Anne Belov paints, writes, makes prints, and is the founder of The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire. You can find her paintings at the Rob Schouten Gallery and Fountainhead Gallery, her cartoons on The Panda Chronicles, and her new book here. She also writes regularly for The Whidbey Life Magazine, a free journal of art and culture on Whidbey Island. Her main regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Grant for Panda Satire.
Wow, wow, wow. There is so much going on right now, and I will probably have A LOT to say about it, but I wanted to take a moment for hope and joy and optimism for the future. I am, of course, talking about…
The new PanDiego pandas will be making their debut on August 8th!
Coincidentally, that is also the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s resignation, but that is another ‘toon. For now…
LET’S PUT OUR PAWS TOGETHER FOR THE WARMEST ZOONOOZ WELCOME!!!
I should probably point out that I have never watched even one episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation, although I did faithfully watch the original series. I just thought it was a good title and a way to differentiate between the Pinky/Bubba/Bikkie universe and the new pandas in DC and PanDiego.
I can’t wait to see how Zinger and Chuie develop as characters in the Panda Chronicles Universe.
Be the Bear Bob T is kinda optimistic for the future Panda
I think you’re right. I’m doing my best not to immerse myself in the RNC spectacle: the insincere calls for “unity”, the calculated choice of a young, not what you might call qualified, choice for VP. He is certainly no statesman.
What the GOP means by “unity: That we will not point out the crimes, both convicted and indicted of their chosen candidate. That we will not say mean things about the far reaching implications and realities of their Project 2025, which is the blueprint to take down the government and the country as we have known it in our lifetime. That we will not point out the many, many, (many) lies told by their candidate both in and out of office That we will not keep bringing up that …um…attempted coup when he lost in 2020. That we will accept their calls for violence while not raising a hand to defend ourselves.
900 pages is a lot to read, and I have not read it. But here is one of the highlights, things that you might not consider would have impact on our day to day lives: Defunding NOAA: These are the scientists that bring us the weather reports. Besides bringing attention to climate change, those wonderful little weather apps that come free on our phones, the ones that tell us if we need to bring a sweater or maybe put off our trip to the city for a day, because there is a big storm coming in, those are big business. If only those could be privatized…run for profit! You don’t get to know which way the wind blows if you’re not willing to pay for it. Mostly, we think of those weather apps as a nice thing, so we know what to wear or to pack for a trip. But they are a vital tool for weather disaster planning, that saves lives as well as money.
JD Vance is closely tied to Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and (barf) Tweedledee and Tweedledum. FFF* was leaning toward the rich white guy from North Dakota: a guy who at least looked the part of VP. But Tweedledee and Tweedledum thought young JD was the better pick. That should tell you all you need to know.
Meanwhile, back at the Panda Chronicles…
Here’s to not having bad dreams…
*Felon Forty Five
Be the Bear Bob T is short on funny things to say Panda
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting increasingly frustrated with the “OH MY GOD I NEVER REALIZED JOE BIDEN IS OLD WE MUST DOOOOOOO SOMETHING ABOUT IT RIGHT! NOW!” narrative in the so called mainstream media and the pundit class is yelling from the rooftops.
Some of you (maybe about 150 million) seem to be unaware we have what is called a “Primary Election” that is held in different states, roughly from the end of January till the late spring. At this time, you could vote for other people who chose to run. Dean Phillips (who?) and the failed scion of the Kennedy clan ran and mostly finished behind “no voice” or “uncommitted”. Pretty far below, if I remember correctly.
Look. I don’t know if Biden is going to make it through 4 years. That’s why there is a Vice President and we have a good one. Apparently there is a faction that just noticed she is a multi racial woman, a fact they seemed to ignore while there was no chance she would actually become president if something happened to Biden. Maybe all the viable alternates didn’t run because they knew it would be a cluster*ck and maybe hand the election to TFG.
To be clear I will vote for a box of donuts if it is running as the head of the Democratic ticket, but I’m happy to vote for Handsome Joe if he is indeed the one running. He must feel like he’s under a million microscopes right now. If there is a fight at the convention, it won’t be exciting (at least not in a good way) and it won’t be fun. It will only make us weaker and lead some people to stay home and not vote at all.
And that is what Felon 45 and his ilk wants.
Meanwhile, maybe by this time next week we’ll know who FFF (Felon Forty Five, get it?) is bringing to the prom.
I’m staying as far away from the election food fight as I can.
Pandarella will be back next week, but in the meantime, Pinky had something that was really bothering her. (And you know we can’t ignore what Pinky wants)
The stoopyhead Supremes have a LOT to answer for.
Be the Bear Bob T no one is above the law Panda
I know that all sorts of news stories are avalanching around the internet and news media right now. I hope you’ll all take a deep breath and get more than one look at all of these stories from as many sources as you can find.
For me, here’s how it shakes down: If Biden is the D candidate, I’m voting for Biden If Harris is the D candidate, I’m voting for Harris If Pinky is the D candidate, I’m voting for Pinky
3rd party candidates are just a vote for TFG.
