Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 07, 2023

When pigs fly

So ignorance is bliss.

Sorry, but I see ignorant people as being the problem.

Two(2) days in a row, lessons my mom NEEDED to hear, but she’s turned tone-deaf to my and mr. pastis’s wise words! SIGH…. Dan aka…

Ignorant is not as much stupidity as being ignore-ant. Maybe there are some things we should ignore…

Who is the better voter?

99 red balloons

Floating in the summer sky

Panic bells, it’s red alert

There’s something here from somewhere else

The A.I. machine springs to life

Opens up one eager eye

Focusing it on the sky

The 99 red balloons go by

… and there I go fly

Who’s going to do the worrying, then?

“I’d far rather be happy than right any day.” – Douglas Adams

Pig the new Spy balloon ! Don’t let go of the string :-) Where are the Crocs ?

Pig is my spirit animal :)

Love you, Pig.

This is tempting.

I used to think “ignorance is bliss” was an insult. Now I realize its just people being smart.

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon!

“To the heavens on the wings of a pig” Steinbeck (or some guy like that)

It is a difficult balancing act to both be aware of and responsive to problems/injustices in the world (whether your personal life or the bigger world) AND at the same time keep a light-hearted, positive view of things. For me, looking back at history helps because I see that just about every other era throughout history was at least as screwed up as we are. There were always bad things and bad people, but there were always people standing up for the weak, the poor, the sick…. Or as Mr. Rogers used to say, “Look for the helpers. There are always helpers.”

There are two different kinds of problems. Just think about the problems you can solve. Not the ones that you can’t solve.

Of course, you can follow the news and still be clueless just a lot more stressed and depressed.

Just stay away from the 24-hour news cycle. Things that happen in your community, and which you can effect, you’ll know about soon enough. Things that happen in Washington (or Moscow), if they’re still important after a month, you’ll hear about them in due course. It’s amazing how many things you don’t have to stress over if you just wait a week or two.

Of course, that makes it hard to understand each day’s crop of editorial cartoons…

Pig will come to reality when his bubble bursts!

[singing] Don’t worry, be happy!

Some days I need to float cluelessly through life. Every once in a while I wonder how I managed before 24 hour news…

and then I remember… we were just fine. It was easier to stick all the pain and worry into the evening newscast.

Social media has only made it worse.

Sometimes I think capitalism is all about doing the things that are the worst for us.

Yeah, the trick is to be a responsible citizen and not let it get to you.

To paraphrase somebody who wasn’t Mark Twain: If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed. If you do read the news, you’re misinformed. Uninformed is fine with me. I’m definitely happier not worrying about things I can’t change anyway.

The odds are Rat, you are uninformed.

Good for Pig.

We’ve seen guys strap balloons to their lounge chairs and float skyward, now lets see them do that with drones

Why do they call it NEWs when it is the same old stuff over and over again?

Good for you Pig, I like your style ❤️

Not a bad idea, Pig.

I have no problem with being ignorant. An ignorant person – if they so desire – can be educated and can learn.

It is the person who is intransigent in their beliefs, and refuses to admit they might be mistaken, and fails to recognize or respect another logical answer, that is the real problem.

I don’t know. I don’t care, either.

I float though the weekends. No news other than CBS Sunday Morning

I prefer to just cover my ears and go “LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-Laaaaaaaaa”

Well, when you finally come back down to reality, you may find a lot has changed and NOT in your favor.

Say hello to Carl and Russell on your way Up!

♪ 99 Red Balloons ♪

I rather not watch the news. #1, I don’t care, and #2, I have enough worries without it.

One more of us catches on …

A good portion of news advertising is from pharma…

I’m retired, so I just skim the headlines for any news about Social Security or Medicare, and ignore the rest.

Take us with you, pig.

To quote the lyrics of a song, Pig, “if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”

Just a spoonful of sugar…etcetera…etcetera

Ignorance is bliss until what you didn’t see coming hits you

It would be nice to agree with Pig on this, but the only way for evil to win is for good to do nothing.

Last night here in Florida there were several shootings. Our porcine Governor thinks that’s just fine.

I avoid doom scrolling and maintain my serenity.

Ignorance is bliss, Pig, ignorance is bliss they say….

You’ve got to be ready to act as an engaged citizen when the situation demands it, but that requires much less active following of the news than you might think. I don’t blame anyone who refuses to go beyond that threshold for the sake of preserving mental health.

Reminds me of “99 Luftballons” – The unofficial anthem of Rutgers University (and MTV mega-stqple0 in fall 1983, according to friend who studied there. Song was everywhere!

Worth mentioning that my 7 year old nice wonders why I’m somewhat happier than her dad who spends much of his time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok, engaging in comment wars, whereas I manage only 10 minutes a day on Facebook, am not on Instagram or TikTok and the only time I ever “Twitter” is when I eat too much Taco Bell.

If Pig is not harming anyone, let him be.

Serves you right, Rat, for acquiescing to be a slave to the Information Age. (But, similarly, Pig’s solution may be a bit extreme.)

In most cases, is if you follow the News, you will still most likely float cluelessly through life.

That’s gotta be a first for Rat, who makes like he has everything and everyone figured out (which he will go right back to tomorrow).

Good lord.. I haven’t seen the know nothing left wingers that lurk on this site this upset since Killary lost the election. They must be suffering from a very bad case of buyers remorse with Crazy Joe