The relentless corgi stampede continues, and Dr. MacLeod comments on the lack of imagination and creativity that it represents.
I know cartoonists who say they never look at each other’s work because they don’t want to be influenced, which, on the one hand, is like Andy Warhol saying he never looked at Hopper or Dali or Picasso. As far as I know, he never said that.
Given the short deadlines, it makes a bit of sense, I suppose. But my response is that you could sketch your idea and then look around to see how many other people have drawn corgis in mourning or weeping imperial lions or bereft guardsmen or queens meeting up with their late husbands on clouds.
Though, granted, obituary cartoons tend to be interchangeable to begin with, and moreso when they’re all about the same person.
And she did love her corgis.
A few QE2 memorials deserve commentary, however.
Patrick Chappatte, for instance, points out that Charlie and his consort are not exactly spring chickens, which isn’t much of a surprise, given how long we’ve speculated about whether the Queen was going to outlive her son. But, then again, who expects kings to be young anyway?
One of the keys to a long reign is to start early, and both Elizabeths gained their thrones at 25, while Victoria was only 18, and the record-holder, Louis XIV, was five, though he didn’t actually take power until he was 23. But, in each case, their youth was remarkable.
So Charles is 73, which would presage a short reign except his mother made 96, his father made 99 and the Queen Mum got to 101, so let’s not start sketching our next set of corgis quite yet.
Youth may be wasted on the young, but crowns are not always so, and young monarchs are nearly as rare as people who can stand Camilla, though God knows she’s better than the Duchess of Windsor, but, then again, Charlie wouldn’t be standing on that balcony if anyone had approved of the Duchess of Windsor.
William may turn out to be a good king one day, at which point the press may possibly stop referring to his wife by her maiden name, but he’s not likely to be a young monarch and would be well-advised not to stand on one leg waiting for his chance.
On to more substantive matters, with this
Juxtaposition of the Day
Simonelli is one of several observers to point out that the Queen was a decent person, though I’m not sure how much difference it made, given how little actual governmental power she had anyway. The days of being able to snick off people’s heads are well passed, though I suppose politics do come into it at some point. After all, she wouldn’t have been in line for the throne if her uncle, King Edward VIII, hadn’t been so fond of Nazis.
Darrin Bell voices another opinion, based on the fact of monarchy rather, I hope, than the particular monarch he’s dissing. She barely came to the throne in time for the Mau Mau horrors of Kenya and can’t be blamed for what happened in India or, god knows, here.
She was more like Mickey Mouse than the actual rodents in your cupboard, and, while I think the whole notion of monarchy is kind of silly, Martyn Turner is closer to the roots of the problem. Margaret Thatcher and Sunny Jim Callaghan are the people to blame for much of the horrors in his native Ireland over the past half century, and we really couldn’t have expected someone reduced to the level of a tourist attraction to effectively intervene in that tangled mess.
Turner, and I think most other Irish, acknowledge that the Queen herself was a decent sort, and, as for American viewpoints, I defer to the Duchess of Wofford, who said, “I don’t know. I only came across here to see the changin’ of the guards and all that jazz.”
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall
As for politics that Americans can, or at least should, comprehend, a number of people, including Ann Telnaes, are celebrating the arrest and indictment of Steve Bannon, who was protected by a federal pardon from Dear Leader, but remains vulnerable to New York’s prosecution for his theft of money from people who trusted him.
An interesting development given how the MAGAts have been rallying around the concept of states’ rights in other matters.
Greg Sargent offers a searing, delightfully revealing look at this unrepentant grifter, which ought to infuriate and horrify his victims, except that (A) they won’t see anything that runs in the Washington Post and (B) they wouldn’t believe anything in the Post anyway and (C) they’re pigeons.
However, if corgis seemed an obvious cartooning trope, so do walls, and, while I found corgis tiresome and maudlin, I get a great deal of amusement out of this
Juxtaposition of the Day
The idea of a fellow getting to spend time behind a wall for having defrauded innocent people over a wall he did nothing to build goes far beyond the normal delights of schadenfreude, though I realize he’s still a rich white-collar chiseler and probably won’t wind up behind anything quite like these.
Still, it’s lovely to dream.
I used to drive through Dannemora regularly, and Clinton Correctional Facility is built right on the side of the main road, so you get to contemplate those looming walls and guard towers from about 15 feet away. You can also consider the facility’s impressive alumni association, and I would note that, when I looked for that, Google informed me that Clinton is closed now but opens at 8:30.
I can assure you, it most certainly does not.
The few people I know who have been inside report that it’s not a nice place to visit and you wouldn’t want to live there.
However, I’m quite sure that, even if Mr. Bannon can’t wriggle out of his charges, he’ll find a more congenial spot to spend his time, which leaves me of two minds, since, on the one hand, nobody should have to live like that, while, on the other, Steve Bannon should.
Though I certainly wouldn’t want the poor fellow to have to be in there all alone.
I watched the YT video of he and Camilla walking along, looking at all the flowers outside Buckingham Palace. I can imagine the memories of Diana’s tributes going thru his head. I noticed that 1) he was walking already like an old man; and 2) Camilla wasn’t walking behind him as she is supposed to. I guess she’ll have to practice doing that.
And, when he gave his first speech, all I could think of was the [hacked] phone calls between him and Camilla, whilst he was still married . . . I dunno, the males of that generation of the family seem rather stupid.
A Pet Peeve (pardon the pun) of mine has been showing the corgis on THIS side of the pearly gates. All but four would be on the OTHER side of the pearly gates (or the Rainbow Bridge) awaiting her; none would be walking with her to standing, waiting to go in.
The only meme/comic I really liked was her walking away from those watching her, holding hands with Paddington Bear (from the humorous video of the Jubilee), and a corgi by her side.
Steve Bannon, et al., might have been able to avoid this bout of unpleasantness by setting up paid fundraisers to call on behalf of an organization similar to the [law enforcement organization] that regularly phone me, and eventually admit, if pressed hard enough or if you call another number, that no less than seven percent of the money will go to the organization and the rest is kept by the fundraisers for overhead. I’m not sure why the practice is legal, but I don’t think they’ve been shut down yet.
The most underrated Animals cut.
Thanks for that.
Put Steverino in with the general population at Riker’s Island. He’ll have Weaselberg for company.
Unfortunately, it’ll only take on MAGAnut on the jury to cause a mistrial.