Please read even some “highlights” of the rethuglican Project 2025. They cannot be allowed to put this into practice.
We can’t rely on Pinky and her magical wand to get us out of this.
The one thing we don’t want is for the “Biden steps down — Democrats lose” to become a self fulfilling prophecy. It would be good to let your Senators and House rep know your opinion on this. Feel free to use or modify my text shown below, that I am sending to my representatives today. You can call their offices if you’d like, but most offices have a contact form you can use. Let’s flood our reps with the opinion that the most important thing is to defeat Trump and stave off Project 2025 and the Trump dictatorship.
This is most useful if you have Democratic Party reps, but it wouldn’t be amiss to send to Republican representatives as well. You can copy and paste my text if you’d like.
Message to Senators/ Representative:
I believe that President Biden is the most capable person to decide whether or not he has the will and the energy to see this election through. He has been an excellent president, passing many initiatives that benefit a wide swath of the American people.
I believe him when he says he has the stamina to both run and defeat the former president. He has an excellent Vice President in Kamala Harris, as well as a very capable cabinet. He has more he would like to accomplish on our behalf and I think that constantly questioning whether that is the case is harmful to our prospects in November.
One bad debate should not be the beginning of the end for the American experiment. The former president at the most benign interpretation would bring in a regressive era with the loss of many rights and personal autonomy.
I believe President Biden is the best president I have seen in the 12 presidents of my lifetime. Please stand by him and let him finish the job.
Links to WA state Senator and Rep’s contact pages (obviously use your own state’s/district representatives)
This has been a really hard week to wrap my head around. First the disastrous commentary on Biden’s debate performance. Granted, the debate was pretty terrible. Biden’s low energy and general demeanor was not ideal. But neither was TFG’s non- stop firehose of lies.
It’s disgusting that the media, particularly the NYT and the pundit class were all baying for Biden’s blood, and at the same time ignoring and minimizing his busy schedule and strong, stirring speeches at these events (G-7! D-Day! Major fundraisers in NY and CA! President stuff!) and completely ignoring the lies of a 34 times convicted felon who lies more than he breathes.
The only newspaper that had the guts to say, “Hey, maybe the guy who has been convicted of 34 felonies, stole national nuclear secrets and tried to over throw an election…maybe HE should step down,” was the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Honestly, I don’t know if he should step down or not. Only Joe Biden knows, and an overwhelming number of primary contest voters voted for him. I can’t imagine the chaos it would cause if he did. I’m against anything that hands the election to You Know Who. If you haven’t read about the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, you should at least read some summaries. For starters, they want to replace career civil servants with TFG loyalists. They want a national abortion ban, gutting of all regulations and the agencies that regulate them. You like clean air? too bad. We can’t tell polluting corporations what to do. You think there should be public education? Nope. That’s out. Medicare, medicaid, Social Security: they’re all on the chopping block. But don’t worry. You won’t live long enough to need elder care.
And then there is the “Supreme” Court…
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
On this, the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, the document that said all men (well, white men, no women or POC need apply) are created equal and no one is above the fucking law, well…the Heritage Foundation Federalist Society Justices, just said, “New phone, who dis?”
In essence they put themselves above the law, as what they laid out seems to have been, “well, we’ll tell you if we think the president has immunity for this or that act, or not.” They opened the door to lawless corruption from the White House, and no way to rein it in. I’m not a historian, but I’ve listened to enough historians in the last several days to know that wasn’t what the authors of the Constitution intended.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade or picnic (pass the marshymallows!) I just had to get this out of my head. In the meantime…
Here are some pandas!
The only way out is through, and the only way through is to vote like everyone’s life depends on it. They want us to be demoralized and stay home. Don’t fall for it.
Be the BEAR! Bob T Vote Blue all the way up and down the ballot Panda
Oh boy. Here we go. Election Season 2024 is officially off and running. Zoonooz is on the scene once again with a preview of the first debate (not to mention some predictions for the RNC Convention/clusterf**k)
I hope you have your snacks, some strong adult beverages and a protective screen for your TV/computer screen in case something accidentally leaves your hand at great velocity.
Feel free to check in with your observations, in the comments! Wheee!
Okay! NOW this story is cooking with gas. Or poofing with gas. Or mebbee Sister Mary Fluffy has gas…
On with our story!
Among the characters of the Panda Chronicles, there are several that have active lives off of the page, although they are no less…um…imaginary. Babette de Panda, our erstwhile villain in many stories, started her existence as the small, stuffy panda friend of my friend Victory. Victory found her on a trip, bought her as a present for me, but by the time they got home, she had named Babette and they bonded.
Babette had a Facebook page for a while, and many stories which never made it into the Panda Chronicles. Eventually, she found her way into the stories, and eventually came to live with me. She has continued to have adventures off the page. I would tell you, except there has been a gag order regarding some of her exploits.
Sister Mary Fluffy started her existence as one of my handmade felty pandas. It must have been divine inspiration that brought her into being. She has made multiple appearances in Pinky Panda’s Bamboo Chef events on Twitter.
I hope this answers any questions about her. She has a mysterious past (not unlike Babette).
