Reblog From The Bee

I probably should have reblogged each of these-Sherky is a fine tour guide! But they’re all available at Bee’s blog.

Good morning, Scottie’s Playtime!

From jeff tiedrich:

Stuff I Ran Across Yesterday

How Crocodile Ancestors Survived The Dinosaur Extinction

Evrim Yazgin Cosmos science journalist

Crocodiles are often thought of as living fossils – unchanged over millions of years. New research has shown that their evolutionary history is a lot more complicated than that.

Crocodilia is the surviving family of a lineage which emerged about 230 million years ago (mya) called crocodylomorphs. This group split from other reptilian species including those that eventually became dinosaurs. Today, the crocodilia include crocodiles, alligators, caiman and gharials.

Ancestors of modern crocodilians survived through 2 mass extinctions, including the one which spelled the end of the “Age of Dinosaurs” 66 mya.

Crocodile skull teeth close up
The teeth of this fossil Borealosuchus skull typify the toothy grin of semi-aquatic generalist predators that survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Credit: Jack Rodgers/Natural History Museum of Utah.

The new study, published in the journal Palaeontology, shows that the secret to success of crocodylomorphs was their adaptability to new food sources and habitats.

“Lots of groups closely related to crocodilians were more diverse, more abundant, and exhibited different ecologies, yet they all disappeared except these few generalist crocodilians alive today,” says lead author Keegan Melstrom from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Today’s crocodilians are semi-aquatic generalists. The thrive in different habitats and aren’t picky eaters.

It was a different story with ancient crocodylomorphs.

Two crocodile skulls on a desk
Skulls of Araripesuchus gomesii (left), a Late Cretacious terrestrial predator and Cricosaurus suevicus (right), a Late Jurassic aquatic predator. Credit: University of Central Oklahoma.

The palaeontologists visited museum collections in 7 countries, across 4 continents to understand the evolution of crocodilian ancestors. They examined the skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodilians.

Crocodylomorphs exploded after the end-Triassic mass extinction 201 mya which killed off ancient lineages of hypercarnivores and land-based predators.

“After that, it goes bananas,” says Melstrom. “Aquatic hypercarnivores, terrestrial generalists, terrestrial hypercarnivores, terrestrial herbivores – crocodylomorphs evolved a massive number of ecological roles throughout the time of the dinosaurs.”

Toward the end of the time of the dinosaurs, however, crocodylomorphs started to decline.

Most of the specialised crocodylomorphs had died off by the end of the Cretaceous. Almost all 26 remaining species today are semi-aquatic generalists.

Upright crocodile sneaking on a small ancient mammal
Some 215 million years ago in what is now northwestern Argentina, the terrestrial crocodylomorph Hemiprotosuchus leali prepares to devour the early mammal relative Chaliminia musteloides. Credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

“When we see living crocodiles and alligators, rather than thinking of ferocious beasts or expensive handbags, I hope people appreciate their amazing 200+ million years of evolution, and how they’ve survived so many tumultuous events in Earth history,” says co-author Randy Irmis from the Natural History Museum of Utah. “Crocodilians are equipped to survive many future changes – if we’re willing to help preserve their habitats.”

“Extinction and survivorship are 2 sides of the same coin,” Melstrom says. “Through all mass extinctions, some groups manage to persist and diversify. What can we learn by studying the deeper evolutionary patterns imparted by these events?” (snip-More)

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Free by Grant Snider

A poem in pictures Read on Substack

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More Library Tidbits (+ a way to be an impediment to the strangling of libraries.)

US blocks Canadian access to cross-border library, sparking outcry

US officials claim move was to curb drug trafficking while Quebec town says it ‘weakens collaboration’ among nations

View image in fullscreen A young girl walks over the Canada-US border line from the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vermont, on Friday. Photograph: Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP

The US has blocked Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-US border, drawing criticism from a Quebec town where people have long enjoyed easy entry to the space.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. It was built deliberately to straddle the frontier between the two countries – a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Canada and the US. (snip)

Fairhope Public Library supporters raise money to replace funds state plans to withhold

By: Ralph Chapoco – March 25, 2025 11:49 am

A nonprofit says it has raised enough money for Fairhope Public Library to cover state funds that the Alabama Public Library Service Board cut off last week.

