Comic Book Retro 50: May 1976

And we're back with Comic Book Retro 50! 

What pray tell was a young Dave-El spending is comic book buying scheckles on in May 1976.

Let's start with the big surprise of the month, the return of Green Lantern/Green Arrow. 

A little bit of comic book history.

Starting with Green Lantern#76 in April 1970, GL began sharing his book with Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow.  Starting in issues of Justice League of America, writer Denny O'Neil had Oliver Queen lose his fortune and began molding the character into a social justice warrior and an agitator against authority figures.

Pairing Green Arrow with Hal Jordan who worked for the ultimate police force, the Green Lantern Corps, was a recipe for drama. 

Partnering with artist Neal Adams, O'Neil sent our heroes on a road trip across America, exploring subjects like pollution, war, racism, sexism, political and corporare corruption, drug abuse. 

The series was cancelled with issue #89 and Green Lantern and Green Arrow were consigned to back ups in The Flash and Action Comics respectively.   

Four year later, GL and GA were back with Green Lantern#90.

Writer Denny O'Neil returned but Neal Adams had long since moved on from regular comics work so Mike Grell was brought on board as the new artist. Grell had been drawing the GL and GA back up strips and he was DC's hot go-to artist so he was a perfect choice. 

While the original iteration of Green Lantern/Green Arrow primarily focused on street level adventures geared towards Oliver Queen's talents and personality, the new version would lean towards a more cosmic angle aligned with Hal Jordan's work as a Green Lantern.  

"Those Who Worship Evil's Might" introduces some updates to the Green Lantern mythos.  The power ring gets a re-design from a circle to resembling a stylized power battery.

Oh look!  A Vulcan Green Lantern! Complete with the Vulcan salute! Cool! 

We also find out the Guardians of the Universe employed different resources to bring justice and order to the universe before founding the Green Lantern Corps.  An idea that writer Steve Englehart would explore in JLA a year later.  

Speaking of the Justice League, I laid out a whole dollar for Limited Collectors' Edition C-46  with a dynamic new cover by Dick Giordano.  

This was a tabloid sized book that reprinted Justice League of America #24 and #43 written by Gardner Fox and drawn my least favorite JLA art team of Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs.

"Decoy Missions of the Justice League" is a team up with Adam Strange  vs. the master world conqueror Kanjor Ro.  

"The Deadly Dreams of Doctor Destiny" features the JLA's dream controlling nemesis.   

And I picked up Justice League of America#133  written by Gerry Conway and drawn by my estimation the best JLA art team of Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.  

"Missing -- One Man of Steel" puts the spotlight on another recurring alien threat, Despero.  And features a long overdue JLA appearance by Supergirl.

After not being part of my purchases for a couple of months, the Batman solo titles found their way home with me.   

I'm not sure why Batman#278  made the cut this time.  

"Stop Me Before I Kill Batman" by David V. Reed, Ernie Chan and Tex Blaisdell is about a masked weirdo known as... The Wringer who is going around wringing the necks of puppets and marionettes as a prelude to... murder!

Accompanying Batman on this baffling case is Inspector Kittridge from Scotland Yard who has come to Gotham City for the express purpose of matching wits with the Caped Crusader in solving a strange and unusual crime.

I remember this sequence where Kittridge thinks he's cracked the case using the kind of leaps in logic that Batman himself was prone to do in the old 1960's TV show.  

The Wringer has a different plan.

So does the Batman.   

David V. Reed favored these one-in-done crime procedural tales with Batman a glorified police officer in a Bat suit.  

And I picked up Detective Comics#462.

First of all, huzzah to losing this god-awful logo:

Maybe this new logo is what appealed to me to drop 3 dimes for this new issue.  

 "Kill Batman -- in Triplicate" is the conclusion of  a 3 parter where Batman is contending with a pirate themed villain called Captain Stingaree who is convinced Batman is actually 3 people and has kidnapped two of them.  

I had missed parts 1 and 2 but I was a smart kid and got caught up to speed pretty quickly.  

The stort was written by Bob Rozakis and Michael Uslan with art by Ernie Chan & Frank McLaughlin.   

Instrumental to the plot is a guest appearance by the Flash. Well,it is one big happy DC Universe, ain't it?

If the name Michael Uslan seems familiar, you see it in the credits of every movie that has Batman in it. Early on Uslan secured the film rights to Batman and has hung on to them. The result: Uslan gets a producer credit on every single Batman movie and (I presume) a nice check for his trouble.  

