Ramen Noodle Nation: The Highwayman Returns...With A New Cartoon Series: "Vergogna!" (Takes I-IV)

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

The Highwayman Returns...With A New Cartoon Series: "Vergogna!" (Takes I-IV)

<Take I>

It's been awhile since our favorite cartoonist, The Highwayman, has been heard from around these parts...but when he sent these over flying over the transom, here at Ramen Noodle Nation, I figured, we had to get on our hands on them, and run them!

This series of cartoons, of course, refers to the scandal that surfaced around Supreme/Extreme Court "Justice" Sam Alito and Martha-Ann, his combative, rabidly pro-Trump spouse, who couldn't keep those instincts in check -- as she sparred with her neighbor's rainbow-friendly flag, hence, her freewheeling use of the Italian word for "shame". Which, as you'll see, means something a bit different in this context, right?

<Take II>

When I asked The Highwayman, "But isn't this old news by now?", he responded: "Not if you care about what happens when power gets wrapped up in a politically toxic cocktail of naked self-interest.

"What made the whole business notable, for me -- aside from Martha Alito's comically pugilistic streak, which is extreme, even for that bunch -- is the sheer thin-skinned nature of these high-profile, powerful people, who always seem to want it both ways.

"They want us to relentlessly adore them, and preserve them in amber from any sort of criticism, even as they see nothing wrong with injecting their real attitudes into rulings that seem designed to strip people of more and more rights.

<Take III>

For good measure, the Highwayman added: "It's an ethic of subordination and domination, one that their so-called 'originalist' view has no problem unleashing -- to which I respond with Abraham Lincoln's celebrated truism: 'Public sentiment is everything.' One way or another...our time is coming!"

To which I could only respond: "Fair enough!" And so, here comes this latest salvo. Ponder the images, read the links, and ask yourselves the relevant questions, starting with the million dollar one: "Should be people who hold so much power be allowed to mix personal business and pleasure, to such a self-aggrandizing extent?"

And, last but not least, this question from Lauren Windsor (see Politico link): Is it a bigger ethics problem for me to pretend like I’m a fangirl, or is it a bigger ethics problem for them to accept millions of dollars of undisclosed gifts from GOP donors? Obviously this is what I believe, but maybe the media and others — instead of pearl-clutching — should be trying to get more answers from the court and more accountability."

Food for thought, as they say, isn't it?--The Reckoner