CSotD: Friday Roundup
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Jennings provides an overview of Trump’s adventure in Iran that emphasizes all the ways it was mishandled and winds up where most observers feel it did: With Iran at least “emboldened” if not actually stronger than before, though emboldened includes knowing they can turn the world’s economies on their heads by shutting down Hormuz.
Though it should be considered that nations within the Gulf have likely taken the lesson to heart and, while sailing through the straits will remain the most efficient and economic way of doing business with the world beyond the Sea of Oman, they’ve begun planning means of circumventing another shutdown, .
Varvel brings up a failed goal that hasn’t received a lot of attention, which is that Trump had expected to overthrow the Supreme Council and allow the Iranian people to create a new government.
It proved to be impractical, but while others — myself included — have been pointing out that the current rulers aren’t swayed by dissidents, having slaughtered an estimated 30,000 who participated in demonstrations against them, Varvel is one of the few who show some pity for them.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) condemned the memo as “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” which indicates how the rightwing feels about Trump’s agreement, but then said “Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” which ignores how Reagan reportedly negotiated with the mullahs to keep the hostages captive until Carter had lost the election and later sold them arms as a secret ransom for Hezbollah hostages.
Varvel is right to mourn the plight of Iranian civilians, but conservatives are going to have to sort out what just happened. The midterms are five months away, and Israel and Hezbollah are already violating the ceasefire.
As the midterms loom, Republicans are facing one of those misunderstandings that is likely to persist and prove impossible to shake off.
Trump attempted to bat it down, but wrote “million” instead of “billion,” and put the denial on Truth Social, where the bulk of attention it gets will be from his cult members. Iran’s agreement not to have nuclear weapons was already established before the war, and he’d have done better to explain to a wider audience that the $300 billion is to mostly be raised from Persian Gulf states, not the US treasury.
I very much doubt they’ll be able to get this straightened out in the public mind before November, if ever.
“Does he know that the Treaty of Versailles led to the Second World War?”
There’s been a lot of chuckling over Trump having signed the memo at Versailles, where the treaty ending WWI was signed, though he signed in the palace while the 1918 treaty was signed in a railway car. Pez isn’t the only cartoonist to note that the famous treaty eventually led to WWII.
But it’s not so funny if you look into the history a little deeper and see how the signatories argued over Germany’s reparations and other details following the end of the war, and consider the degree to which the victors humiliated the losers with punishing demands, and how that process contributed to the rise of the Third Reich.
It would sure be nice if this nonspecific memo of understanding were to transmute into a detailed and reasonable treaty rather then festering like a gangrenous wound as that earlier, indistinct Versailles agreement did.
Molina presents a segue from a major disaster into a smaller but no less embarrassing one, and cartoonists have had a festival making fun of Trump’s attempt to “fix” the reflecting pool on the National Mall.
He drew this upon himself, because (A) nobody thought the thing needed fixing and (B) he did enough prideful boasting and premature football-spiking over it that it needed to be perfect if he wasn’t going to look like a nincompoop.
Not only was painting it blue a dumb-with-a-B idea, but he handed the contract to a pal instead of putting it up for bid and then the thing filled with algae, which they attempted to fix by pouring in hydrogen peroxide, which didn’t kill the algae but did cause the blue paint to peel.
The Iran debacle cost lives, international standing and billions of dollars, while the multiple desecrations of the White House are too sad to laugh about, and sticking his name up on the Kennedy Center was more insulting than funny. This was diffo.
The pool rehabilitation was so foolish and badly done that not only did it spur a cascade of Creature From The Black Lagoon cartoons and memes, but gave de Adder a fulcrum by which to hoist a commentary on the chaos and destruction we’ve seen from this administration, most of which isn’t funny, so that this ridiculous situation allows everyone to enjoy a good laugh.
Neither blue nor green but what a maroon!
Elsewhere in the Idiocracy, when the SF Giants issued special caps for Pride Night, a couple of players wrote Biblical citations on them to indicate their disapproval.
Since Major League Baseball — like most leagues — doesn’t let players put personal messages on their uniforms, they got notes from the league office reminding them of the rule. No fines, no punishment, just a reminder.
And the Christian Taliban has exploded, flooding Xitter with outrage over this war on God and His People and the First Amendment, since apparently they don’t follow sports and have no idea of how many players have faced punishment for adding personal messages like “Hi Mom!” to their uniforms.
This falls under the category of “You can’t possibly be that hateful and stupid,” but the Xitterites who aren’t bots or working in overseas troll farms are precisely that hateful and stupid and will vote in November.
You’d better, too.
Let’s Brighten the Mood!
Amid all the swimming pool tributes to the late David Hockney, Baron leaves a thoughtful reminder that the world still has some good in it.
Now here’s a song I once played for a Juneteenth gathering of Black people who were old enough not to have heard of Phil Ochs or Bob Gibson. What a privilege it was to see them hear it for the first time!
Keep the faith.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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