and out of office, unscrupulously exploited it for the party's political advantage, blaming Democrats for the trend of uncivil political discourse. As usual, these alternative facts just don't hold up under even the most superficial scrutiny. And what's even more sickening (and still unsurprising) was hearing the NRA-bought and paid for Republican officials trotting out their usual dead-end solutions of further loosening restrictions on guns, as if somehow if we were all just armed to the teeth, none of this would ever happen.

Somewhere the gun manufacturers are rubbing their hands in glee and looking forward to yet another opportunity to further weaponize our society while they rake in even more revenue from having created the conditions for this senseless carnage. Meanwhile, our "President," spent about 5 minutes doing the right thing and then went right back to bullying and blustering about the special counsel's probe into his campaign's and administration's possible involvement with the Russians. Given a real opportunity to unite us as a country and to deescalate the violent political rhetoric and its predictable results, this is what we get instead: narcissistic, self-serving bellowing. I guess this is what "leadership" looks like in the Republicans' vision of America.

Stab in the Dark

I'm not even going to try to describe the rank hypocrisy of the Republicans ramming through a disastrous health care bill without holding a single public or committee hearing, never mind allowing the American people a chance to weigh in on an issue that is critical to all of us. Hypocrisy and the associated total lack of integrity is part of the Republican Party's DNA. They'll literally do anything if it helps advance their hate-filled white supremacist agenda, which includes among other things stripping the most vulnerable of any credible access to affordable, quality health care.

And, of course, there's the Donald, who's apparently only to happy to throw his voters under the bus all in the service of his fragile, bloated ego, so that he can score a "win." So sad, so sad...And will his voters even realize that they've just been had? That for all of their fierce commitment to something or someone who was going to drain the swamp, finally represent their interests and give their concerns a voice that instead they've just had a narcissistic billionaire steal and eat their lunch? Hmmm...I'm guessing the answer would be...no? Oh well, I guess it's just another validation of the political scientists' dictum: we deserve to get the government we elect.

What if the Nazis had won the election? Wait...oh, crap.

I actually had been thinking about using this idea for a cartoon for a few months, and thankfully a recent report about die Trumper's behavior provided me with a perfect opportunity. Evidently, while hosting several journalists from TIME magazine, he showed all the graciousness of a 3-year old (apologies to all 3-year old's) and had the White House staff serve him more, better quality food than all of his guests. To top it off, for dessert, he had them serve him two scoops of ice cream instead of just the one that was served to the guests. Wow...

Combine that with the stead stream of reports of his puerile behavior, moping in the White House and raging at his many television screens when (surprise!) he doesn't get the desired reaction from his knucklehead moves, the latest, of course, being the firing of now former FBI Director James Comey. Finally, there's his never-ending list of man crushes on skull crushing dictators, and voila! A cartoon is born.

Is it over-the-top to imply Trump and his gang are a bunch of fascists, even Nazis? I might have thought that a few days ago, but then I read a great piece in the NY Times in which FDR's then vice-president outlined how a fascist could rise and seize power in the U.S. Of course, fascism is just another permutation of the kind of white supremacy that has governed this country since the first colonist set foot on these shores, so, really, no big shocker there. White folks have been oppressing, subjugating, enslaving, exterminating and otherwise making life a living hell for people of color in this country since then and we've put lipstick on that pig up many times over with whatever pious, self-righteous nonsense oozed out of our backsides. Plus ca change, quoi.

Okay, that's enough rantin' and ravin', here's the 'toon.

No, You're the Meathead

If you're at all like me, you've probably given up trying to keep up with all of the conflicts of interest and general trashing of ethical and political norms since Trump became president. Thank goodness there are good watchdog organizations out there that make it their cause to track and raise public awareness about this kind of stuff. I admit that I'm just plain worn out, but not too worn out to ink another 'toon.

If the Clintons sullied the White House and soiled the sheets of the Lincoln Bedroom, Trump and his spawn have really taken it to another level. They've managed to transform one of our most respected political institutions into a corporate marketing and branding cat house where it's personal AND it's business. Oh! Fugghedaboutit!

Thank goodness the Congressional GOP isn't worried about this sort of thing. One oversight committee chair recused himself only after trying to play Deep Throat and divulging classified information (Nunes), and another announced his retirement after this term and then squashes any calls for subpoenas (Chaffetz).

So...who's the real meathead here?

One Hundred Days of Ineptitude

The Donald and his minions can spin it any way they want, but it's clear to most that his first (much-touted by them as the best ever) 100 days were a colossal, unmitigated flop. Is there really any surprise? Remember, this is a man who was born with a silver spoon born in his pie hole who has gone through life feeling entitled to wreck people's lives and livelihoods. This is the guy who thought he could come in and work his same private sector, corporate mogul mojo and with absolutely no experience in or interest in learning about how the public sector works, make America great again.

And now, thanks to a goodly portion of white Amerikkka, he's now president where he gets to spend another four years...wait for it...feeling entitled to wreck people's lives and livelihoods...PLUS get us into all kinds of wars, military, trade or otherwise. And, as an added bonus, we get to waste four years we can't afford to lose in our effort to slow done the process of climate change. SWEET!

Well, with apologies to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, here's my latest:

MOAB

You know what they say, big bomb...small hands. Look - this was militarily insignificant. ISIS's strength in Afghanistan is waning; the real power to take on is the Taliban, but we can't so we won't. This was just an overpriced (financial and human costs) opportunity to show the world how much destruction he can wreak with his teeny, tiny, itchy trigger finger.

And, yeah. It's another shiny object distraction for the fawning media to pursue instead of the big stories about this illegitimate administration's efforts to take us back to pre-civil rights America where white entitlement reigned supreme in a savage, Darwinist capitalistic experiment gone awry. I lost count of how many reporters/bloviators/etc. made some sort of comment of how this decision made Trump truly presidential. Whaaa? Since when was dropping bombs needlessly for a lost military cause presidential? Bunch of sycophantic boneheads.

Poor Spicey. Mocked mercilessly by Melissa McCarthy and then being asked to repeat, recycle and re-spin the same lies over and over  and over again. I don't actually pity him. He did, after all, sign up for this gig, which speaks volumes to his own moral compass or lack thereof. Oh well. So much for compassion. Have a nice week, Sean. Try explaining why your Boss, die Trumpler, decided not to lift a finger on our man Flynn even though he know a month ago that his national security advisor was illegally playing footsie with the Ruskies, assuring them that soon everything was going to be alright.

Needless to say, Sean, like the underarm deodorant, you stink, man.

So much for the crack efficiency of the private sector. As the NY Times pointed out this morning, The Donald has been so busy pitching paranoid fits that he's neglected to put his cabinet and White House staff together. I'm guessing that there's more to it than that. Since, even self-respecting right wingers are thinking twice on whether or not they would want to serve in the s#!t show that will be his administration, he's really having to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find anyone who's willing to jettison their sense of integrity and pitch in and join the Greatest Freak Show on Earth. The dregs he has been left with for major appointments are, with few exceptions, woefully inexperienced, unqualified and in some cases just a few bricks sort of a load (See Exhibit A: Betsy DeVos, explaining why there needs to be guns in schools).

Calling them B-team doesn't even do justice to these clowns and that's probably giving clowns a bad name; hence, this cartoon. Break out the cracker jacks and watch these crackers hijack our country. Yikes.