Who Sent That Spoiled Ham Sandwich To Normandy?

 

Why Settle For A Ham Sandwich?
Make It A PUNK Sandwich!
<Ramen Noodle Nation:
https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/2018/06/punk-rock-art-photo-punk-sandwich.html

"Whatever happens, I'd better not see
any fishing boats, trying to sneak up on me..."

Pete Hegseth contemplates future war crimes
on D-Day's 82nd anniversary
(France 24/Facebook)

The dust has barely settled from "Defense Secretary" Pete Hegseth's speech at an American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, with the usual disastrous results. Officially, he'd been invited as a US government representative to help mark the anniversary of the Normandy beach landings on June 6, 1944, which marked the first direct blow against Adolf Hitler, and the 1,000-year Reich he so assiduously envisioned. Though Hitler and his sycophants clung fiercely to dreams of "wonder weapons" that would turn around their flagging fortunes, the people that they'd ruled for so long already knew the reality -- the game was up.

Normally, these ceremonies serve as a solemn reminder of the enormous human cost required to pry Hitler's iron grip off continental Europe. For the major players involved, that first day alone resulted in 6,601 US casualties, including 2,501 deaths; 2,700 British casualties, including roughly a thousand deaths; and between 4,000 to 9,000 German troops killed, wounded, or missing.

These figures are separate, and distinct, from the broader battles that raged in and around Normandy, from June 6, through August 1944. Allied forces suffered an estimated 226,000 casualties, including over 73,000 killed, while German losses wound up considerably higher, with 200,000 to 400,000 troops. The fighting also claimed the lives of 14,000 to 20,000 French civilians.

It takes figures like these to appreciate the statistical reality that marked the final phase of World War II, whose last year proved to be its deadliest. But none of these things seemed to interest Hegseth -- whom we'll address, henceforth, by our preferred nickname, "Ham Sandwich" -- who seemed bent on scoring points for his equally unhinged boss, and the xenophobic hobby horse they rode in on:

“Beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not." 

That "Secretary" Ham Sandwich uses a code word ("invasion") referenced in speeches by the likes of Trump, Texas's whack job Governor, Greg Abbott -- and bygone fellow travelers from other eras, like Enoch Powell, or former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who opted for the phrase, "rather swamped") -- is hardly accidental. To fellow believers, it signals, "We get you"; to opponents, it threatens, "Wait and see what plans we have for you."

That being said, it's hard to see the linkage between immigration-related issues, and World War II, unless you're a Nazi fan, and see the outcome as unfair to the Third Reich. Then again, given the white power sheen attributed to the tattoos plastered liberally across Ham Sandwich's body, it only seems to fair to ask -- who invited him? 

Because, honestly, allowing an unhinged character of this sort -- one variously accused of alcohol indulgence, stealing funds from veterans' organizations, and sexual harassment, all before Trump's Republican enablers in Congress gave him the job -- is like praying that your drunken uncle won't moon your guests at the wedding ceremony, and finish with his favorite party piece of dropping his pants, as he treats everyone to a sodden rendition of "The Macarena."  (You can read the reviews for yourself below.)

Surely, France could have shut its doors to Ham Sandwich, and said, "Until you behave like an actual, honest-to-goodness human, we find it best that you stay on the beach -- not our beach, on Normandy. Your beach." After all, what did anyone gain from the whole belligerent display, one that also featured tone-deaf, leaden pot shots of this sort:

"Each nation pulled its weight; each nation bled. America will lead — and we must — but capable allies must be right there with us, shoulder to shoulder, in the breach, when it matters."

Coming from a government representative whose leader openly mulls purchasing (Greenland), invading (Cuba, Mexico) or bullying his neighbors (Canada), making a statement of the above sort really takes a great deal of chutzpah, doesn't it? Especially when we ponder that Trump bought his way out of Vietnam, thanks to a friendly doctor who certified him as medically unfit to serve -- even Ham Sandwich, for all his considerable shortcomings, retired from US Army in 2021, following an 18-year career that saw him deployed to Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Still, it's hard to fathom why the Europeans allowed themselves -- once again -- to be used as a punching bag for the Trump regime's pugilistic windmilling, all of it in service to imposing its mindless will on everyone else, democracy be damned; or, failing that goal, relentlessly airing its grievances and pursuing all manner of enemies under every bush and stem, real or imagined.

The reality of that situation makes a mockery of local leaders' pleas to set political differences aside, in the name of a historical gravitas ("It is not that we particularly like the man, but this is first and foremost a commemoration for the veterans") that Ham Sandwich seemed hellbent on undermining through his so-called speech, such as it was. We don't allow the crank at the park to go off on visitors, so why should Ham Sandwich enjoy the same privileges, simply because his name carries a title in front of it?

Or, perhaps, take a different approach. Let him show up, let him do his thing, and run the results on TV -- preferably, with a laugh track inserted at the appropriate moments. Then, at least, we could leave viewers to make up their own minds about whether it's appropriate to allow similar spectacles to take hold in the future.  (Or, we can contemplate a third alternative, similar to how current publishers treat Hitler's literary "masterpiece," Mein Kampf -- run the offending material, but with an extended opposing commentary, to ensure appropriate context.)

