“He's fading back... back... he's gonna throw the bomb!” Paul Conrad on the Nixon administration’s zealous targeting of presumed campus subversives, September 1970.

Cover of La Caricature, June 19, 1886.

I combined a couple of different maps on the impact of drought, the Depression, and the Dust Bowl. This shows the number of families across the Great Plains that moved to California as well as the extent of Dust Bowl damage.

"It's the OLD Nixon. He wants equal time to clarify what the NEW Nixon said last week." Dennis Renault, January 1972.

"Finally, your district takes in two wonderful Democrats in Orange County." Dennis Renault, January 1972.

“We have a few liberties of our own In mind—.” Newton Pratt on threats to personal liberty in the Nixon years, September 1970.

Old-time wellness, bro-science

First, I must put on my sporting shoes.

Song Hits from the New York Hippodrome, Season of 1908-1909

Baseball gloves and mitts, The Reach's Official American League Base Ball Guide (Philadelphia, 1883).

Ready to investigate a party or two. #FunWithPhotoshop

Next weekend it’ll be time for Bunad Guy and Gal to shine

"Trump posted about the 2020 election 71 times in the 1st 4 months of 2026, more than he posted even about tariffs....While tariffs & the war in Iran do affect, for example, the farm economy, Trump posted just 4 times specifically about American farming during the first 4 months of the year..."

“This one doesn’t burn easily!” Herblock 1953 cartoon on the widespread Red Scare censorship of books, from public school boards to the State Department. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 came out in 1953.

"You have just heard the President of the United States. Please stay tuned for the clarifying statements." Herblock on the Nixon administration’s messaging troubles, St Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/10/1970.

He spends so much time clasping his hand in prayer. That’s what did it. All the praying.

“What about getting prices down?” “…You asked about my billion dollar ballroom.”

The top spins from Brian Epstein's NEMS (North End Music Stores) as printed in Mersey Beat, February 8-22, 1962. A month before, the Beatles had topped the magazine's reader's poll.

The Blue Hills, south of Boston, were formed by giant piles of discarded festschrifts.

Carl Somdal's cartoon on VE Day for Norway, May 1945.

Harvey Parsons cartoon, Kansas Farmer, 1931.

An outbreak of Mar-a-Lago Face

Is RFK Jr asleep, praying, looking at raccoon carcasses on his phone?

Still a favorite. ‪“Thou hast eyes to see, and see not!” Peter Arno, The New Yorker, 5/10/1947. ‬

Potential chapter title for a future US history book covering our era: “Reign of Error.”

Not so fast!

Number 1 in Cognitive. A little #FunWithPhotoshop to match the moment.

“Today the average price of gas hit $4.46 a gallon….But you got to give it to President Trump. He campaigned on $2 gas and now he's delivering more than twice what he promised.”

Woke up like this and gets on with life.

"Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?" Herblock on the absurdity of conformity and the climate of fear in Red Scare America, June 1953.

Advert taco sculpture in front of Oslo’s Central Station

"You wouldn't criticize me, would you, pal?" Herblock's May 1953 cartoon on McCarthy & his threats to freedom of the press/freedom of expression. McCarthy clashed with & harassed journalists like Joseph Alsop, Drew Pearson, Charlotta Bass, & Edward R. Murrow.

"Sometimes I wonder what's in those darn things." Herblock on the idiocy of red scare censorship. In 1953 the State Dept prohibited the overseas information program from featuring writings by “Communists, fellow travelers, et cetera." Steinbeck, Pearl Buck, and Sinclair Lewis were typical targets.

John Fischetti’s comment on high-tariff advocates in the US and the impact on post-war Europe, March 1953.

A 1904 poster for the Socialist Party ticket for president, Eugene V. Debs and Ben Hanford. They won 402,810 of the popular vote, or 2.98%.

1943 editor of Billboard magazine to the design team: "I want that illustration of a baby, trumpeter, clown, and beauty queen, riding a bomb on my desk by tomorrow!"

Coastal hike today

Alternate title idea for Rooster

Bil Canfield's 1982 cartoon on Reagan’s inflated military budget and the cuts to domestic spending The US Defense Department has a nearly $1.45 trillion budget in 2026. The real cost of the Iran war is not $25 billion, as the Pentagon claims, but, according to one estimate, $40-50 billion.

I'm not sure what this Getty image is meant to illustrate

Fixed this graph for greater accuracy.

In 1991, James Dobson offended the evangelical cat community and had to write an apology in his newsletter. Here’s the start of it.

This is truly mind-blowing: Norway has gone from near-zero sales of non‑emitting battery electric vehicles to now close to 100% of all new passenger car sales - achieved in about 13 years. More in my next substack newsletter. Sign up here: substack.com/@janrosenow

The past is a foreign country; they ate things differently there. Larded and stuffed in 1872. Turkey roast, stuffed with oysters. Saddle of lamb, orange sauce. Boned turkey au truffles with jelly. Sweet breads larded with green peas. Calf's head a la royal. Mayonnaise of lobster with jelly.

A frugal Fourth of July menu from 1910.

"I know he's doing impersonations of you on TV..." Ric Hugo, 1970. Hugo imagines J. Edgar Hoover talking Pres Nixon out of an FBI investigation of comedian & impersonator Rich Little. Little was a regular on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 70s, even filling in as host now and then.

"Fellow travelers." Newton Pratt sketches Gov Reagan walking behind countercultural radicals with a "Secede from the USA!" sign. Reagan wanted to cut welfare spending in California & had faced federal opposition to his efforts. Said Reagan: "We're going to fight this out even if we have to secede."

"Washington was exceedingly fond of dining on seafood...the three fisheries he operated along the ten-mile Potomac shoreline that bordered Mount Vernon processed more than a million fish annually. Among the items on the plantation’s menu were crabmeat casseroles, oyster gumbos & salmon mousse."

“I’d feel better without that guy sitting in the back of the cockpit.” Herblock fuses the concerns about hijackings and the problem of the Electoral College, September 1970.