Hello! Welcome to my website!
Here you’ll find some of my editorial cartoons, political commentary, travelogues of my travels, and photos of our beautiful region. I have started, in earnest, to drop my comments, cartoons and photographs here in the New Year on a weekly basis. I promise!
Click on the headers to jump in. If you want to view various photos, just refresh (F5) while right here on the home page.
If you have comment, feedback or questions, send them to dennis @ dennistownsend.org
January 15, 2026
Greenland Goofballs: As with any tinpot despot, when weakness and lack of character becomes apparent, there’s a tendency to double down on actions to try to prove a point. Trump, mind turning to mush and kidneys to blobs, sees resistance, both physical and political, to his (or whoever he represents) agenda. (I bet he still tries to both of obtaining an erection – maybe ask Melania about that). So threatening Greenland, a frozen rock with 50,000 souls, or Minnesota (I’d say a frozen rock, but that’s stretch, so let’s just stick with frozen) or perceived political enemies becomes the order of the day. Lies become more brazen and acts more severe. The geopolitical terms of Greenland are poorly thought out; or maybe not; if he’s in Putin’s pocket his gambit can damage NATO and put Europe in a position of defending two fronts – west and east towards Russia, jeopardizing Ukraine as well as liberal western democracies as we know them. Time to get this guy out, as well as his minions, in whatever way we can.
January 12, 2026
Shades of 1970; Nixon couldn’t handle dissent so the National Guard shot and killed a civilian at a protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Fast forward to 2026, where Donald Trump and a cabal of fascists (there’s no room for softening the term for them now) have a poorly-trained, but heavily-armed, funded and hateful paramilitary force to do their bidding, shooting and killing a 37 year old woman in an extra-judicial act, using the premise of “protecting us” from those who may have entered the country undocumented. Trump has now entered a brazen phase, in an interview with the New York Times he said that he has no check on his power and that power is only “within the whims of my morality”, as he sees it.
Ok, where does our freedom and democracy fit in?
In a blinding flash of the obvious, it doesn’t. Not only our founding fathers, but others around the world have experienced totalitarianism, authoritarianism, oppression and denigration of groups within the populace. Most often, it was overturned with violence and social disorder – and we may be getting close to that time. A government that no longer represents you, according to the originators of our nation, deserve to be overthrown.
Folks may have to be willing to give up the “bread and circus” of football playoffs and that bucket of KFC Chicken to save themselves from the vicious inclinations of a handful of oppressors.
For now, I’ll leave you with this cartoon, for it’s emblematic as to what those in authority think of you (looking at you, Kristi Noem.)
January 8, 2026
It’s been a disturbing and tumultuous couple of days; our sorry-ass excuse for leadership kidnaps the leader of a foreign nation and then states it will use their resources at their discretion. A rogue agency with rogue members shoot and kill a woman in Minneapolis, with the narrative lie from the agency being that she was at fault. Lies.
If our citizenry isn’t taking up arms by now, we’ve already surrendered to oppression and authoritarianism.
Now for something a little more mundane but just as painful: I’m an Excel wonk; I track expenses, diet, recurring household maintenance, blood pressure, weight and my checking account on a series of monthly spreadsheets and compile them at the end of the year, and have since 2009. It makes the end of the year fascinating as to progress and changes. Here’s a quick summary for changes in our household from 2024 to 2025:
Utilities: up 11%
Food / Groceries (mostly Costco/Safeway): up 1.2%
(may include some durable goods, esp from Costco)
Fuel (routine use): no net change
Property Taxes: 1.05%
Auto Insurance: up 19% (yeah, I feel your pain)
House Insurance: up 2.3%
I took “travel” out of the equation since it can vary widely year to year; it’s up substantially but we traveled a bit more this year.
Veterinarian: Up 38% (my cat is getting old)
Home Repairs, Expenses, other household expenses: up 12.9%
(This doesn’t include the deck, which I call a capital addition)
Medical Insurance and Expense: Up 13%
So backing out travel and the vet, we’re running up about 5.5% over last year. Food, utilities and insurance are hard to get around, and with the two of us the first item isn’t as painful, but my heart goes out to families and workers who have to pay the freight. Are there places we could cut back? Of course. But tariffs, corporate gouging, corruption, especially at the Federal level, fees and taxes (also here in WA, where the tax burden is placed on those who can least afford it) have a big influence.
But, like the Minnesota murder by U.S. agents, the current government will lie to you about it and say “you’re just fine.”. Piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining, Donald.
Jan. 1, 2026 – AI Wakes Me Up
I normally fall asleep in the Laz-Z-Boy with the headphones on; usually with a You Tube “mix” of my favorite tunes (psst: “Us and Them” by Pink Floyd guarantees my nodding off). But one (link below) woke me up from my slumber, arbitrarily inserted into my “mix” feed by You Tube. It’s a toe-tapping blues tune and the animation is entertaining, but there’s a moral quandary – as it’s all AI-generated and credited to a guy in Norman, Oklahoma. The “band” coyly doesn’t reveal who “they” are – because they don’t exist. Ironically, asking for an AI-generated answer online will give you the answer you want (Are they real? Yes! are they AI? Yes!) So while you listen (and observe the obvious flaws in musician-animation timing and finger placement), think a bit of all of the electricity being sucked away by big data centers in their exponential quest for our personas, raising our rates, all while using the data and human-generated ideas and sentiments we give them for free – on social media and elsewhere – so as to manipulate our opinions, facts and understanding of each other – and summarily plagiarize us. (Psst: Read “Nexus” by Yuval Noah Harari about the history of information “gods” and how they have manipulated humankind – we’ve come a long way from books, but the end game is the same.) Have a listen if you choose, but I think tickets to Charlie Musselwhite or a great blues venue are a better experience – and uses a lot less electricity – and represents real humans behind the talent.
Link to You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q20NK2jOJcM&list=RDq20NK2jOJcM&start_radio=1
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