The back up is an Elongated Man short called "Clue of the Talking Orchid" by Bob Rozakis,  Union Studio*  & Vince Colletta.  

Union Studio?  This is a team of Spanish language artists drawn from Latin America and Spain who primarily worked for Charlton Comics during the 1960s and 1970s. As far as I can tell, this is their only DC Comics credit.  

Next up: Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's.....

Superman#302  by  Elliot S. Maggin, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

& Bon Oskner.

Lex Luthor has zapped Superman with.... SCIENCE! that makes him grow bigger and dumber!  

Size changing sounds like something that the Atom might be able to help with. 

This is our second story this month that remind us our characters live in a shared universe.  Marvel is clearly impacting how DC does things.  

Supes is able to trick Lex and gets the cure to his condition. 

A standard issue 1960's type "weird shit happens to Superman" tale enhanced by some dynamic art by Garcia-Lopez.

Which brings us to Action Comics#462.

"Super-War of Independence" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan & Tex Blaisdell continues Superman's struggle against the alien menace of Karb-Brak. Which will mercifully conclude next issue.

Rounding out the issue is a Krypt solo adventure, "This Is a Job for Superdog" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Curt Swan & Al Milgrom

Well, this post began with Green Lantern so let's end it with him as we head to Flash#243.     

"If I Can't Rob Central City, Nobody Can" by Cary Bates, Irv Novick&  Frank McLaughlin where Flash foe the Top has died and left one last threat for Central City as a farewell "gift".  

This was a rare for real change to the status quo of the Flash's  

Rogues Gallery.

The issue also features the concluding chapter of the Green Lantern serial, the Ravagers of Olys.   

Denny O'Neil and Mike Grell are joined by inker Terry Austin who was a very good match with Grell.  

Green Lantern would have two more solo back ups in The Flash in a couple of months.  

And that is what Dave-El bought in May 1976. 

What's coming for June 1976?

I purchase for the 1st time Freedom Fighters and Secret Society of Super Villians.  And Shazam is new again! 

And Batman vs. the Riddler and the Black Spider! 

And more! 

Jack Kirby Way

On Monday May 11th, 2026, New York City awarded a special honor to one of their native sons.  

A street corner was named for the artist and visionary who was integral to forging Marvel Comics into a pop culture icon, a man whose singular talent was a jolt of creative energy to this art form we know and love called comic books.  

Jack Kirby was a strong, tough guy but was also known for being gentle and kind.  

With Joe Simon,he created Captain America which debuted with the Star Spangled Avenger punching Hitler on the cover. 

America was not at war with Germany yet but Kirby knew evil when he saw it and was not afraid to express it in his art.

Reportedly some pro-Hitler types showed up at the office to express their dissatisfaction with the treatment of their beloved der Führer.  

Kirby went down stairs to demonstrate what he thought of their dissatisfaction.   

Kirby grew up poor in a rough New York City slum and he knew what to do with bullies.

It was the 1960's that really catapulted Kirby into comics notoriety with his work on such feautures as the Mighty Thor and the Fantastic Four. 

But the time of Jack Kirby's greatest success at Marvel was also a time of his greatest frustration.  

Kirby's inclination to just keep his head down and keep producing the work put him at odds with Stan Lee's talent for glib salesmanship and self promotion.  Too many people pegged Stan Lee as the true genius at Marvel and Kirby was just the artist. 

Being sidelined and ignored began to gnaw at the nominally good natured Jack Kirby so he jumped ship to DC Comics.

On the plus side, Kirby was a creative dynamo unleashed without having to capitulate to a spotlight stealing scripter. At DC, he created the New Gods, Mister Miracle, the Forever People, the Demon Etrigan, Kamandi the Last Boy On Earth and OMAC.  Kirby was generating concepts that spanned time and space and remain crucial elements of the DC Universe. 

But the staid and tradition minded old guard that ran DC did not know what to do with Jack Kirby, leaving him feeling frustrated and unsupported by the DC regime.  

When his contract was up, he returned for a time to Marvel.  

Another bursts of creativity produced such diverse concepts like Devil Dinosaur, the Eternals and Machine Man.

In addition to those creations, Jack Kirby returns to the character that started it all, Captain America for a bonkers long form storyline called "Madbomb".

But Kirby At Marvel 2.0 was a temporary side trip and when that contract was done, Jack Kirby focused on storyboards for animation.  

