Clay Jones, Walt Whitman?

Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the “Terrible Duties” of Democracy

Abraham Lincoln’s faith in the Declaration of Independence ultimately influenced Walt Whitman’s harsh but optimistic appraisal of the American experiment.

Ryan Reft

Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln (Library of Congress)

“The United States are destined either to surmount the gorgeous history of Feudalism, or else prove the most tremendous failure of time,” wrote American poet Walt Whitman in his 1871 work, Democratic Vistas. Despite writing in the wake of a brutal civil war and a failing Reconstruction Era, Whitman remained optimistic. “Not the least doubtful am I on any prospects of their material success.”

Known more for his poetry, exemplified by Leaves of Grass (1855), Whitman’s dark 1871 treatise on the nation remains a harsh but ultimately optimistic appraisal of the American experiment. It serves as a useful tool for thinking about the nation’s current state on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Whitman’s revolutionary patriotism had long been part of his worldview. He celebrated the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution in the preface to Leaves of Grass, noting that a poet must “enter the essences of the real things and past and present events,” among them “the haughty defiance of ’76, and the war and peace and formation of the constitution.”

But for all his celebration of the Declaration and the nation’s founding, he did not mince words regarding the nation’s failings. He wrote of a “hollowness” at the center of American life at the time, calling the business classes depraved and the government saturated in corruption. (snip-go see the rest!)


Trump Age

Trump threatens to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age

Clay Jones

Donald Trump is threatening to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, which, if he does, would be a war crime.

Trump’s chosen war is with the government of Iran, not the people, yet he continues to threaten to destroy its infrastructure. The more Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth brag about their success in the war, the more it seems that Iran fights back.

Trump tells us that the war is won and that Iran’s ability to wage war is nearly depleted if not already destroyed, yet missiles still rain on Israel and our other allies in the Gulf. And if Iran doesn’t have any weaponry left, then how did they shoot down two American jets? If the war is already won, then why are we still fighting? (snip-click on the title to get the rest!)

Comics & Shorts

(A comic, and some shorts. I thought I had more comics!) Some current event related, some simple humor, some both. And dancing!




Bye Bye Bondi

Pam Bondi has been fired

Clay Jones

There were a lot of reasons to fire Pam Bondi as United States Attorney General, but Donald Trump picked a bad one.

Bondi was never qualified for the job, which was the second choice after Matt Gaetz, who would have been another ridiculous choice. Bondi made it clear after the 2020 election that she didn’t need evidence to make legal claims, as she declared that Donald Trump was cheated out of that race. She had been in his pocket ever since he bribed her in the 2000s not to investigate Trump University in Florida, when she was the state’s Attorney General.

After Bondi misled the country about her initial disclosures in the Jeffrey Epstein case, Congress responded by passing a law forcing the Justice Department to release its files on the pedophile and his allies. (snip-MORE; click on the title above)


The Drumpf Family Theme Song

Based on The Addams Family…

Frosty McGillicuddy

They’re greedy and they’re dummies

Drumpf’s face looks like a mummy’s

The opposite of yummy

The Drumpfy Family

Don Junior loves his cocaine

And Eric is a no-brain

They’re syphillitic, insane

The Drumpfy Family

Chum

Numb

And dumb

So hide beneath the covers

And find yourself a lover

Don’t be a MAGA sucker

The Drumpfy Family!

(snip)




Happy April 1st To You, From Me

We’ve got a tornado watch with storms on their way, so I don’t know how active I’ll be online tonight. However, I want to finish off the day nicely, since nothing is happening right now. Enjoy! TTYL, or tomorrow. 🙂

Lay Lines

https://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2026/03/30

Snips & Toons & The King

Trump’s rat

Senator Lindsey Graham is spotted enjoying Disney World

Ann Telnaes Mar 30, 2026

Trump’s war cheerleader chows down breakfast at Chef Mickey’s.


He was arrested while repainting Dallas’ rainbow crosswalks. He’d do it all again

Before he was detained, Mason Whiteside, 25, said he spray-painted more than a dozen crosswalks.

By Jamie Landers

Mason Whiteside of Carrollton poses for a photo in front of the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Dallas. Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer

It was already dark when Mason Whiteside finished his workday at a Deep Ellum brewery. By the time he was done cleaning and closing up, it was nearing midnight, but there was another job to do.

Whiteside, 25, called a Waymo to take him to Oak Lawn, where he’d lugged a backpack full of chalk and spray paint: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

“Does anyone want to color with me?” Whiteside asked as people walked by.

No one stopped. He didn’t need them to.

Over the course of three and a half hours, Whiteside alone repainted more than a dozen crosswalks, what he considered a vibrant act of defiance less than 24 hours after the city began stripping the roads of their color. Dallas is among several Texas cities complying with a state directive to remove “political ideologies” from public roadways.

“I wasn’t hurting anybody,” Whiteside, who is queer, told The Dallas Morning News Tuesday. “I didn’t damage anything. I literally just put back the same things that had been there.” (snip-a bit MORE; click the title)


Idris and Sabrina Elba are on a mission to transform an entire West African island 

Off the coast of Sierra Leone, the actor and model are fighting against tourists traps with their own vision: a tropical “eco-city” of the future.