But either way, the more we normalize Ham Sandwich, and those like him, the more trouble we invite in the future. Imagine an even more militarist-minded official arriving at some future D-Day comemmoration, complete with a swastika plastered across his face, wearing an Iron Cross necklace in place of the usual tie, and SS-issue, knee-high jackpots, leaving those assembled to murmur among themselves: "Hey, remember when that Yank showed up to bitch us all out? At least didn't look like that. Those were the good old days, eh?"

Conversely, the sooner we stop normalizing the likes of Ham Sandwich, and the petty behavior he displays of an angry teenage boy, still stuck in the act-out stage -- the sooner we can get out from under the shadow of the Trump era, and start the resulting De-Trumpification, just as Europe had to undergo Denazification, to ensure its re-entry back into the family of nations. 

Even so, for all the aggrievement on display, Ham Sandwich's anti-European tirade contained one kernel of truth:

"We forgot that freedom is not free. We forgot that peace is not wished into being. It is bought with purpose, with honor and with strength. The men who landed on these beaches knew this; the question we ask ourselves is, do we?"

Perhaps Ham Sandwich and his cohorts may get to ponder the meaning of that phrase, in full, if -- and when -- the tide finally turns on this madness, and he ends up tried for war crimes of the sort committed against those Caribbean fishing boats, perhaps.

But it's also a fair question that we should never stop asking ourselves, especially as we begin contemplating just what, exactly, should a post-Trump era should look like. Because the men who did pull their weight -- those who died on the beaches, who gave their lives in the struggle against Nazism, instead of spending all their spare time on the I'm-such-a-tough-guy cosplay so beloved among the far right -- expect nothing less. Let us hope that we're up to the task. --The Reckoner


Links To Go (Just Watch The Ghosts
Of Normandy, Turning In Their Graves):

AOL.com: French Villagers Say 
"Non Merci" To Hegseth...:
https://www.aol.com/articles/french-villagers-non-merci-hegseth-015302000.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALNEXeWzlamEiKZTYrjY8nCgLR1ypLXjb8rxszyfardXX5rp6pxoU2pUcrL4PDFGFVxGSf-FasvKC0KZlfsTwhSCt74ZXsmAHdVlEkuckUZ88WnlKUyFxze6mQl-h4Xhr8uIYIeKyEtG9A0woG25Yf2apcTdAyxkDrUI7r5Mkn_X

Steve Ahlquist Substack: "Secretary Of War" Hegseth
Receives Chilly Welcome In Quonset:
https://steveahlquist.substack.com/p/secretary-of-war-hegseth-recieves
(Not about D-Day, but chock full of great photos that sum up the man!)

The Guardian: Pete Hegseth's D-Day Speech
On Immigration Condemned As "Grotesque Stupidity":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/07/pete-hegseth-d-day-speech-immigration-grotesque-stupidity

<"Punk Sandwich (Reimagined)|"/The Reckoner>

"We're looking for a better world, but what do we see?
Just hatred, poverty, aggression, misery.
So much money spent on war,
When three-quarters of the world is so helplessly poor.

"Major General Despair sits at his desk,
Planning a new mode of attack,
He's quite unconcerned about chance or risk,
The Major General's a hard nut to crack."
<Crass, "Major General Despair,"
Christ: The Album (1982)>

<"Pentagon Pete: The View From Here"/The Reckoner>

Know Your Rights In ICE Encounters: A Handy Visual Reminder

 

Thinking the unthinkable is part and parcel of the Trump era. Hardly surprising, then, to come across this flyer at the local library, stacked alongside all the other usual fare -- the free community papers, health programs, holiday parades, and so on. No comments not explanations needed, nor required. It's readily available online, but one more outlet surely can't hurt, right?

Especially when we consider one other important point. While the flounder-lipped Kristi Noem, and her oily boy toy, Corey Lewandowski, they of the Department of Homeland Security, and its sister agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- the infamous agency they ran like a medieval fiefdom, continues to go about its business. Gone are the horrific images of masked goons combing the streets for prey, egged on by their now-retired, green fatigue-clad henchman, Greg Bovino -- for the moment., at least. 

The faces of the Trump regime's xenophobic crackdown efforts are off the radar, which doesn't hold true for their targets. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, one of countless innocents snatched off the streets, faces appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the price of avoiding rearrest.

Khalil's counterpart, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, won a major legal victory this weekend, after a federal judge tossed out human smuggling charges against him, on grounds of vindictive prosecution -- since he too is challenging the federal government's attempts to deport him. The feds, of course, are appealing the judge's action, which they're blasting as "naked judicial activism" -- an odd twist of phrase for the maximalist-minded master they serve, who openly flaunts his abuses of power at every turn.

The overall volume of arrests averages 900 to 1,000 per day nationwide, well short of the 3,000 figure so desired by Trump's key henchman, Stephen Miller -- but enough to underscore the regime's ongoing attempt to impose its will, however it can, wherever it can. About half occur in custodial situations -- inmates already sitting in local, state or federal lockups -- with the remainder spread out over at-large roundups, or immigration status check-ins at ICE field offices.

These trends point at the resolve of Noem's successor, Markwayne Mullin, to take ICE off the front pages, in favor of a lower-key, more targeted approach. It doesn't make him a candidate for sainthood. Neither does it suggest that Mulli's in danger of finding his softer, fluffier side -- let alone his cohort, David Venturella, the former GEO prison executive tapped as acting director of DHS's sister agency, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Just what we need to restore public confidence, right? The face of a for-profit prison company, who also showered Trump's 2024 campaign with fountains of cash. Still, on that subject, one other piece of unfinished business is worth noting -- and that's the fate of ICE's plan to warehouse all its unfortunate fish, figuratively and literally, into massive holding pens, modeled along Amazon's lines.

