This Brave New World

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Well, this is it. Today is the last day to vote, so I am posting this early so that more people see this. I’m writing this on Monday night (because I actually got today’s ‘toon done before dinner time.)

We had quite the windstorm on Monday, which started sometime in the night. Then it died down for a couple hours before it picked up again from another direction. The power went out for a bit, but it came back on again after a couple of hours at the most, so I didn’t have to put my usual outage tricks into effect. (also I was able to post this!)

Now to distract myself from the day ahead I listening to Taylor Swift (yes really) and switching off to occasionally to the SNL cold open with Kamala Harris and Maya Rudolph. If you haven’t watched this yet, I hope you will. Each time I watch it, I am struck all over again by watching the true joy between Harris and Rudolph… The roar of the crowd when they see Kamala on the other side of the mirror. I mean…I realize it couldn’t have been a total surprise to the audience or crew. I read there had been a few hints. The audience must have had to go through extra security. There must have been a bunch of Secret Service folks. Still, it could have been cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Each time I watch it (not gonna tell you how many times) I feel the joy radiating off the screen. I hear it in the roar of the crowd that pauses the interaction between Harris and Rudolph.

I don’t know what we are going to wake up to on Wednesday, but the choice seems clear, has always seemed clear to me. Do we want a leader who will cheerfully do the hard work that needs to be done to try to get the country and the world in a better place? Or do we want a mentally and physically collapsing would be dictator who will bring in unprincipled grifters and con men to be his advisors, who are using him for their own purposes? Watch any of his appearances from the last week and tell me that this is someone you would trust the future of your children and grandchildren to.

Please vote for a better future, if you haven’t already. Do it for the pandas.

As you might remember, the whole panda family has moved to China, so that Binky Li and Qing Bao could move to the Panda House. I’m not sure where this story is going, but I’m sure it’s going somewhere.

Stay ‘tooned, keep Kamala and carry on-a-la

Fa la la la la!

Be the Bear
BobT wake me when it’s over Panda

One More ‘Toon from the Panda House Kitchen Table

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I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and one thing and another jumped up and down and yelled “I’m more important! NO! I am” and so I finally got this one done.

There will be a bit of a rant after this ‘toon, so feel free to skip that if you are tired of me ranting! I am still a wreck, and I suspect many of you are too, so let’s just get to those fun-loving pandas!

Cheating is definitely not winning.

Be the Bear and Panda On
Bob T stress napping for the next 5 days Panda

So here goes my rant:

I seriously can not figure out how anyone with a brain could possibly consider voting for TFG. He is visibly deteriorating every time he is on camera, and we have no idea what is going on when he is not on camera. At this point it is clear he is being used by the extreme wing of the Heritage Foundation/GQP because he is (inexplicably) popular with his rabid base. At this point it is clear that the goal is to get him elected, either pull his puppet strings or replace him with JD, who seems to be full on board with a live action version of The Handmaids’ Tale/Hunger Games.

And can we talk about Pastor Mike’s plan to toss out the Affordable Care Act? Were it not for the ACA, I would have been without healthcare from about 2010 till I was eligible for Medicare (which they also want to get rid of, along with Social Security.) In a recorded conclave with big GOP donors, he talked about the affront of having the government get between you and your healthcare.

I’ll wait while you consider that statement from Pastor M…

Yeah…the party who allows women to die of sepsis/blood loss in the parking lot when they have miscarried rather than let her determine with her doctor that she needs an abortion to save her life, is concerned about the government sliding into your doctors office.

Every time I watch Kamala Harris and the people who support her (Michelle! Beyonce!) I feel a flood of hope for the possibility of being governed by adults. I can’t listen to any more news about polls or the horse race the major media seems to want to keep talking about. I can only worry so much about TFG and Pastor Mike’s BIG SECRET for that One Great trick That Big Democrats Don’t Want You To Know About to Overthrow Democracy and trust that Marc Elias and all his clever lawyers will protect us from such fuckery.

I know everyone who is still here with me is the choir I am preaching to and believe me, I am so glad you are here and understand the assignment: To vote for Kamala and all the D’s on the ballot. Big shout out to all of you in Ohio (Sherrod Brown!!!) and those in swing states who have to listen to all the hyperbolic political ads non-stop.

Thank you who have chosen hope over retribution. I’m so glad we are here together.

5 more days!

as a reward for listening to me rant, here’s our favorite seasonal ‘toon!

Fabulous Furry Friday KNOWS that this is one of your favorites!

Apologies for my Absence Yesterday

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The problem with being a generally responsible person is, that when you flake off, everyone thinks something terrible happened. Nothing terrible happened. I just was having a kind of flaky couple of days, having recently returned from 2 weeks away, and then going to a two day workshop (which was a 3 day excursion in order to get there on time.)

I will have a new ‘toon for tomorrow. I thought about staying up late Monday night to finish, but all things considered, what with my high stress level the closer we get to the final voting day, I decided it would be better to go to bed and just…miss a day.

DID I MENTION EVERYONE SHOULD VOTE FOR KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ AND CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR BALLOT WAS RECEIVED IF YOU VOTED BY MAIL OR DROP BOX????

I mean…TFG keeps blasting out more hatefulness and racism and misogyny and Elmo husk says things like “Donny is going to put me in charge of the economy” and Roadkill Man is going to be in charge of health and food safety.

