Politics, Religion & Money – Page 149 – Prattling Before the Pratfall

Taking a Drawing Break

Reading this book on my Kindle Paperwhite e-reader.

In 1934 nobody would have believed that a couple of doddering old men of 76 and 77 could be serious contenders running for their first terms as president. Ronald Reagan was 77, and obviously cognitively impaired, when he left office. FDR was my age when he died.

https://youtu.be/3S49vGonmVE

Print Editions

Gatehouse Media is buying Gannett, although at the moment there appears to be a potential snag in the deal. Not coincidentally, 7-day home delivery of my Gatehouse paper is suddenly increasing by almost 50%, from $53.20 to $78.21 per month. The safe assumption is the extra money will go towards financing the purchase, assuming it goes through. The question is, how many subscribers will cancel home delivery?

For now, the paper is still showing up on the driveway, and I’d like to share a scan from last Sunday’s comics, as modest as the single two-sided sheet is. This is one of the more celebrated of Sparky’s Peanuts installments.

*Peanuts*, originally published August 6, 1972

Over in the Boston Globe’s comics section last week, The Family Circus was filled with wonderful visual details. Say what you will about this feature, I admire the professionalism of the art, which is something completely lacking in, say, Dilbert.

This 300-dpi scan can’t compensate for the too-small printing size. Compare it to this beach scene I scanned and posted — yikes! — nine years ago, and compare the building in the lower right corner to the one drawn by Jimmy Johnson that I pointed out last week.

Finally, the Boston Globe recently had this tribute to MAD Magazine by A.J.B. Lane, done in the manner of an Al Jaffee fold-in. I couldn’t find it online, and as I was already hot on the scanner…

O.B.I.T.uary

“The machines are everywhere! And they will demoralize you, break your spirits, create such rifts and tensions in your society that no one will be able to repair them!”

50th Anniversary Outrage

Yesterday, in the presence of Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, who didn’t look very happy — in fact, nobody appeared to be pleased — Trump reversed his previous tepid disapproval of the “send her back” chanting at this week’s campaign rally. Doubling down on his original suggestion that Democratic House Representative Ilhan Omar should leave the country, Trump now describes the North Carolina crowd as “incredible patriots.”

I was undecided on whether or not the House of Representatives should vote to impeach Trump, but enough is enough. Pelosi should drop her “moderation in all things” strategy for the 2020 election and do the right thing. Impeach the bum.