But Noem's grand vision remains on hold, per Mullin's orders, as he works out what portions of it -- if any -- should go forward. That's because activists have found a potent new tool to slow the Trump regime's plans to rebrand communities into major deportation hubs, as the New York Times reports (see link below) -- the environmental review.

For example, a federal judge has blocked ICE's plans to retrofit a warehouse in Williamsport, MD, into a holding pen capable of housing 500 to 1,500 detainees. U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson held that ICE hadn't fully considered key requirements of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) -- which mandates a closer look at the "potential environmental impact of significant federal actions," the Times reported.

If the possibility exists, however remotely, a more rigorous review is then required -- which typically takes months to complete. What seems like politically expedient red raw meat in 2026 may well give off a fouler odor, once the winds start blowing, whether this fall, or in 2028 -- as communities start pushing back, and force the cancellation or sidelining of such ghastly projects.

A judge in Michigan canceled a similar preliminary injunction that would have temporarily halted similar retrofitting plans for a warehouse in Romulus, Bloomberg Law reports. The lawsuit in that case alleges that one sewer line isn't nearly enough for 500 projected detainees, for a building that's sitting on top of a floodplain. Similar pushbacks are proceeding in Arizona and New Jersey, raising headaches that authorities might well have avoided, as Hurson stated, in his ruling:

“Had D.H.S. done so, it likely would have found that the rapid transformation of a cargo-processing facility with four toilets and two water fountains into a temporary residence and workplace for hundreds, if not thousands, would jeopardize the health and safety of the surrounding ecosystem in myriad ways, most notably through the likely overtaxing of the sewer system."

Most interestingly of all, the fate of "Alligator Alcatraz" -- the brain(?)child of Florida's infamous governing bully, Ron DeSantis -- appears questionable, too. Environmental groups there assert that state and federal reimbursement of construction costs amounts to a "significant federal action," one that warrants NEPA review.

Time will tell how that battle plays out, though for his part, acting DHS head Todd Lyons claimed that the plans are actually beneficial -- allowing the government to control the space, instead of relying on private contractors. "It's actually retrofitted to become a detention facility, one that we'll actually be proud of, one that would have actually have standards," Lyons told Congress.

Then again, when we consider the bigger picture -- from how many have already died in these holding pens, to persistent allegations of physical and sexual assault, substandard sanitation, and total disregard for detainees' rights, including access to lawyers -- Lyons's breezily self-assured statements seem totally divorced from the cold, hard reality of what's happening on the ground.

But it's a feeling that we've all gotten to know too well, as Mullin reportedly plots to rebrand his wife, Christie, as a "special government employee" -- just like Noem did, for Lewandowski -- to the tune of a cool $130,000 per year. What Ms. Mullin might actually do is naturally opaque, though it's easy to see her working on some Donna Reed-style puffery to somehow burnish ICE's brutal public face. The possibilities are endless, starting with the obvious one:

ICE Corrections:

Detention Centers
To Die For.

Or how about something that plays to Trump's prior public incarnation, as New York City's grand master of construction, even if that seems a lifetime away now:

Building Your Surveillance State,
One Warehouse At A Time

Or maybe a blacker, bare-knuckled style humor is called for here, one that's more in keeping with the mission:

ICE Detention:

Where Revenge Is Always 

A Dish Served Cold!

You get the gist. The issue hasn't gone away, just off the front pages -- which is all the more reason to keep the pressure on, and shine an unforgiving light on Mullin's excesses, and those of his fellow overdogs...even as millions upon millions of unfortunates sleep on the sidewalks, or on the back seats of their cars, wondering when this uniquely ill-starred era of feral capitalist madness is ever going to end. We owe them every effort to ensure that day comes sooner, rather than later. -- The Reckoner

Links To Go Go (Drive A Bit Faster Past 

Your Friendly Neighborhood Warehouse):

Bloomberg Law: ICE Changes
Environmental Review Plan For Detention Centers:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/ice-changes-environmental-review-plan-for-detention-centers

New York Times: ICE Plan Faces Delay
Over Lack Of Environmental Reviews:

https://archive.ph/oqZBx

The New Republic:

DHS Secretary Tries To Get His Wife Cushy Job:
https://newrepublic.com/post/211006/dhs-secretary-mullin-wife-special-government-employee-job

The Week: Five Brutal Cartoons About "Alligator Alcatraz":
https://theweek.com/cartoons/editorial-cartoons-alligator-alcatraz

"It is time to replace this country's abusive and punitive immigration detention system... They throw away money that could be redirected to programs that benefit us all."
<American Civil Liberties Union, Florida,
American Friends Service Committee>

"There’s absolutely no reason for detention centers to hold people for extended periods of time, other than to fund the prison industry complex and waste taxpayer dollars."
<Representative Andre Carson, Facebook>

"It is detaining people first and sorting out legality later.
"It is expanding executive power while narrowing public oversight.

"It is treating constitutional limits as obstacles rather than obligations."