Kirby did return to create some comics for the nascent independent comics scene such as Captain Victory.

He even returned to DC Comics for a New Gods graphic novel and to draw a toy tie in series called Super Powers.

I must be honest and confess that as a younger comics fan, I did not appreciate Jack Kirby's art.  It was too boxy, too weird, too stylized, just too.... something...

As I got older, I can't say I liked Kirby's art but I have grown to appreciate the power of it, the dynamism, the bursts of unleashed imagination and prescient insights to a world still to come.

Jack Kirby deserved better than what he got when he was alive.

The crowd that came out on that Monday to dedicate a street sign with his name on it was a powerful and sincere appreciation for the man and his talent.

He charted a unique path and produced a legacy to be proud of.

And he did it the Jack Kirby way.

Tuesday TV Touchbase Too: Jeopardy Times Three!

 What? A second Tuesday TV Touchbase in one day?!?!

Well, I do watch a lot of TV.

Which includes perhaps too much Jeopardy?

On with the Touchbase Too!

Last week was a plethora of Jeopardy options for Andrea and I.

On the regular show, contestant Tristan Williams is on a bit of a run with 9 games and  $188,000 in cash won as of  last night. 

Tristan is a nice guy but his appearance seems almost computer generated.  I described his head as early 1990's Pixar.

Well, I'm not the only one to compare him to Pixar animation.

Jeopardy! fans took to social media to put side-by-side photos of the Jeopardy champion and a certain Pixar character. 

“Do you actually see Woody from Toy Story in Tristan??” a Facebook user wrote. Many fans agreed with the poster.

Tristan is aware of the comparison and is cool with it.  "I had heard once or twice before that I kind of looked like Woody from Toy Story, and then the internet caught it, it spread like wildfire, and it’s so fun!" 

Meanwhile, last week was the start of season 2 of Pop Culture Jeopardy.   Colin Jost (SNL star and Andrea's not so secret boyfriend) is still the host but a lot of other things have changed.

The venue has changed from Amazon Prime to Netflix.  There are no scheduled ad breaks. Once an episode starts, it does not stop until the end.

Instead of the admittedly unwieldy teams of 3, the contestants are in pairs.  

The winning contestant can advance to the next game with an old school limit of up to 5 games.  

I spend a lot of time with Pop Culture Jeopardy going "I didn't understand a word of that" for certain clues and contestant responses. I'm just not up on my rap music and social media influencers.  

Colin has a looser vibe than Ken Jennings. Colin is free to mock the contestants who in turn feel free to mock him right back. Colin's ownership of the Staten Island Ferry remains fodder for comedic commentary. 

And if that wasn't enough Jeopardy, ABC ran the last 4 episodes of Celebrity Jeopardy All Stars over 4 days in a row.

Congratulations to ESPN sportscaster Mina Kimes on winning the tournament, beating out Ike Barinholtz and Steven Weber.

Kimes won $1 million for the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles.

In describing their charities to Ken, a lot of the celebrities had a constant refrain: programs designed to provide housing, food, health services and other things to help people were struggling due to government funding cuts and could really use whatever money they could win on Jeopardy to help them out.

Thanks to Kimes' fast work on the buzzer and her knowing a lot of shit, there's $1 million to help the homeless of Los Angeles.

More Ken Jennings?:  Click here for this past weekend's edition of NPR's Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! with Ken Jennings as the celebrity guest and he plays Not My Job with questions about H&R Block.

More Game Show News:  On Wheel of Fortune,  Jason Nieradka won $78,000 PLUS a brand new Corvette. Jason lives in Kernersville NC which is about 10 minutes up the road from our home here at the Fortress of Ineptitude.  

TV Stuff That Is Not A Game Show: Andrea and I recently finished season 2 of Leverage.  We've got 3 more seasons of that series then 3 more of it's reboot Leverage: Redemption.  The series features a team of con artists who pull jobs to help people who have been screwed by big business, the governments and unscrupulous millionaires. It's revenge porn for people who want to see the rich and powerful pay for their transgressions instead of getting tax breaks and pardons. 

We're gonna have to wait until Januay 2027 to find out what happens to Nick Wagner who was last seen bleeding out in Morgan Guillory's arms in the season 2 finale of High Potential. ABC announced the 3rd season is being held back as mid-season entry in their schedule.  

For now, that is that for this Tuesday TV Touchbase Too.

Next week, the series finale for The Boys.  