Sherbro Island, a tropical outpost of farmers and fishermen nestled in the crook of Sierra Leone’s arcing Atlantic coastline, is about the size of Chicago, but its population of 40,000 wouldn’t even fill Wrigley Field. Electrical power and wireless internet are scarce. Fishermen can’t refrigerate their catches long enough to sell them on the mainland, and farmers often lack the expertise and equipment to harvest much more than they need to survive. But Sherbro Island has some enviable resources, including miles of unblemished beaches and lagoons, as well as an abundance of replenishable fresh water.

One other invaluable asset: the support of Golden Globe–winning British actor Idris Elba and his wife, Canadian model Sabrina Elba. The couple see an opportunity there to marry ecological sustainability with economic growth in a way they hope can be a template for development projects across Africa—and perhaps help rewrite a whole continent’s narrative. Idris’s father is from Sierra Leone, Sabrina’s mother is from Somalia, and growing up, Sabrina says, “there were particular stigmas attached with being African.” She remembers seeing ads that seemed to show abject people waiting for a handout. “We wanted to see Africa represented the way that we knew it to be,” she says. “We wanted to change the storytelling.”

Her husband—known for the baritone potency he brings to prestige TV dramas like Luther and The Wire, along with films like last year’s critically acclaimed thriller A House of Dynamite—first heard about Sherbro Island years ago. A close family friend had tried to convince him it could become a world-class holiday destination. “At that juncture, I was just like, Oh, OK, that sounds interesting,” says Idris, 53, who co-owns a wine bar in London’s King’s Cross neighborhood. “Like, maybe I’ll build a nightclub, maybe build some tourism.” He made a mental note to visit someday.

He got the opportunity in 2019, while he and Sabrina, now 37, were in Sierra Leone touring small family farms as part of their ambassadorial roles with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It was during that trip, Idris says, that he had something of an epiphany. He’d been venturing into philanthropy as his celebrity grew: supporting childhood education and hunger-relief programs in Africa, as well as campaigning on behalf of at-risk youths in the United Kingdom (work for which he was recently knighted). But on that trip, the Elbas saw an opportunity to build something more enduring and meaningful than a fancy vacation spot—and “to reframe the conversation,” Sabrina says, “[from] one of aid to one of investment.” (snip-a little more on the page; click through on the title, please)


Wrong Island

Everyone’s talking about Kharg Island, but there’s another island we should not forget about.

Clay Jones


Enjoy Some Clay Jones This Morning!

Mr. Johnson No Johnson

Gonads are gone-gone

Clay Jones


Grifting With The Aliens

Those aliens are going to starve

Clay Jones


No Kings, Comics, & Stuff

No Kings Day

There are no kings in America… yet

Clay Jones


Stranger Danger Zuckerberg

Juries ruled that Meta is bad for kids

Clay Jones


Last Kiss by John Lustig


ICE Butts In

ICE ICE Butthole

Clay Jones


From my G+ friend Brian Arbenz:


How to Turn a Tissue Box Into a Bag Organizer

Here’s how I repurposed my empty tissue box as a plastic grocery bag dispenser in a few easy steps:

  1. Take a plastic shopping bag and stuff it horizontally into the tissue box with the handles sticking out of the slit on top.
  2. Grab another plastic bag and weave it through the handles of the bag sticking out of the box, then stop once it’s about three-quarters the way through.
  3. Stuff both bags into the box, with the handles of the second bag sticking out again like you had before.
  4. Repeat the process until all of the plastic bags are in the box (I was able to fit about 12 bags in mine!) 
  5. Gently pull a bag out of the box when you want to use it, just like a regular Kleenex box! Follow steps 1 through 4 to refill when you have more bags to store.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/

#No Kings

Tuesday Mix

Mewling About Mueller

Prez POS strikes again

Clay Jones


https://www.gocomics.com/heathcliff/2026/03/23




Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson11 hours agoProbably my most requested topic ever. Do your thing for the algo so everyone knows new set will be live premiering Tuesday at 9pm eastern Friends ❤️




Josh Johnson
7 hours agoH i Friends, good news! I am hosting ‪@TheDailyShow‬ this week Tuesday – Thursday. Do your thing for the algo so more people see it. Guests this week are Sterling K. Brown, Mero, and Eiza González. March 24-26 on Comedy Central and Paramount


This Week’s “Lay Lines”

https://www.gocomics.com/lay-lines/2026/03/23

Toons And Stuff


School Bus Stranger Danger

Parents, do you know who your children are sitting next to?

Clay Jones


Trump celebrates Robert Mueller’s death

Melania, you must be very proud.

Ann Telnaes


The French General had it right

A French General told Drumpf to go EFF HIMSELF

Frosty McGillicuddy

The French general did the right thing

“Fuckez-you!” he did happily sing

“Vous est a dicque

Et vous makez me sicque!

Mange a bite of my low-hanging thingue!”


“The only thing we really have to work at in this life is how to manifest love.”

George Harrison