<ACLU of Pennsylvania, Facebook>

Mad King Watch (Take XVII): What Trump And His Enablers Are Costing Us: A Handy Visual Reminder

<"We will remain disciplined
in our pricing initiatives 

to ensure additional inflationary pressures 

are passed through to customers.">
--Donnie King

"Farmers get paid less and less
for their products,
and, yet, when people to the grocery store,
we’re getting charged more and more.

"Who’s making the money? It’s the middle man.
It’s the meatpackers. It’s people like Tyson.
They need to be held to account for this."

US Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO),

Facebook page 10-4-23

"Regardless of what your income level is, in some cases, a $9 experience does feel like you're splurging. "And then, in other cases, certain people believe, 'Well, this is

a really affordable premium experience." --Brian Niccol, defending his company's pricing model

“But, you know, that's life, 

that's dealing with the world we live in.”

<U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH),
pressed on rationales
for the Iran War that's spiked prices*

"And what about the comfortable people

who just can’t go without?
They’re forever panic buying,
in case things run out

"They never realize what they've got,
one day they will lose the lot, because...

"What's gonna happen when the buses don't run?
And what’s gonna happen when the winter comes?
What are you gonna do, what are you gonna do?
When the oil runs out!"

<Newtown Neurotics, 

"When The Oil Runs Out">

"The American people are crying out for us 

to address the cost of living. 

All we've done since July 

is stand around sucking on our teeth."

--U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA),
lamenting what everyone already knows..

"But I know what I'm doing,
I just can't stop doing it:

"Me and my companion, 

hell bent to ruin it:

"The three martini lunch,
Things will get better soon,
I've got a hunch..."

<Graham Parker,
"Three Martini Lunch">**

<Afterthoughts>
*When the backlash began, Jordan denied channeling his inner Frank Sinatra...
until CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins played
the relevant words back for him, on-air.

*Click here, for the appropriate soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VseUWVmjvLY&list=RDVseUWVmjvLY&start_radio=1

And here, while you're at it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1lvqmAT_Ro&list=RDx1lvqmAT_Ro&start_radio=1

Janet Mills Quits (Finally): Voters Sigh In Relief (And Tell Chuck To Butt Out)

<This image says it all... (
Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images)>

Suggested Soundtracks:
"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles); "Don't Dictate" (Pentration)

<i.>

Last month, Maine's Democratic Governor Janet Mills finally bowed to the inevitable, and ended her sputtering vanity campaign for the seat held by her Republican counterpart, Susan Collins. Sticking to the script that politicos have been crafting since the 2000s, Mills announced she was "suspending" her campaign -- rather than quitting -- a distinction that won't impress 

The only noteworthy aspect is why Mills -- who blamed lack of financial resources -- stuck it out as long as she did, amid polls giving insurgent oyster farmer Graham Platner opening a 33-point lead in their forthcoming Democratic primary. Perhaps, like most of her fellow Boomer-era voters, Mills was praying for the Beatles to return -- with their dead counterparts, in Ed Sullivan-era black and white -- with a sprightly ode to slay the demons of rap, metal, or any new song recorded after 1980. 

I can almost hear the campaign theme ringing in my head, powered by those bouncy, yet raw, untrained, Please Please Me-era guitars: "Ooh, ooh, Janet, baby, you're the one for me/Vote for Janet, 'cause she always aims to please/Janet's my top choice, she always knows best/She stands heads and shoulders above all of the rest!"

Instead, Governor Mills will have settle for exiting on her shield to the strains of "Nowhere Man," the one who's always "making all his nowhere plans, for nobody," although she chalked up her decision to lack of resources. Even there, she lagged far behind, with a modest $2.6 million, versus the $4.0, 4.1, $4.6 or 4.8 million reported for Platner, depending on which source you believe (WBUR/Boston, Open Secrets, The New Republic, or Ken Klippenstein, respectively).

The news leaves Platner on a glide path towards nomination, though he obviously has much work to do between now and November. However, he seems up for the challenge, in contrast to Democratic party elders -- who remain stuck in a different era, and often give the appearance of being readier to die, than change. But we'll get to that point momentarily.

<A tad premature, as results bore out...

Janet Mills For Maine/YouTube capture>

<ii.>

So what qualified Janet Mills's campaign as a vanity effort? Simply put, the vanity of the man who recruited her (Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer), in defiance of common sense realities, starting with her age (78). While Ms. Mills showed noteworthy spine in standing up to Trump -- and, by most accounts, proved herself an effective and popular governor -- it's hard to reach any other conclusion.

After all, had Mills somehow gotten past Platner, and Collins, she would have become the oldest freshman Senator in our history. Is that the sort of history the Democratic Party should make? It would have cast her as yet another member of an entrenched American gerontocracy whose 79-year-old President, Donald Trump, is practically a spring chicken alongside Senators Charles Grassley (92), or Kentucky's dark gremlin, Mitch McConnell (84), who stepped down as Republican majority leader, but doggedly clings to his office, regardless. 

Actually, let's take that back. At 75, Schumer is probably the spring chicken of this particular story, but the basic point still stands. In any event, the only problem for Schumer -- and the donor class that he actually represents -- was Platner's ability to whip up a significant cyclone of energy around his candidacy, as Ken Klippenstein's brutal takedown of Mills's withdrawal announcement (see below) suggests.

If Platner amassed a 4-1 financial edge over Mills, it's because "people wanted him," Klippenstein asserts. End of story. Buying into Mills's "lack of funds" alibi amounts to "a verbal sleight of hand that makes it sound like a budgeting problem, like her campaign manager overdrew her checking account," he adds.