Read Freely Alabama, a grassroots free speech advocacy organization that has fought restrictions on library content, said it had collected almost $39,000 from about 550 donors through Tuesday morning. Read Freely is organizing the campaign with EveryLibrary, an Illinois-based organization that promotes library funding and fights restrictions.

“We were trying to figure out what was the amount that they were pausing,” said Cheryl Corvo, a member of Read Freely Alabama and Fairhope resident. “Then, we found out it was $42,000 that they were pausing, and how it would affect our library.”

The Fairhope Public Library said it will have access to funding without interference from the state or any outside groups.

“We had a meeting with EveryLibrary, which is the group that has control of this particular fundraiser, and they take 10% and 90% of it comes to us,” said Randal Wright, a board member of the Fairhope Public Library.

The amount was not enough to severely debilitate the library’s operations, Corvo said. But it is enough to affect “some very vital resources that the library provided.” Corvo said the campaign should also make APLS aware of the magnitude of local support  for the library.

Wright said that if the state continues to withhold money, the funds will go toward computers, books for the collection and paying for guest speakers. (snip)

Two From Clay Jones

Home Grown Tyranny by Clay Jones

It’s getting worse Read on Substack

Let’s make one thing clear. The immigrants the Trump regime seized off the street and sent to a Salvadoran prison were NOT deported. To be deported, you have to go through due process. Immigrants who are deported usually have to face a judge. The people sent to the prison in El Salvador never faced a judge before being shipped off or received due process. They were not deported. They were kidnapped.

And this prison in El Salvador, where the president referred to himself as the “coolest” dictator, isn’t so much a prison as it is a concentration camp or a gulag.

Mona Charen wrote, “We are outsourcing torture and murder. What kind of president, what kind of political party, can look at that with satisfaction?” And what American can not at least wonder about their own security?”

Speaking to the “cool” dictator while he was visiting the White House yesterday (and you thought it got weird when Zelensky visited), Donald Trump told President Nayib Bukele (He deserves a “sic” too. Sic) that “home growns” should be next. He said, “The home growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.” By the way, the cool dictator didn’t wear a suit and tie either. See what you started, Elon?

But what does Trump mean by “home growns?” He’s referencing American citizens, even those born in the United States, that he deems to be criminals, and they should be sent to rot in a Salvadoran super-max prison where human rights are not a thing.

Then Trump told reporters, “I just asked the president — it’s this massive complex that he built, jail complex — I said, ‘Can you build some more of them please?’ As many as we can get out of our country.”

He added, “If they’re criminals, and if they hit people with baseball bats over the head that happen to be 90 years old, if they rape 87-year-old women in Coney Island, Brooklyn, yeah, yeah that includes them.” Or, if they testify against you, or do their jobs in the Justice Department in prosecuting people who start insurrections and steal classified documents, or they draw mean cartoons about you, yeah, yeah, that includes them.

The prison Trump is referring to and that he wants duplicated several times over is a so-called “terrorism confinement center” (CECOT). Prisoners are kept in their cells for at least 23-and-a-half hours a day. They are starved and beaten. There’s no fresh water. People are tortured. There have been 368 deaths in the prison, and it’s only been around since 2022.

Trump said, “They’re great facilities. Very strong facilities. They don’t play games.” You know, games like due process, civil rights, and human rights…”games” like that.

Trump claims all the bad people he sent there without due process are gang members. Still, there’s a new report that claims 90 percent are not gang members, including Abrego Garcia, 29, a Maryland father who was sent to El Salvador on March 15, despite a 2019 court order prohibiting the return to his home country for fear of persecution by a gang there.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump regime to bring Garcia back home. The regime has admitted Garcia was mistakenly sent to this gulag, but the regime doesn’t want to bring him back. The dictator, El Salvador’s dictator, not ours, refuses to send Garcia back to the US. The decision by SCOTUS was unanimous. In case you’re a Republican, “unanimous” means all of them. Do you know how rare it is for all nine members of the Supreme Court to agree on anything? They can’t agree on lunch. There was a near revolt the time it was Clarence’s turn to choose, and he picked Blimpies.