I do not anticipate the same reaction I had to the series finale for Outlander.  

Unless they kill off Hughie.  Those fuckers better NOT kill off Hughie!

AND there will be another Tuesday TV Touchbase Too as we bid farewell to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Outlander

Today's Tuesday TV Touchbase is a solemn one.

We mark the end of Outlander.

Spoiler Alert: I will discuss the ending of the last episode.

If you've seen the episode or do not care about the series but you are amused by watching me suffer through an emotional breakdown, well...

As it says on the title of this blog, I am so glad my suffering amuses you.

So read on if you dare.  And be amused by my suffering. 

So I watched the series finale of Outlander and...

And...

And...

<gulp!>

I'm gonna need a minute.  Sorry! 

Let's try that again.

So I watched the series finale of Outlander and...

And...

<sob>

I'm NOT crying! You're crying!  

No, you shut up!!

Damn it! 

One more time! 

So I watched the series finale of Outlander and...

And...

C'mon, Dave-El!  Hold it together!  

You are an American 100% all MAN! 

Who also happened to watch Outlander. 

And it's over and I...

And I...

....

And I am going to write this blog post, damn it! 

I watched the series finale of Outlander and...

Well, Jamie Fraser died! 

But then...

Well, it's complicated.  

I actually came late to the Outlander party.  

I started watching in the middle of season 2.  Jamie and Claire are in France.  Claire's pregnancy ends in tragedy with her baby daughter Faith stillborn (we find out at the start of season 10 that no, Faith did not die) and Claire herself bleeding internally and beyond the reach of 18th century medicine.  

But the mysterious Master Raymond heals her with a strange and ethereal blue light. We never learn who Master Raymond is although I suspect he's a fellow time traveller.  

We see in season 10 that Claire herself seems to possess this healing blue light as she saves a stillborn child on Fraser's Ridge.

All of this is relevant.

Brianna along with Roger and the kids have travelled back from the 20th century to rejoin her parents in the 18th century.  Brianna has brought a history book written by her 20th century "father", Frank Randall.  

A book that tells of the Revolutionary War battle on King's Mountain in North Carolina.   

Where Jamie Fraser will die.

The last episode of the series brings us to that fateful day. 

General Ferguson has brought his British troops to the mountain. Jamie leads his militia from Fraser's Ridge to join other Patriots who will fight there. 

Claire has accompanied Jamie and his militia to provide medical assistance. And re-write history if she can.

The battle is brutal, fierce and bloody.  Bullets whizzing about, swords and bayonets flashing through the smoke and the cries of the wounded.  

But just as Claire fears time is running out and Jamie will not escape, there is a lull in the din of battle.

A lull broken by calls of "I give up" and "I surrrender". The British are surrendering.  The battle is over. 

And Jamie Fraser has survived. 

Yay! 

Screw you, Frank Randall! You and your book were wrong!

I point and laugh at historians!  

Except...

With his forces in disarray and capitulating to the victorious Patriots, a bloodied and beaten  General Ferguson pulls out a gun and shoots Jamie in the chest.

This was not in battle. The battle was over. This was a cowardly act of murder.  

All of Jamie's men step up to take turns shooting Ferguson. Ian McMurray puts a goddam hatchet in him. 

Meanwhile, Claire runs up screaming and sobbing, taking Jamie up in her arms begging him not to die.

Jamie whispers "Forgive me, Sassenach" and dies.

Damn it! 

One by one, the soldiers all leave and it's just Claire cradling Jamie's body in her arms as she whimpers "He just needs to rest."

Day turns into night and Claire will not let go of Jamie.    

Roger McKenzie returns the next day to find Claire still holding on to Jamie.  Sorrowfully, he says that Jamie is gone and he needs to be taken home to the ridge to be buried.

Claire still refuses to let go. 

As the camera pulls up from Claire holding Jamie (Wait! Was that...? Did I see...?) we get a flashback...

Flash forward?!

Wibby wobby timey wimey.

We go to episode 1 of season 1 and it's the ghost of Jamie Fraser watching Claire from a distance in 1945.  

Who the what how when now? 

And then we get a montage of every emotional moment between Jamie and Claire over the course of 10 seasons.

And then....

We're back on the top of King's Mountain.

Claire's hair is completely white.  She opens her eyes.

Jamie opens his eyes and breathes and...

Fade to black.

Show's over?!?!

God damn it! REALLY?!?! Is that where we're going to end this?!?!? REALLY?!?!?!