Not that Mills didn't try to find a workaround for her problems, though. When her initial attempts to take down Platner didn't work -- he's inexperienced, he's unelectable, he's weird, and so on -- Mills hit on a novel idea. If elected, she promised to serve only one term, hopefully easing concerns about sending yet another septuagenarian to a Congress that's bursting at the seams with them.

Which begs the question of why she was running at all, considering how long it will take America to recover from two Trump eras -- as even voters who expressed admiration for Mills, like baker Bev Chapman, told the New York Times (see link below): "'She’s been a great governor for Maine,' Ms. Chapman said, 'but new blood is needed and we need more progressives running who are not afraid to stand up to the current administration.'"

Of course, another (unspoken) reason for Mills's workaround not working any miracles is that it sounded just like the sort of pandering from veteran politicos, once they're cornered -- and don't see an obvious way out of the box canyon. But all the workarounds in the world can't save a candidacy that voters won't support, as Klippenstein notes:

"She would have been 86 at the end of her first term. Think about that. At a moment when even mainstream Democrats are beginning for generational change, the party's solution to flipping a must-win seat was a 78-year-old whose pitch was essentially 'I have been around a long time.'"

<"Oh, it's your treat this time?
Fine, I'll take you up on it. 

Just don't order me any oysters, thanks!"
(YouTube capture)>

<iii.>

In fairness to Schumer, not all of his Senate seat picks seem like total busts, as the Politico story (see link below) points out. Democrats seem reasonably happy so far with how Sherrod Brown, Roy Cooper and Mary Peltola are running in Ohio, North Carolina, and Alaska, respectively -- red states that must flip for the Democrats to retake the Senate this fall. Brown, in particular, is a marquee progressive -- something that Schumer's defenders cite as proof that he cares less about ideology than winning.

Michigan voters see something else afoot, however, in the Democratic establishment throwing its weight behind Haley Stevens -- a perennially chirpy, pantsuit-clad, ardent AIPAC disciple -- over progressives Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow, in the Wolverine State's Senate primary (August 4). The situation has strong echoes of the Mills debacle, to the point of McMorrow warning that she won't support Schumer keeping his job if the Democrats retake the Senate:

“Let it play out,” McMorrow told POLITICO on Thursday evening. “This is a moment for Democrats, and I mean Democratic voters on the ground, to decide what party we want next. It is our turn. It is not the party’s turn anymore."

Other Democratic newcomers, like Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton -- the presumptive successor for its retiring incumbent Senator, Dick Durbin -- have voiced similar feelings; so did Platner, when he launched his upstart campaign to unseat Collins last summer. As Robert Reich notes on his Facebook page, voters remain angry and unforgiving with a system that's left so many so much worse off than ever: 

"That rebellion continues to this day. Yet much of Washington’s Democratic elite is still in denial. They prefer to attribute the rise of Trump and, more broadly, Trumpism — its political paranoia, xenophobia, white Christian nationalism, misogyny, homophobia, and cultural populism — solely to racism. Well, racism is certainly a part of it. But hardly all.

"In 2024, Democrats didn’t even get to choose their nominee from the primary process, since Biden dropped out after a dreadful debate performance and was replaced by Kamala Harris — leaving some Democrats feeling like higher powers were picking their nominee.

"The anti-establishment groundswell has by now spread to independent voters — who are now a whopping 45 percent of the electorate and have moved sharply against Trump. It’s one of the most dramatic shifts in recent political history."

To put it another way, whoever reads the room -- starting with those angry, disaffected independent voters -- will walk away with the keys to the kingdom, as Trump did, when he first got elected, in 2016. Bernie Sanders might have walked away with them, too, had the establishment not wrenched the nomination away from him -- a steal fueled by the mistaken impression of being able to coexist with wolves in sheep's clothing. Rest assured, it's not a mistake that progressives will -- nor should -- make in 2028.

<The attack ad that never ran: 
A preview of what awaits Platner this fall? 
Time will tell...
(National Senate Republican Committee,
YouTube capture>

<iv.>

The efforts to sink Platner share parallels with the campaign to take down Zohrani Mamdani, who became mayor of New York. Both races featured recycled faces (Andrew Cuomo, Janet Mills) caught flatfooted by insurgents who outworked and outhustled them. Both challengers attracted an avalanche of attack ads and negative press coverage, much of it generated by pundits who ignored or simply misread what was happening on the ground.

Much of that negative messaging focused on making Mamdani -- and now, Platner, or any progressive daring to follow in their footsteps -- seem like the offspring of Hitler, Manson, and Satan. The attack ad prepared for Mills (above) is a small sampling of just how far Republicans will go, since it's impossible to imagine such a mild-mannered figure as Mills causing nightmares for anyone (other than the donors who wrote her checks, and now experiencing a major case of buyer's remorse).

The whiff of Mills's desperation seemed obvious from the beginning, when her campaign unearthed ancient online posts as grist for attack ads against Platner -- specifically, "regarding his use of a slur for people with disabilities, and his comments on Reddit from more than a decade ago about Black people not tipping at restaurants and about sexual assault," as The Independent reports (see link below).

Yet Platner has weathered those storms, because people are weary of giving incumbents a free pass -- while their challengers must come across as lifetime Boy Scouts who only hang out with the likes of Donny Osmond, as they while away their days drinking milk, and listening to the Jungle Book soundtrack. 