So, if the regime can snatch legal residents off the street, then why can’t they do the same to US citizens? You may believe the Constitution protects you, and yeah…it’s supposed to. But the Constitution didn’t protect Abrego Garcia, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mahmoud Khalil, or Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested yesterday during an interview as part of his application for US citizenship. Ozturk, Khalil, and Mahdawi were arrested and then detained in Louisiana for protesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

If you do get snatched up and sent away, you won’t be able to argue for your constitutional rights from a concentration camp in Central America that doesn’t even have toilets. The people who would argue for your rights may not even know you’re missing until you’re swatting at flying buzzy stingy things in a gulag in a Salvadoran mangrove swamp. They have jungles, snakes, giant spiders, crocodiles, gang bangers, and Blimpies down there. You won’t like it. I have two friends from El Salvador, and neither wants to go back…ever. And they weren’t in a concentration camp.

You know how people look at Indiana and say, “I don’t wanna be stuck there.” It’s kinda the same with Latin America and El Salvador. It’s the Indiana of the Americas.

Douglas Dunn, a friend of mine, posted on this cartoon at Facebook, “You are only as legal — you are only as much a U.S. citizen — as the nearest ICE agent (or his boss) says you are, if they can take you WITHOUT DUE PROCESS so you never get the chance to prove you are a citizen.” Doug is a great writer. He writes gooder than I do.

Trump has made it clear that he won’t bring you back, even if a federal court orders it, even if that court is the Supreme Court voting 9-0. Even Clarence and Sammy ordered Trump to bring Garcia back…with some Blimpies.

They can’t really start deporting American citizens, can they?

Last Friday, Nicole Micheroni, an American immigration lawyer born in Massachusetts, received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security (dog-killer Kristi Noem’s agency), saying her parole status has been revoked and she must self-deport within seven days. The letter (which was snail-mailed with a legal stamp and everything, so you know they’re serious) also said if she doesn’t self deport, then the government will take action. The letter ended with, “Again, DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States – the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”

Micheroni made calls and found out the letter was legitimate but intended for someone else. Maybe DHS is practicing for when they do start kicking Americans out of America. But still, if I was Ms. Micheroni, I’d sleep with one eye open for the next seven days, or four years, give or take.

Creative note: I’m never comfortable drawing myself, so consider this kinda-sorta me. When I put myself in a cartoon, I’m afraid I’ll come off as having delusions of grandeur, as though I think I’m important enough that the regime is paying attention to me. I also don’t want to be too kind to myself or even make myself too ugly. I’m still not happy with the self-caricature GoComics is using now (and I never sent this to them. I sent it to Cartooning for Peace. But maybe I should leave it alone in case the regime uses it like a mugshot when they come looking to snatch me off the street and send me to El Salvador.

Music note: I listened to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Are you a Beatles or Stones person? Tell me in the comments. I’m more Beatles than Stones.

Drawn in 30 seconds (Sorry for the earworm): (snip-Go see)

Chunky Cult by Clay Jones

There’s something wrong with Trump’s scale Read on Substack

Rep. Jack Kimble tweeted that “President Trump is now 6’3” 224 pounds with 4.8% body fat. We might lose him to the NFL draft.”

Captain Barbarella, the physician to the president (sic), failed to hide in his memorandum about Donald Trump’s physical that he’s a Trump sycophant. Or at least he failed to hide that he was controlled by a member of the cult.

His doctor’s name is actually Captain Sean Barbabella and NOT Barbarella, the title of the 1968 Jane Fonda space sex movie (I’ve never seen it). If congressman Kimble can accidentally refer to the El Salvadore President Nayib Bukele as President Bukake, I can use Barbarella. Also, I don’t know what “bukake” means because I’m a good boy.

While the report of the exam looks like it was written by a real doctor in most of the details, there are still little bits included to make it political and cultist.

For example, when the memorandum mentions his hearing, it mentions “scarring on the right ear from a gunshot wound,” reminding us that Trump was shot is a superhero to survive it (unlike that sucker standing behind him). The doc also wrote that Trump’s “active lifestyle continues to contribute significantly to his well-being,” with one of those activities being his “frequent victories in golf events,” which makes him “fully fit” to be president (sic).

So it’s not the golfing that makes him physically fit to be president, but the golf victories. See what he did there? It’s like the champion is a Greek Adonis, but all the losers are donut-eating hose beasts. Have you seen John Daly? He also claims he’s 215 pounds.