Damn it! 

Damn it! 

Damn it! 

I HATE THIS SHOW!! Whose stupid idea was it for me to watch this show?!?!

Oh yeah, it was mine.

But it's not quite the end.  

After the closng credits, we open on a book store in the 21st century.  Signing copies of her Outlander books is Diana Galbadon.  On the table next to her is an old journal.

A fan asks Diana about it and she replies, "It's wee bit of inspiration."

It's Claire Fraser's journal!

Oh, my mind is blown!  

Like I said, I came late to the Outlander party, starting mid-way through season 2. (I did go back to catch up on season 1 later.) The Doctor Who nerd in me came for the time travel but I stayed for the drama. And oh my God, was there so much drama. 

I really got caught up in this world of passion, peril, political intrigue, love, sex, death, war and some people just being fucking bastards. 

And at the core of it, the undying love of Claire and Fraser. 

And as that final second before the end reveals, literally undying. 

I'm going to miss this world a lot.

I know there's still Outlander: Blood Of My Blood  which is it's own kind of good I suppose but....

It's not the same.

It won't be Jamie and Claire.

SIDE NOTE: In the blog banner that my son Dean drew, the guy with the flowing hair behind me? That's Jamie Fraser. 

Well, it's supposed to be.  😉  (Sorry, Dean!)  

That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm still emotionally verklempt.

Raya Yarbrough, take us out with Bear McCreary's Skye Boat Song.

American Idolatry

Really? You came back? For the second Trump post of the day? 

Should I be grateful for the attention or worried you might need some kind of medical intervention?

Anyway...

While Donad Trump was in China being cock blocked by Chinese president Xi Jinping and being insulted online by  inexplicably unrestricted Chinese citizens, back in the United States, a golden edifice glistened in the bright Florida sun.  

The Don Colussus, 22 feet of gilded fealty to the man, the myth, the legend, the maker of America's new golden age, a harbinger of greatness blessed by almighty God himself! 

Gee, that kind of rhetoric should get me a free MAGA hat!

This gold statue was installed at Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami last month.

C'mon! Every good cult should have a golden tribute to it's dear leader! 

But seriously, doesn't this seem like a bit much?  

A gold statue in tribute to someone who is still living like their a god or something? That's like something out of a comic book. Or a TV show.

Or a TV show about a comic book.  

Just as Trump's golden statue was unveiled, an episode of The Boys dropped which revealed a golden statue of Homelander as part of his roll out as America's new God. 

Executive Producer Eric Kripke was bugged that Trump had once again upstaged his comic book satire about fascism. As Kripke said, "Seriously, what the fuck?!" 

This is the 2nd time Trump has upstaged the fictional absurdity of The Boys.  

Erecting statues for a living person is something done for dictators. Surely we're not comparing Li'l Donnie to a dictator are we? 

Yes, we are and don't call me Shirley.

(Yeah, that joke doesn't work as well as in print as it does verbally.)  

So there was an event a few weeks ago to unveil and dedicate the statue.

Somebody call a preacher! 

South Carolina based MAGA minister Mark Burns led the dedication event and called it “a moment of gratitude, honor, and remembrance.”

Burns was also emphatic the statue is NOT a golden calf .  

It's Preacher Mark for the defense: “What amazes me is how quickly some people have compared this beautiful statue, created and made possible by more than 6,000 patriots, to a golden calf or idol worship. Let me be very clear. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. “

That is quite clear. Worship only Jesus! 

Worship only this guy! 

Oh shit! That's Donald Trump! 

My bad!  

As a person whose Christian membership card is frayed around the edges, far be it from me to debate an alleged Christian preacher person about religious stuff. 

While the comparison of a GOLDEN CALF to a GOLDEN TRUMP is fairly obvious, I think the Bible story that is of more striking relevance here is from the book of Daniel.  

Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, was having a recurring dream.  A giant metal statue was being erected in his honor.

Well, ain't that great! The people must really love him to put up this big honking statue to remember him forever and ever. 

BUT Nebuchadnezzar's dreams take a dark turn when a giant stone crushes the statue and the stone becomes a mountain that fills the whole world.

Well, that's not very nice! What about the legacy of Nebuchadnezzar lasting forever and ever?

Daniel is summoned to interpret the king's dream. (Well, it is HIS book of the Bible after all.)  