The upstart generation has its flaws, "but I think there's an expectation by voters today that if you seem perfect, you're probably hiding something," as an anonymously quoted Democratic consultant mused to Politico. All that pearl clutching over a decade-old post seems downright absurd, when we look at the tramping of democracy, nonstop grifting, and maximalist power abuses that characterize the Trump regime.

Obviously, Platner won't enjoy the same commanding financial advantage against the overstuffed Collins, who -- unlike Mills -- can count on an avalanche of dark money to bail her out of a jam. All the same, she offers a perfectly doable pickoff -- if Platner does his job correctly, by demolishing her artfully woven facade of "concerned" moderation.

It's an act that Status Quo Susan, as we'll call her, has honed to perfection over her five-term Senate career. We know the routine well, which typically kick-starts with some tricky issue or other. Status Quo Susan will furrow her brow, purse her lips, hemming and hawing through her latest non-answer -- amid noises of however "alarmed," "concerned," "disturbed," or "troubled" she claims to feel about it -- before she finally votes as her tribe expects, and demands.

It's a routine that sometimes stretches to Hamlet-style proportions, as Collins demonstrated during the Brett Kavanaugh debacle -- where commentators made much of her studious note-taking during the explosive confirmation hearings, amid allegations of serious sexual predation against him. In the end, Status Quo Susan joined Vichy Democrat Joe Manchin to ease Kavanaugh over the finish line, 50-48 -- a spectacle that caused some wags to question the scrupulousness of her note-taking.

Again, which of these capsule summaries feels more worrying? A decade-old Reddit post that may or may not reflect its author's current mindset, or the latest chameleonic shift of a career politician who hasn't held a traditional town hall meeting with her constituents since the Clinton era -- over 25 years ago? (Platner, in contrast, has already 61 town halls.) If that isn't entrenched arrogance, what is?

It's the reason, presumably, why Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run For Something, tells the Independent: “People are hungry for change — the institutions that got us to this point cannot be the ones to get us out of it.” Indeed, and so noted.

This, more than anything, is the type of circle that voters -- particularly Democratic ones -- are beyond tired of squaring, as Klippenstein asserts: "People are fed up with an establishment that doesn't listen, that tells them everything is under control, even as it drives the country into a ditch. So they're taking the keys away."

Democrats would do well to consider taking those same keys away from Schumer -- and his equally tepid passive-aggressive counterpart, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries -- if they retake one or both houses of Congress this fall. It may not the outcome that either of them prefers, but it's what their base demands, and their party deserves -- to say nothing of a country that's crying out, loudly and clearly, for something else. --The Reckoner 

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Herd
Those Gerontocrats Right To The Exits):
Ken Klippenstein:
Voters Take Keys Away From Elderly Politician:

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/voters-take-keys-away-from-elder

New York Times:
For Many In Maine, No Tears Over Mills's Exit...:
https://archive.ph/r1MfD

Politico:
Schumer Faces Renewed Scrutiny After Mills Meltdown:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/30/chuck-schumer-janet-mills-meltdown-2026-00902217

The Independent: Step Off, Chuck!:
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/schumer-senate-democratic-primaries-mills-b2969045.html

Mad King Watch (Take XVI): Bitchy Bitch Catches A Break After All

 

<This collection appeared in 2005, in the middle
of the never-ending Iraq War -- some things 
never change, blah-blah-blah...
God, it's getting so tiresome,
hearing that telltale mantra:

"History doesn't repeat...it rhymes!">

When we  recently addressed this subject, Roberta Gregory's massive forthcoming Bitchy Bitch anthology seemed dead in the water -- figuratively and literally -- after an Iranian missile struck the ship carrying them through the Strait of Hormuz. For a few weeks, it seemed, we had the prefect metaphor to serve up on the futility of America's latest never-ending war. If creators like Roberta Gregory can't catch a break, who can, right? Certainly not the millions of us lumbering under the weight of crushing food, gas and housing costs, that's for sure.

Guess what? There's more to the story than meets the eye, as Roberta stated last week (4/7/26) on her Facebook page. I just happened to see her statement, which we'll post here, in the name of correcting the record:

"OK, here’s the BITCHY! latest, from Eric at Fantagraphics….with a lot of help from an NPR reporter who decided to investigate… and found out the CONTAINER was on the ship stuck in Hormuz and reportedly fired upon, but the books were never in it!

"They were still in India all this time but nobody at Fantagraphics was told this. So all that hoopla earlier was based on misinformation from somewhere in the chain of command that became an exciting but erroneous news item." "Trust NPR to give you the real deal! So apparently the books are delayed, but soon to be on their way, though taking the long way, past the Cape of Good Hope. "So let's all hope real good, not just for cargo going from there to here, but an end to this stupid war!"