PICTURE SPECIAL: John Daly shows off dramatic recent weight loss | Daily  Mail Online

Just how physically active is golfing when you don’t walk the course? Trump doesn’t even like stairs. Yes, there are elevators in the White House, and fortunately for Trump, one of them is a freight elevator. That brings us to Trump’s weight.

Captain Barbarella reports that Captain Big Mac only weighs 224 pounds. He also reports that Trump is 75 inches tall, which is six feet and three inches. I call bullshit.

Here’s what the White House released:

Unless you care about the president’s (sic) health (and I do not), it doesn’t matter to you or me what he weighs or how tall he is. What is important is that they’re dishonest. What’s important is the depth into which this regime sinks the cult into the government.

Trump, who is 78, needs to appear as a Superman to his cult. I’m shocked the memo mentions he takes aspirin for cardiac prevention. As we’ve learned, they lie about everything.

Right now, the regime is lying to the Supreme Court by claiming they can’t have a man they illegally snatched off the street and sent to a prison in El Salvador brought back to this country.

When Trump was running for president in 2016, Dr. Harold Bornstein stated that Trump would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” A couple of years later, we learned that Trump had dictated that letter, which didn’t surprise anyone. A doctor should lose his medical license over that. And it wouldn’t surprise us to learn he dictated “224” and “75 inches” to Captain Barbarella and wouldn’t allow him to mention that Trump’s cholesterol is just Big Mac Secret Sauce. His first White House physician was a lying alcoholic lunatic, Dr. Ronny Jackson, who doesn’t practice medicine anymore and is now in a place where he can’t hurt anybody, Congress.

Ronny Jackson claimed that Trump could live to be 200, and judging from the way our luck works, that might be true.

The memo does show that despite spreading debunked lies about vaccines, like his Health Secretary does, Trump is up to date on vaccines.

The part we should care about, and is more absurd than claiming he weighs 224 pounds, is the claim he scored 30 out of 30 on a cognitive test. I checked to be sure the memo didn’t state that he also has hands that are not tiny.

Anyone who believes Trump, the shark boat battery guy, scored 30 out of 30 on a cognitive test needs to take a cognitive test. I don’t believe this doctor would let us know if Trump scored less than 30.

Trump’s last presidential physical had him at 244 pounds. His 2023 arrest in Georgia listed him at 215 (they don’t weigh the prisoners but take their word for how much they weigh), and this exam says he’s 224.

If Trump does weigh 224 pounds, then that’s 224 pounds of walking/talking bullshit.

The one number that’s accurate about Trump is 34, as in 34 felony convictions.

Creative note: I still have a few other ideas I wrote last week that I want to get to, but I knew last night that I needed to cover this today. This idea hit me shortly after I woke up.

Music Note: I listened to The Beatles.

Drawn in 30 Seconds (with music): Sorry for the earworm. (Snip-go see/listen!)

Made Me Crave A Bagel

(As a person who mostly does smile, but is occasionally still told to do so, I appreciate this comic. Meanwhile, as to the bagel, see the first comment just now; or HuckleberryHiroshima’s comment.)

https://www.gocomics.com/freerange/2025/04/15

https://www.gocomics.com/monty/2025/04/15

maga Cage Match

Everything? by Clay Jones

Morons will be morons. Read on Substack

Elon Musk got into a little tiffy-tiff with Peter Navarro, and I have to say, I like seeing these guys destroy each other.

You can’t choose a side between Elon and Navarro. You can only hope both lose. It’s like trying to choose a side during the war between Iraq and Iran (the US picked Iraq), or when the Dallas Cowboys play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or when the Atlanta Braves plays of the two baseball teams in Florida, or a fight between the insurance emu or Flo from Progressive, or Ice T in Carshield commercials vs gutter filter commercials, or a contest between Nickelback and the Kars4Kids song, or a battle between ketchup on hotdogs and Domino’s Pizza.

Side note: I just Googled to make sure it is Ice T in those stupid Carshield commercials, and just because I’m trying to be accurate and informative to serve you, I’m going to get thousand of Carshield ads in all my shit now. You’re welcome.