Basically, the stone and the mountain represent God and his kingdom on Earth which is forever and ever. Nebuchadnezzar is just some dude who is not meant to be forever and ever. He can be destroyed. God cannot.

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of God and gives Daniel a cushy government job in Babylon. 

Basically as I understand this, aggrandizement of a living person in the form an everlasting legacy pisses God off. 

But Mark Burns continues to defend Don Colossus.  

“This statue is not about worship. It is about honor. It is a celebration of life and a powerful symbol of resilience, freedom, patriotism, courage, and the will to keep fighting for America. It also reminds us of the hand of God over President Trump’s life. We thank God for preserving him and not allowing his life to be taken, not once, but multiple times.”

Let's take a look some key points about the life God reportedly has his hand over.  

• Trump was found liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll (although the $83 million he was ordered to pay her is on hold for the time being.)
• He has been accused of predatory behavior by dozens of women.
• And he infamously bragged that he was free to grab women “by the pussy.”

In an interview with The New Yorker,  Burns went from defending the Trump statue to defending Trump himself.

Get a load of the moral and ethical pretzel Burns twists himself into in that endeavor.  

“But in the eyes of God, who is our ultimate judge, God is a God of forgiveness. God is a God of love. So, having said that, it doesn’t matter what President Trump has done in his past.”

I've heard this line from preachers before. Since God loves and God forgives, Trump's sins don't matter.

OK, my Christian membership card is virutally illegible. (Wait! It say "Blockbuster Video". Ooops! Wrong card.) BUT I don't think forgiveness is a simple as Mark Burns puts it.

God offers forgiveness but the person who commits the sin has to accept the forgiveness and that involves the person admitting they fucked up and are genuinely sorry about it.

To counter Burns' statement a bit, it does matter what we've done in the past if we haven't learned from it, changed for the better because of it or asked for or accepted forgiveness for it.

In the past, Donald Trump was a selfish greedy immoral bastard.

As far as I can tell just from the evidence of what I can see and hear....

In the present, Donald Trump is still a selfish greedy immoral bastard.

Burn addresses present Trump: “What does matter is this: We’re talking about the fact that it doesn’t matter what President Trump has done in his past, as long as he’s repented and asked for forgiveness. The president is not grabbing anybody or talking about grabbing anybody from their private parts today.”

Well, that's kind what I said but I would counter Burn's "as long as he’s repented and asked for forgiveness" is that he has not. That would involve admitting error and Trump is deathly afraid of saying he did anything wrong ever.   

Remember the Hollywood Access tape. Trump was proud that women would let him grab them between their legs.  

I wrote a post about forgiveness back in 2014.  

Burns had more to say:   “It doesn’t matter in the eyes of the Lord, and apparently, it doesn’t really matter to the eyes of the American voters because they voted for him and made him president twice. Many would argue three times.”

Oh goody! Burns is on the Trump 2020 Election Was Stolen bandwagon.  

I would also say that Americans who voted for Trump did so less FOR the man and more AGAINST the women who ran against him in the two elections he won.  The women who were more than capable to be President but a lot of Americans will be damned if they'll let a female woman of the opposite sex be President.  

And I will add they voted for him because of his simple solutions to complex problems. Ignorance and greed are hard to beat. 

And NO, you feckless piece of shit, "many" do NOT argue he won three times.  And your kind of devotion to  Li'l Donnie's petulant refusal to accept the reality of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden kind of underscores the cult like hold Trump has on you and others in MAGA.  

So this post has gone on too long but since we are at the intersection of Trump idolatry and religion, I need to mention the event from yesterday called   “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving".

This was supposed to part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,an allegedly apolitical event open to Americans of all faiths.

79% of the scheduled speakers are evangelical protestants.

Evangelical protestants make up 25% of the U.S. population. 

I'm actually writing this post on Saturday but since this a Trump centric event, I'm expecting the worst.

I guess we'll know if the bottom has been reached if an actual golden calf shows up. 

And I may have to just give up and throw out my Christian membership card.

And I was so close to getting a free sub.  

Addendum:  No, there was no golden calf but click here for a write up on the prayer event and it's blatant connections to Christian Nationalism.  

_______________________________

Tomorrow: the Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Outlander ends.

I will not be OK.

Chickity China, the Chinese Chicken

Chickity China, the Chinese chicken

You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'

from "One Week" by the Bare Naked Ladies

In any given week, indeed on any given day... damn, at any given hour, there is so much fuckery to cover in this interminable hell we live in with Donald Trump and his minions.