I DO NOT FEEL SAFE!!!!

Sigh…and then at one of his Reichstaad moments, TFG says something like “Hey have you heard about this one cool trick with Congress to over throw the election that no one wants you to know about but I can’t tell you because IT’S A SECRET! HEE HEE HEE!”

FFS

Here’s one of my favorite Bikkie ‘toons to tide you over till tomorrow.

I’m really hoping I get my wish.
Stay strong everyone.

Be the Bear,
Bob T trying to keep my sanity Panda

My Ka’Bikkie wrote Me a Letter

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So…here’s the thing. I really wanted to keep Mei and Tian and all the kids in DC, even though they went back a year ago, and the kids even before that. and, had there been no new pandas in DC, I probably could have kept up the fantasy that all the pandas live together in the Panda House, with the occasional visit from Six and Sebben, not to mention Frank, Mikey, Pookie, Josie, and let’s not forget Ping. I mean…Mehitabel still rules ZooNooZ and she’s been dead for almost 8 years now.

But now Binky Li and his Qing Bao have arrived. If they are to find their stories and be the stars, along with Chuie and Xinger out in Pandiego of The Next Generation, well, it was getting a bit crowded in the Panda House, and who could surpass Pinky’s stardom. So, they have moved to China, just like their real life counterparts. I think there will be stories coming from there. They have been my constant companions for more than a dozen years.

Fortunately, there will be some continuity. Frank and Mikey and Pookie (and Josie) are staying at the Panda House. So is Ping. Somebody has to show them around town! Bob and Mehitabel will still be holding down the ZooNooZ desk.

When one of my favorite mystery writers killed off one of her most loved characters in a rather brutal fashion, she said, “if you don’t let your characters sometimes have bad things happen to them, if they all live happily ever after forever, you eventually hit a story dead end.” While I do like a bit of repetition in my stories (I find it funny that Six and Sebben are always bad guests, and that their mother is always finding excuses to send them off to her sister’s house) I think by expanding the pandas’ world, there will be more, not less stories to tell. So let’s tell some stories!

But first, a letter from Ka’Bikkie to his nephew…

Don’t be mad, ‘kay?

Be the Bear
Bob T you voted, didn’t you? Panda

THE PANDAS ARE HERE! THE PANDAS ARE HERE!

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We watched them land…but what was really going on inside the plane…???

The pandas have arrived in the nick of time, even if we can’t see them yet. But knowing they are here, well, I’m going to take that as a sign that life will continue.

And on that note, I REALLY hope all my peeps here have registered to vote and have already voted or have a plan to vote as soon as you can. It becomes more clear every day that TFG is in no condition to order a pizza, let alone be president. It becomes even more clear that the Heritage Foundation/Project 2025 folks are desperate to get him over the finish line so they can install tech bro fascist JD.

Democracy is a process. It is not perfect and it is full of imperfect people. But we can’t let “perfect” be the enemy of the good enough. It is kind of weird to be agreeing with Liz Cheney, but if uber conservative Liz and her dad think that electing Kamala Harris will get us to a place where democracy survives to disagree on policy another day, well, I’m agreeing with Liz.

Let’s support a democracy, where we can host pandas from China, who happen to be the descendants of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and the Son of Pinky. I want to wake up on November 6th to a President Harris, who embraces joy and possibility.

Let’s do this. we have 2 weeks.

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Pandarella! The Final Chapters!

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I bet you thought I would never get around to finishing this Panda-Extravaganza of PandaPaloozahood. Well, to be honest, neither did I! But here we are in the final and-they-lived-happily-ever-after chapter!

Huzzah!

And so, we end, like all fairy tales end, (at least the sanitized happily ever after ones…the original Grimm’s tales are often quite a bit darker!) with the evil step sisters getting just what they deserve, and Bikkie going off to the palace with a rather familiar looking King and Queen to live a life of fun and luxury!

Now, if we could just banish Mittens to a dark dungeon somewheres. Remember to vote y’all!

To Friends of Bob in the Hurricane Helene ravaged country side, I think of you and hope you are safe and well. Climate change is kicking our butts.

Be the Bear!
Bob T wants to live happily ever after Panda

The Penultimate Pandarella! (part 5)

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This is the next to the last multi episode Pandarella presentation until we get to our dramatic conclusion!

Can you stand the suspense????

It’s not like there’s anything else going on, is there?

Oh man! What’s going to happen when Pandarella’s evil step mom and zizzies get home?????

Really…there’s not anything else going on right now that we need to be nervous amount, is there?

Be the Bear!
Bob T let’s go live in the forest Panda

Oh Boy! More from Pandarella! (Part 4)

Let’s see what happens next!

Let the Palooza begin!!!! ‘Toon in again next time!

Only 26 more days till Election Day! Don’t forget to vote!

Be the bear
Bob T how much more can we take? Panda

Pandarella (A Panda Chronicles Exclusive!) Part 3

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Oh man! Bikkie is in a tight spot! He has to cook and clean up after his terrible step sisters! His tuba is burnt! What could possible happen next?

Fairy Godmothers come in really handy sometimes! ‘Toon in next time as our story continues!

Be the Bear
Bob T the suspense is killing me Panda

Pandarella Altogether! (Part 2)