If you see two fucknuts in MAGA caps in a slap fight, you don’t choose a side, and for the love of god, you don’t break it up. You should get some popcorn and encourage each fighter. “Kick him in the nuts! Yeah, that’s how you do it. Hey, other guy. Are you going to let him get away with kicking you in the nuts like that?”

In case you don’t remember, Peter Navarro is a lying sack of turds. He was the director of the National Trade Council in the first Trump administration (sic), then director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. Now, in Trump 2.0 (sic), he’s senior counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. He’s also the first official from Trump’s White House (sic) to serve time in prison for trying to steal the 2020 election. Now, there are at least two felons in the White House.

This week, Navarro “guaranteed” the Trump tariff war will not bring a recession, just like he guaranteed there wouldn’t be a pandemic from COVID-19. Instead of investing in stocks, I’d rather place wagers on Peter Navarro being wrong about things.

But what’s going on between him and Elon?

Last Saturday, a poster on Twitter/X defended Navarro’s intellect as a voice on trade. This is like when a MAGAt tries to tell us that Trump knows what he’s doing. Navarro is a big part of Trump’s trade policies. Musk replied that Navarro’s Harvard Ph.D. suggested he had more ego than brains and that he “ain’t built shit.”

Musk has criticized Trump’s tariff war, and the two-day stock market crash, before coming back and crashing again, cost Elon at least $18 billion in Tesla stock. It’s kinda difficult to tell someone the tariffs are working when that someone just lost $18 billion because of the tariffs.

Then, Elon addressed an Italian political party (think of Nazis with risotto) by video and said, “Both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America.” That goes against Trump’s stance (for now), whose trade policy is wildly going in the opposite direction.

Navarro, who has been defending Trump’s tariffs, has said Trump’s tariffs will bring in over $600 billion in new annual revenue. That can’t be true at all because Trump is calling on other nations to negotiate, so these tariffs will eventually be reduced, either by negotiations or Trump chickening out because his balls dropped off again. If that is Trump’s intention (not his balls dropping off but reducing the tariffs), then we won’t be getting new revenue every year of $600 billion. But, if we do get $600 billion revenue from these Trump tariffs, it will be from American consumers. Navarro should be capable of understanding this because he has a PhD in economics from Harvard.

Navarro has written a dozen books which most economists call bullshit. Despite Navarro’s PhD from Harvard in economics, he believes a trade war with higher tariffs will allow us to cut more taxes. I don’t have a PhD in economics from Harvard, but I still know that tariffs are taxes on American consumers. Duh.

Navarro and Musk don’t agree on trade. So, after an insult from Elon, Navarro sent one back, saying Elon wasn’t a car manufacturer, just an assembler of parts. Uh oh.

Elon responded to the video (which we don’t need to watch), saying, “Navarro is truly a moron.” He also said Navarro is “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

And then Elon tweeted about 20 more times to defend himself and his shitty cars.

Elon is right about this. Peter Navarro is a moron who is dumber than a sack of bricks, but Elon is a moron, too. Elon is a lying Nazi-supporting moron.

But Elon got the better of this since he told Navarro to consult with economist Ron Vara. Who? Ron Vara is an economist Navarro has quoted in several of his stupid books. The only thing wrong with that is Ron Vara doesn’t exist. It’s an anagram of “Navarro.” Peter Navarro has to quote a fictional economist because he can’t find a real economist who shares his dumbasseconomic beliefs, probably because they’re fucking insane. Navarro is that one guy in the office who’ll advise that today’s lunch should be from Blimpies (I just finished 30 Rock).

Even Elon’s brother, Kimbal, said, “Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high tax American President in generations?” He also said, “Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer.”

This is like Rob Gronkowski knowing FTX cryptocurrency wasn’t real money before Tom Brady lost $30 million in it.

White House spokesgoon Karoline Leavitt was asked about the sparring between Elon and Navarro, and she explained it with, “Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue.”

Oh, yeah. Leavitt is also a moron.

Maybe Trump is getting all of his trade advice from Gronk.

By the way, this is what inspired this cartoon.

Elon Musk Sports New MAGA 'Trump Was Right About Everything' Hat at Cabinet  Meeting

Creative note: I have five ideas in my folder to choose from for the next few days. I felt this would be the best for today. This cartoon was so quick to draw that the files of it that I sent to my clients may be the smallest I’ve ever sent. The files with crowd scenes and lots of Easter eggs are huge.