I'm so sorry but you're getting two posts today about this motherfucker.

Let's start with the Chinese chicken.  

Li'l Donnie's trip to China was the embarrassment we've come to expect when der Führer deigns to expose himself to a world his handlers cannot completely control.

The fawning over the top festival of welcome that greeted Trump when he landed in Beijing bordered on parody and mockery but Li'l Donnie ate it all up.

The normally tightly censored internet in China allowed Chinese citizens to express themselves about their American visitor. And those views were NOT flattering or positive.  

Trump's thin lips were firmly attached to President Xi Jinping's backside while Xi presented himself has acting from a position of strength.  

Take a look at this photo of these two men.  One of them is a man who is confident and in control.

The other is Donald Trump.  

Xi was all "the United States best watch itself helping Taiwan or there's gonna be trouble." 

Trump could only reply "thank you, sir, may I have another?" 

Taiwan has always been a bone of contention between the U.S. and China. 

Taiwan thinks it's a free and independent sovereign nation, a bastion of democracy in Asia.

China thinks they own Taiwan and want it back.

President Xi Jinping thinks he has in Donald Trump a useful idiot to see things his way.

Until now, American Presidents have seen a free and democratic Taiwan as something worth standing up for.   Not necessarily fighting for.  Dude, China is BIG and makes all our stuff and they hold a shit ton of American debt.  

Every time Republicans cut taxes for the rich but increase the budget for the Pentagon, Congress has to go into debt. 

So balancing our relationship with China and Taiwan takes a great deal of intelligence, wisdom and even a little bit of compassion so....

We're stuck with Donald Trump so fuck all that.  

On the line is an arms deal wherein the United States has committed to providing munitions for Taiwan to defend itself if China get's agressive.

President Xi Jinping does not want us to do that.

This calls for some kind of clever, insightful response.

Or whatever the fuck Li'l Donnie says instead.  

Trump says he'll make a decision about the arms deal in a "very short period of time".  (What happened to the "Two week Trump Timeline"?  Things are usually put off for a couple of weeks.) 

While Li'l Donnie appeared to be bending towards Xi Jinping over what China wants, there was virtually no indication of any Chinese capitulation to what Trump wants.  

Like helping with the war der Führer started with Iran.  

Or buying more soybeans from America.  Soybeans is... or rather WAS a cash crop for American farmers with China as the biggest buyer. Then Li'l Donnie got snippy with China, slapped a bunch of tarriffs on Chinese goods and China was all "we can do snippy too, bitch" and stopped buying soybeans from America. 

Or getting China to buy American aircraft.  Allegedly Trump did report making a deal with der Xi Jinping to buy 200 airplanes from Boeing.  

1. Trump said Boeing was expecting to sell 150 planes but he got it up to 200.
2. Actually, Boeing was looking to sell 500 planes to China.
3. China has not confirmed anything Trump said. 
4. Donald Trump is a dumbass.

There was a long list of things important to American interests that Xi Jinping would not capitulate to or was not committal or didn't even make the agenda.  

Like all things involving Trump, the whole meeting with Xi Jinping was more for show than anything substantive.

Just as they did for his arrival,  China also pulled out the pomp and circumstance for Trump's farewell.

再見，你這傻逼！

Sorry my Chinese is a bit rusty but that translates to "Good bye you dumb motherfucker!"  

Once out of Chinese airspace, Li'l Donnie was back on Truth Social with various diatribes of self praise about what a great job he did in China and bitching and moaning about other people.

Like Joe Biden.  

Apparently Xi Jinping insulted Donald Trump to his face but Li'l Donnie was too dumb to realize it or maybe the translator softened the blow.  Xi Jinping referred to the United States as a nation in decline. 

A couple of days later, Mr. America First goes to bat for the good ol' U.S. of A. by.... agreeing with him? Trump said Xi Jinping was talking about America under "Sleepy Joe Biden" but not NOW because NOW America is the hottest country in the world blah blah blah.  Y'all know the drill by now.  

Trump was off Truth Social for the three days he was in Beijing. Because Truth Social is banned in China.   

Gee, how can America get in on that? 

Well. it's get back to the United States where Trump can get some home grown praise and adulation without the hidden passive agressive subtext.

Which brings us to today's 2nd post.  

So you can come back in a couple of hours for that.

Or wait until tomorrow for the Tuesday TV Touchbase about the series finale of Outlander. IF I can write it through all the tears.