Lead me home

It seems appropriate that we end the week with something honoring former president Jimmy Carter, who died last week at age 100. In fact, I’m choosing something from his funeral service, held yesterday in National Cathedral.

If any man—especially any president—can be said to be suffused with grace, it would be Carter, who spent his entire adult life in service and was guided at all times by the tenets of his faith. He was an extraordinary man, whose decency is a shining beacon to the world.

So, let’s have “Amazing Grace”, performed by Phyllis Adams, with Leila Bolden on piano, from yesterday’s service.

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Moving messages

I think it’s time for another tranche of vanity plates; it’s been a while.

 Not entirely sure about the six eyes (maybe something to do with Tesla), but I do get the Hawkeyes possibilities.

The woman driving this one said this is what her family calls her:

This person may be a fan of the Cherry Blossom Festival:

And this one may be from Georgia, or a very nice person. Possibly both:

I have not seen these drivers, so I do not judge:

Okay:

Possibly someone from Virginia Tech:

Okay, not a vanity plate, but clearly plenty to say. 

©2025 Bas Bleu

Early warning

Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from The Washington Post. She left last week after her editor killed this cartoon she proposed:

The image shows Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder, CEO of Blue Origin and WaPo owner) and Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) offering bags of money to the Kleptocrat (who may be a statue, elevated on a plinth—this is actually a sketch she submitted, not a finished cartoon). Additionally, LA Times CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong is offering a lipstick and Mickey Mouse is prostrated at the base of the plinth.

You may recall that Bezos and Soon-Shiong nixed their respective newspapers’ intent to endorse Kamala Harris in the presidential election. All of the corporations have recently donated in the seven figures to the Kleptocrat’s “inauguration”; they have clearly decided to obey in advance. It’s particularly outrageous that two of the formerly best newspapers in the country are among the Quislings, but that’s what happens when billionaires buy media companies as side hustles and make editorial decisions based on what’s best for their bread-and-butter revenues.

Telnaes explained her reasons for leaving WaPo on her Open Windows blog. She invited other cartoonists to riff on her rejected theme, and the early responses are pretty good. You should also take a look at her post on why political cartoonists are a critical part of a free press, which is vital for democracy. She wrote this in 2019; it's only become more frightening in the intervening years.

As she says, they’re the canaries in the coal mine of a democratic society. And the canaries are coughing.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Snow day

Well, we got the snow. Here in the People’s Republic, it wasn’t bad. (My Southern California brain is agog that I just said that; it was about four inches.) I did indeed spend about 30 minutes shoveling my sidewalk and clearing my car in case I needed to get out of Dodge unexpectedly. And I cleared the sidewalk for a neighbor who is unlikely to be able to do it for herself.

(I suspect that Sunday’s yoga focus on hips and core did not prepare my lower back for this, but it’ll work its way out.)

But mostly I spent the day watching the birds gobble up the safflower seeds I tossed out at them, and drinking hot tea.

Not so bad.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: Shelter from the storm

First Gratitude Monday of 2025. First major snow event of 2025. So I’m grateful that I’m snug in my house, with central heating that works, with plenty of food available and a heated mattress pad.

Even though I still have to shovel the sidewalk in front of it, I can come back inside and drink hot tea after I’m done.

  

©2025 Bas Bleu