Just a few very short snippets de snark today – I’m trying to clear out the detritus from my mind before the start of a 3-day weekend!  Speaking of which … to all my friends in the U.S., be safe and sensible this weekend, okay?  I really don’t want to read about drunken driver crashes or other tragedies because someone felt the need to celebrate a bit too much.

Want to know just how low the GOP is willing to go?  Look no further than the state of Michigan, where the Republican Party is trying so hard to unseat the current Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  There were initially ten GOP candidates for the position, but five were disqualified in one swoop yesterday when it was discovered that their nominating petitions contained thousands of forged signatures.  Thousands, not a few hundred, but thousands … of forged signatures.  In other words, they couldn’t even get the support of the requisite 15,000 people without lying and cheating!  Two of the five were leading contenders, James Craig, a former Detroit police chief, and Perry Johnson, a wealthy businessman.  Wait … isn’t it the GOP who’s always screaming about ‘fraud’???  Yet another example of Republican corruption, dishonesty, and willingness to do whatever it takes to gain power and wealth … at the expense of We the Taxpayers who keep this country afloat.

Boris Bondarev is a 20-year veteran of Russia’s diplomatic service … or, should I saw ‘was’, for Bondarev resigned his post earlier this week, saying …

“For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year. The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z crossing out all hopes and prospects for a prosperous free society in our country.

I regret to admit that over all these twenty years the level of lies and unprofessionalism in the work of the Foreign Ministry has been increasing all the time. However, in most recent years, this has become simply catastrophic. Instead of unbiased information, impartial analysis and sober forecasting, there are propaganda clichés in the spirit of Soviet newspapers of the 1930s. Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred. It serves interests of few, the very few people thus contributing to further isolation and degradation of my country. Russia no longer has allies, and there is no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policy.”

As far as I know today, Bondarev remains safe in Geneva, Switzerland for now.  I hope he remains so, given that Putin has made it clear more than a few times that he ‘will not tolerate dissent’.  Our own former guy was the same … couldn’t tolerate any who disagreed with him.  Apparently, it is a trait of small, cowardly ‘men’.

Irma Garcia was one of two teachers murdered in the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last Tuesday.

Yesterday morning, Irma’s husband, Joe, had just returned to the family’s home after venturing out to leave flowers at a memorial set up for the victims outside Robb Elementary School. He was in the kitchen when he suddenly seized and fell over.  Despite attempts to revive him and keep him alive, Joe Garcia died yesterday of heart failure … or a broken heart💔, more likely.  Yet another casualty of yet another mass shooting.

And just a few ‘toons to start off the weekend …