Music note: I listened to Queens of the Stone Age.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see it! It’s fun.)

Peace & Justice History for 4/10

April 10, 1516
In what was the first ghetto, Jews in Venice, Italy, were forced to live in a specific, restricted area of the city known as Campo del Ghetto Nuovo. The word “ghetto” comes from the Venetian word “geto,” meaning foundry. Prior to becoming an exclusively Jewish neighborhood, the Venice ghetto was the site of a foundry.
After its establishment the city’s Jews, who were allowed to attend to their business during the day (though required to wear a yellow badge or scarf indicating their religion), were forced to return to the ghetto where gates were locked to keep them inside overnight.
Venice also restricted the living quarters of Germans and Turks, all to satisfy the demands of the Roman Catholic Church.


The site of the Ghetto Nouvo today
April 10, 1971
Ninety-year-old Jeannette Rankin, the first female member of Congress (R-Montana), and the only one to vote against U.S. entry into both World Wars, led 8000 in protest of the Vietnam War in a women’s peace march on the Pentagon.
 
April 10, 1972

Charlie Chaplin received an honorary Oscar for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.” The British native’s political views had previously been criticized, as had been his failure to apply for U.S. citizenship.
Pressed for back taxes and accused of supporting subversive causes during the McCarthy era, Chaplin left the United States in 1952.Informed that he would not be welcomed back, he retorted, “I wouldn’t go back there if Jesus Christ were president.” He returned briefly from exile, however, to accept this award and received the longest standing ovation in Academy Award history, lasting a full five minutes.

Charlie Chaplin, one of PBS’s American Masters 
April 10, 1981
The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention) started gathering signatures of nations willing to abide by its limitations.
Currently, 109 countries have agreed to ban or limit munitions that cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants, or affect civilians indiscriminately. So far the restrictions cover mines, booby traps, incendiary weapons (such as Napalm) and blinding laser weapons.
This Life photograph of a naked child running down a street in Vietnam screaming in agony captures the effects of Napalm. Nick Ut’s photograph of Kim Phuk, taken in 1972, won the Pulitzer Prize ( Associated Press).

Not all country signatories have agreed to all its provisions
How militaries think about incendiary weapons
April 10, 1994
France, Belgium, the U.S., among other countries airlifted their nationals out of Rwanda as the wholesale slaughter of Tutsis at the hands of the Hutu majority proceeded. Rwandan employees of Western governments were left behind.
The International Red Cross was already estimating the death toll in the tens of thousands.
April 10, 1998
The Northern Ireland peace talks ended with an historic accord—called the Good Friday Agreement—reached after nearly two years of talks and 30 years of conflict. Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine) was chair of the talks which established a Northern Irish Assembly for both the Irish Catholic republicans and the British Anglican unionists.

Senator George Mitchell

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryapril.htm#april10

Fun and Cooking 🍴

I don’t even remember where I ran across this last night, but here it is; enjoy!

Open Windows

Trump medicine by Ann Telnaes

A spoon full of poison makes America go down Read on Substack

A Topical Humor(ish) Two-fer on Tuesday

Trump Wins! by Clay Jones

Trump wins another golf tournament while the world burns Read on Substack

Donald Trump spent the weekend in his “billionaire bubble,” as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer likes to say (he’s not always ridiculous), avoiding the stock market crash he created with his stupid tariffs, a ceremony honoring four soldiers who died in a training accident in Lithuania (which Trump couldn’t find on a map), and hundreds of thousands of Americans in every state protesting his administration.

Sometimes you want to get away, but Trump didn’t take Southwest. He took Air Force One (sic) to South Florida to play golf…again. So far, taxpayers have spent $26 million for Trump to play golf since his inauguration (sic). He’s on track to surpass the $151.5 million we paid for him to play golf during his first term (sic).

Naturally, Trump played on a course he owns so he can collect the money the government spends for him to play golf there. He also made an appearance at a LIV tournament hosted at one of his resorts, which was paid for by Saudi Arabia. Remember when Republicans accused Biden of collecting money from foreign governments without any proof? How many howled this weekend about Trump doing business with the Saudis? Too many to count, right? That was sarcasm.

Trump also played in a tournament, which he said he won. The White House announced with “BREAKING,” that he won the Senior Club Championship at his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.