This latest development reminds me of that line from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" -- not the Gene Pitney song, but the brilliant 1962 film based on it: "This the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." That issue aside, our basic points still hold: whether it's comic books or cars, constant disruptions aren't a box office winner for any business. You can't bludgeon other nations into submission via tariffs, and you can't build one by remote control, especially if they don't welcome you there. Now that Hungarians have figured out those points, and finally retired their resident illberal architect (Viktor Orban), it's time to follow suit here in November. While Trump himself obviously isn't on the ballot, his Congressional enablers definitely are, which means we have one more chance to avoid slipping on the proverbial banana peel for the third time. It's the least we can do. --The Reckoner Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,

Before The Legend Becomes Fact)

Gene Pitney: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Lyrics in the description): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhsZkPlMQk8

"Liberty Valance": That Iconic Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=363ZAmQEA84&t=54s

Mad King Watch (Take XV): War Is A Bitch: Bitchy Bitch Versus The Strait Of Hormuz

 

 <https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2026/mar/17/war-is-a-bitch/>

Every summer, our town holds a massive outdoor art fair. Over the last 30-odd years or so, it's grown from a fairly modest event, featuring mostly local vendors, whose wares took up roughly half a dozen blocks, to one of the nation's premiere art fairs. It's a spectacle that stretches out over the whole downtown area, starts with a massive Friday night kickoff party, live music, and a silent auction -- one that attracts vendors from 25-30 states nationwide.

I've covered about half a dozen fairs in my time, which usually requires interviewing some vendors, to pop the inevitable question: What motivates you to load a trailer full of your own art, or somebody else's work, and lug it all over the country? Can you really make a living that way?

I once posed that question to an elderly gentleman from Georgia, who responded, without blinking: "Yes, you can. I spend about 20-25 weekends every year, doing shows like this." Then he paused, to drop the punchline, with a sly grin: "But let's remember something. Art isn't anything that people need, because they have to do silly things like buy gas, and pay their mortgage."

That conversation always cracks me up, whenever I revisit it. You can just imagine the average person's thought process, right?

Ah, who cares about those silly comic book people? My kid could do that! That isn't a real job! They should be out here, on the coffee bar/gas pump/loading dock/supermarket checkout station/scut job of your choice with me, blah-blah-blah-blah... And so on, and so forth. 

I thought about that conversation again, after hearing of the delay in the Stateside arrival of a new book, Bitchy: The Exasperating Existence Of Midge McCracken. For alternative comics mavens, this anthology counts as a major event, marking the first compilation of Roberta Gregory's groundbreaking character...essentially, every comic between two covers, but didn't save under your bed, hoard in your drawer, or something along those lines.

For those who don't know Bitchy or her creator, this snapshot summary from TV Tropes does the job: "A series of comic books by Robert Gregory, featuring the titular character Midge and her coworkers. Midge is permanently stuck in a bad mood -- hating her coworkers as well as all other people, and giving them every reason to hate her. Published as stand alone albums, as well as in Naughty Bits. Has a spin-off called Bitchy Butch." (Examples of signature stories follow the quote, which I also recommend, for those who aren't already in the know, to catch the drift.)

Suffice to say, Bitchy ranks among the signature characters in the alternative comics pantheon. If you're having a crappy day, or can't put up with all the shit sandwiches the world keeps slinging, this is one of the comics to read. You'd either end up feeling slightly better about your latest predicament, or at the least, you could take comfort, knowing that someone else out there felt as pissed off as you were.

And you wouldn't get a ton of social-work-speak blather ("You can't control what other people do," blah-blah-blah). It was okay to feel that way, because once you finally got a better place, whatever pissed you off wouldn't matter, anyway. Unlike a lot of creators, Gregory doesn't talk down to her audience, or invalidate how they feel, which was one of the reasons I enjoy her comics.

The anticipation for the Bitchy anthology kept building, as Gregory posted periodic updates to her Facebook pages. Fantagraphics, her publisher, began taking pre-orders. I could feel the excitement jumping off those Facebooks page, as fans weighed in on what they looked forward to seeing...

...until that one Iranian missile struck a certain ship, bound with print runs of the Bitchy anthology, and The Atlas Comics Library No. 9, as Fantagraphics announced on March 13 (edited for punctuation and space):

"The report we have is that the ship has limped to a safe port, where we await further news. Our thoughts are with the crew, and we hope and pray for their safety. The two books were printed in India and were bound for the Port of New York.

"Both books had been scheduled to go on sale in early June, but that timeframe now seems unlikely. If the books themselves were not damaged and the crippled ship's cargo can be offloaded to another vessel, and that vessel can then safely exit the danger zone, it could add a month or more to the delivery time.

"We have no information on the cargo ship’s itinerary, but our speculation is that it was dropping off other cargo from India to that region or picking up additional cargo bound for the U.S."

"Bitchy Bitch is most exasperated by this unexpected turn of events, echoing the title of one of Weird World's horror stories "When a World Goes Mad!"

I've scoured Facebook for updates, but haven't seen many. This statement from Roberta's timeline (3/14) seems as close as we'll come for awhile,: "For all you lovely folks eagerly awaiting my upcoming humongous BITCHY! book, scheduled to come out April 21, I’m afraid there’s a potential delay, so I beg you to please be patient. Like most big, top-notch books these days, they were printed overseas…. And put on a container ship bound for New York. "And the ship stopped in Dubai to take on more containers… right before Trump decided he wanted to surprise the world with a war on Iran….and the only route out of Dubai is through the Strait of Hormuz….and I think you can all tell where this is headed. (And where the ship is NOT headed anytime soon.) Sigh. I’m not happy about this nor are the folks at Fantagraphics…"

