Joe Biden says the darnedest things
Shared Famous Last Words: I Can’t Breathe
George Floyd isn’t the first guy whose last words at the hands of the police were “I can’t breathe.” Eric Garner said the same in 2014 as his breath slipped away while being choked by a cop.
Famous Last Words
Both men were big and black, and protests and riots soon followed. But that’s not all they had had in common. Garner was busted for selling single untaxed cigarettes. In Floyd’s case it was passing an allegedly fake $20 bill.
The Fed has printed fake money to the tune of $3 trillion just since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maybe racism isn’t the only thing here to take your breath away.
What do You get for not Playing Your Music
I got this “what do you get for not playing?” idea from a WSJ piece by Gregg Opelka, a musical-theater composer-lyricist.
We’re all Marxists now. Not Karl, Groucho. There’s a famous sketch in “Animal Crackers” (1930) in which Groucho (as Captain Spaulding) quizzes Chico (Signor Emanuel Ravelli) on how much money the band gets paid. “What do you fellas get an hour?” Groucho asks. “For playing we get $10 an hour,” Chico replies.
Groucho presses: “I see. What do you get for not playing?” “For not playing we get $12 an hour. . . . Now for rehearsing, we make special rate. That’s $15 an hour.” Groucho: “That’s for rehearsing? And what do you get for not rehearsing?” Chico: “You couldn’t afford it. You see, if we don’t rehearse, we don’t play. And if we don’t play, that runs into money.”
Then he goes on about his real life friend.
I have a musician friend, Jim. He plays the bass. Jim is a talented man, and his gigging takes many forms—studio recording as well as live performance. As has happened to so many, his entire livelihood dried up overnight in mid-March. After filing for unemployment relief, he was grateful to receive the bulk of his lost weekly income but equally surprised by the unexpected $600-a-week bonus.
Without auditioning for it, Jim has become an unofficial member of Signor Ravelli’s Animal Crackers orchestra. He recently complained, only half ironically, that he doesn’t know how he’ll make ends meet once he can work again.
Gregg Opelka, Wall Street Journal
Twitter Peckers Comments it Finds Offensive
Twitter isn’t the government, but it can be a pain in the ass.
The all knowing head pecker of sensitivity briefly suspended the popular cartoon battleground site Counterpoint. Nick Anderson is taking credit for his cartoon being the cause. The rest of us will have to try harder.
But we must be doing something right. Counterpoint is tweeting again with more subscribers than ever.
Be subversive. Sign up now!
Latest Episode of Pelosi / Trump Counterpoint
The latest episode of Pelosi / Trump Counterpoint played out last week when Nancy shed crocodile tears over Donald’s “morbid obesity” and he called her a “sick woman”.
As it happens, I’ve joined a new cartoon venture called Counterpoint. The idea is for two cartoonists – liberal vs conservative – to face off each day in the Counterpoint newsletter. My cartoon appeared opposite Chris Britt on Wednesday.
Pelosi / Trump Counterpoint
You might call it the Jane, You Ignorant Slut edition of Counterpoint.
| “I could easily have been one of the guys in Chris’s bar. I’m distancing skeptical, but couldn’t pass up drawing Pelosi’s “morbidly obese” jab at Trump. Harvey Korman and Tim Conway couldn’t have done it better last week. Eighty-year-old Nancy Pelosi could barely contain herself as she expressed concern for “her” president’s health. Taking hydroxychloroquine at his age? Imagine that! And his weight group… you know, morbidly obese. I thought she’d crack up laughing before she got the words out to Anderson Cooper. And then her surprise to find out Trump was so thin-skinned about the whole thing (he called her “a sick woman”). I’d love to see Nancy and Donald together in Chris Britt’s bar at closing time.” |