When asked by a reporter how the tournament went, Trump said, “Very good because I won. It’s good to win. You heard I won, right? Did you hear I won? Just to back it up from there, I won. I like to win.” He was then asked about his handicap, which was clearly displayed when he said “he won” 17 times.

Trump did answer, “Very low. I have a very low handicap.” OK, maybe he didn’t answer. This is like in the film Rain Man, when Raymond Babbitt says, “I’m an excellent driver,” which had only been done in his driveway, much like Trump being a good golfer only on his courses. This win is as suspicious as The Grinch winning the Who’s Christmas Cheer Award.

This golf win is amazing because it’s Trump’s third win this year. That’s three tournament wins within four months. Trump is on golf fire because he won two tournaments last year, and he didn’t even play the first round in one of those. He won two other tournaments two years ago. Of course, all these wins were on his golf courses. He’s not just winning tournaments as he was also voted the 2024 Trump International Golf Club Most Improved Player. He’s 78 years old, and he’s improving?

That would be like me winning the Clay Jones 2024 Most Awesome Cartoonist in the World award. I could probably say something like Trump did: “Such a great honor!”

What’s weird about all these tournament wins is that there are never any videos of them. Even the photo Laura Loomer posted on Twitter/X, to suck up to Trump, was taken from a long distance, meaning an amateur took it because they wouldn’t allow a real photojournalist near the “tournament.”

Image

Even those palm trees had to sign an NDA. Why didn’t they just take the photo from the International Space Station?

Rick Reilly, the author of Commander In Cheat, tweeted in all caps after a Trump tournament win last month, “REALLY? THAT’S AMAZING, SIR! CONGRATS TO YOU, THE CADDIES WHO KICK YOUR BALL OUT OF THE ROUGH, THE STOOLIES WHO LET YOU WIN OR GET THROWN OUT OF THE CLUB, THE SPINELESS PRO AT YOUR CLUB WHO DOESN’T WANT TO GET FIRED, AND THE 100S OF FEET OF GIMMIES YOU GIVE YOURSELF! BRAVO!

After that “win,” Reilly said, “He’s never won a championship at a course he doesn’t own and operate. He’s played in Pebble Beach. He’s played in the Tahoe one, where there are rules and judges and cameras. And in those, he’s never finished in the top half. So, he wins when anybody who disagrees that he won is out of the club. That’s how he gets it.”

Reilly also said that Trump has a “turbo-charged golf cart” so he can get ahead of the competition and put some distance between him and his opponents, giving him “time to cheat.”

Think about it. Other golfers who share Trump’s politics see the president of the United States (sic) kicking the ball on a course he owns and then winning the tournament aren’t going to call him out. Trump once stole a child’s golf ball, and when the kid tried to speak up, his father silenced him. For Republicans, it’s OK if Trump steals little boys’ balls.

After Trump’s win in January, Shark Tank host and Trump sycophant Kevin O’Leary tweeted the announcement saying Trump won with a “sizzling” round of 68, later saying, “It was a great day.” Except when Trump’s name was posted at the top of the leaderboard, all the players and attendees were taken by surprise because nobody had seen Trump that day. How “sizzling” is it to win a tournament you didn’t play in? How fast is that golf cart?

The point of all this is just how petty Trump is and that it’s supported and enabled by his cult and staff. The White House and Laura Loomer are sending him congratulations like these things are real. Is there someone assigned to applaud every morning when he successfully puts his pants on all by himself? I’m surprised the White House doesn’t announce, “BREAKING!” every time he wipes his own ass (does he?). His golf “wins” are about as transparent as DOGE. There’s as much evidence of Trump’s tournament “wins” as there’s evidence of 200-year-olds collecting Social Security.

The other point is how obtuse and out of touch he is with the country. While the economy is tanking and people are protesting in every city and soldiers are being buried, he’s kissing Saudi ass and pretending to play golf.

Trump’s golf resorts need fewer bed bugs and more alligators.

Creative note: I’ve seen way too many cartoons with the graph arrow-thingy being Trump’s tie. Just be glad I didn’t do a mind-if-I-play-through cartoon.

Music note: I didn’t listen to any music today, but did I mention I lost my Airpods in Washington? I’m still bummed about it.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see)

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