So, yeah, it looks like we might have to settle in for a long, long wait. Which is only fitting for our latest never-ending war, now closing on a month, and a week -- after the Trump regime's Ali-esque predictions for a quick ending have fizzled. Good thing he didn't get into "naming the round," right? Just as well. At first glance, this sort of event comes off as an extreme example of just how hard events happening 6,000-odd miles away can rattle our cages. But the ripple effects don't end there for an industry already reeling from Trump's infamous here-today-gone-tomorrow-back-next-week tariffs, as this thoughtful, insightful Comics Journal article (see links below) explains. When you're regularly sourcing paper and ink, on top of finding the most cost-effective printer for your wares, it's not hard to feel the pain voiced by the likes of Mad Cave Studios: “Even modest increases in tariffs on books — or on components like paper — create difficult tradeoffs. Publishers are being cornered into a place where the options are either raise prices, cheapen the product, or take the hit. None of those feel good."
While bound printed matter like books have been exempted from the tariffs, that break doesn't apply to the materials and processes required to produce it, which raises major headaches for foreign publishers. (Nor does it apply to apparel or games, two major income sources in their own right.) As Gregory and her fellow creators have already noted, most mass printing jobs end up happening overseas -- in countries like Canada, China, and India -- for boring economic reasons, like affordability and flexibility. It's an ironic twist for globally conscientious publishers pining for more domestic options, as Uncivilized's supremo, Tom Kaczynski, openly admits: "I’d prefer domestic production. Everything becomes simpler: shipping, timelines, and other logistics become easier to manage.” Makes sense, right? But there are some interesting knock-on effects that audiences may not consider, starting with an overall reduction or restructuring in foreign-USA business, while publishers and creators struggle to find workarounds for whatever ails their bottom line, as François Vigneault, marketing manager for Pow Pow, of Canada, suggests:

"Negotiating distribution contracts, deciding on print runs, and figuring out shipping times, it's all much more complicated than it ought to be. Every hour you have to spend trying to figure out what is going on, and how you are going to respond to this stuff, is an hour you can't spend on the fundamental elements of the business of publishing great graphic novels."

For newcomers, those realities may require taking a back seat to better-established peers -- if someone else publishes them -- or scaling back the ambition and frequency of their ventures, if they're putting out their own work. It also likely means fewer opportunities to interact and collaborate, as Conundrum's publisher, Andy Brown, makes clear:

“As a Canadian I am far more concerned about the fact that the very independence of my country is under threat due to this ‘trade war.’ I will not cross the border into the U.S.A. And many of the artists I publish have told me they feel concern for their safety if they do. So that means no more U.S. festivals, no in person sales conferences, no U.S. tours. So that will affect sales and the bottom line far more than tariffs. I will be seeking out European markets even more.”

And remember, the Journal article ran in May 2025 -- before images of innocent people getting beaten, kidnapped and murdered on the streets of Chicago and Minneapolis by anonymous masked goons became horrifyingly familiar sights everywhere. It's not hard to imagine a foreign publisher pausing over the latest Trump regime outrages that they may spot online, as they sigh: "Right, we're giving the good old USA a miss this year. And maybe for a couple more years, too."

This is the perverse flipside of protectionism, as critics are reminding everyone right now, with a wink and a gloat. Domestic businesses that try to plan for the future, and build a stable profit structure, end up getting punished, because they're responding to arbitrary policies, rather than real market conditions, as the Journal suggests.

The end result is a less competitive, less responsive market, and a shrinking audience pool. With tariff-related costs estimated at $3,800 per household, it's fair to say that comics might rank well below those "silly things," like gas and housing costs.

While yesterday's announcement of a two-week cease fire -- if it holds -- may come as welcome relief for Bitchy Bitch fans, it doesn't address the broader economic pain caused by Trump's "now you see it, now you don't" style of governance. Uncertainty tends to exert a serious drag at the box office, now that all those cherished MAGA assumptions about trade -- that there's an army of idle natives who can't wait to make shoes, or pick fruit, in searing 90-degree temperatures -- haven't panned out. 

If nothing else, the current chaotic spectacle should extinguish, once and for all, the Trumpian notion of some uber-creative amateur pulling out the royal flush that's magically eluded the other players at the card table. But, hey, what do those silly comic book creators know, right?

For that matter, what do the working man and woman, struggling to pay for "silly things" -- like gas in the tank, or the monthly mortgage -- know, as they watch those costs soar up, up and out of sight, even as their wallets stay flatter and more parched than ever? Time will tell how that struggle plays out in the November midterms, but we'll just have to grit our teeth through it, before the course correction finally comes. Until then? To put it kindly -- there is much work to be done. "Much," as Marley's ghost would say. --The Reckoner

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry, Before Comics
Cost More Than The Gas In Your Tank:

Comics Beat
Two Fantagraphics Collections Delayed:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/two-fantagraphics-collections-delayed-after-cargo-ship-damaged-by-iranian-missile/

The Comics Journal
Comics And Trump's Tariffs 2.0:
https://www.tcj.com/comics-and-trumps-tariffs-2-0-they-might-fuck-us-up-at-any-moment/

The Duck Webcomics
War Is A Bitch:
https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2026/mar/17/war-is-a-bitch/

TV Tropes
Bitchy Bitch Entry
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/BitchyBitch

<Before that missile strike:
Roberta Gregory poses proudly with her creation>:

https://www.comicsbeat.com/two-fantagraphics-collections-delayed-after-cargo-ship-damaged-by-iranian-missile/