Ahhhhh, just like the old days, Mike being led by Bernie's wit...reappearing without notice...poof!

You have to admit, my dear old home-state Texas makes great theater. Politics, sports, piano competitions, ecology, you name it (other than downhill skiing) Texas makes great theater. It's still so big here that most people have a sense of being isolated, and that tends to make them think that what they say or do matters. So, they put on a big show, completely serious, utterly devoid of self-doubt, because they're unfamiliar with the concepts of getting along, compromising, listening to other opinions... Just like I'm doing right now!

Even more amazing than Gov. Abbot's State Guard response to the U.S.'s Jade Helm 15 exercises is the decision to withdraw a billion dollars worth of gold from the U.S. reserves and place it in a vault in Texas, where the powers that be think they'll build an honest state currency. They wouldn't have to read but a few books to see the problems inherent in such an unlikely undertaking. Perhaps they don't think the rest of us Texans have read such books. Perhaps they're right!

Well, I hereby stand alone on this stage, like our beloved lone star, and proclaim that Texas will continue to provide marvelous theatrical fodder for Doonesbury and all comers for the foreseeable future, without interruption. In fact, I'm selling tickets. Just one gold-piece per head! Line up!

Perfect! And I actually live here. Go Battleground Texas!

Today's strip failed to mention the nuclear-powered tunnel-boring machines they used to build the Walmart tunnels. That's why there are no piles of dirt. You see, the machines melt it into glass and use it to line the tunnels. Thanks for a great Sunday laugh!

Secession? The activists of Battleground Texas think they have a better idea. Their plan is to register enough new voters, especially among the growing Latino population, to flip Texas Blue and get it to join the Union for the third time. Republicans are freaking out. See Sen. John Cornyn's Keep Texas Red campaign. Back in 2013, Gov. Abbott -- then the Attorney General -- warned that Battleground Texas was more dangerous than North Korea, which had threatened to nuke Austin.

Trudeau nailed it in the May 31st strip. "Higher ed" is going full-tilt into the crapper, courtesy of the race to maximize profits vis-a-vis the U Phoenix model. With the Walden vision of add-ons, bundling, and "levels" of education, it only makes sense now that United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek will be a college president soon; then higher ed also can a la carte everything for a fee, like Smisek did with United.

Oh, my goodness! Monday's video showed bare breasts, and other naughty bits. For an American feature, this is very daring. Your media has no trouble displaying murder and mayhem, but you twist yourselves into pretzels over nudity. I've never really understood the dichotomy.

The first Doonesbury book I purchased was Just a French Major from the Bronx. I just hit 65 (OMG, how did that happen?!) and next week I'm getting a cataract removed. I remember a long-ago Sunday strip about Jimmy Thudpucker and his group, and Pooh going off on some riff, Jimmy says, "Pooh, where are you? What are you doing?" and Pooh replies, "Floating with the universe, man." Jimmy says, "Pooh, when are expected to return?" This popped into my head when discussing pre-op meds with the nurse; Xanax and Fentanyl. I won't care that someone is poking my eyeball. So thanks, Garry.

I'm so sorry that Sunday's strip applies in more than one state. Substitute "oil companies" and you've nailed the situation in Alaska.

In today's strip, the student's recognition of a logical fallacy shows Kansas already has too much book learnin'.

I read the Tampa Bay Times every day and thoroughly enjoy your political acumen and Dan Piraro’s wordplay. Your “Voodoo economics” strip today was the best ever! Now age 76, I’ve traveled extensively and experienced firsthand the harm done by the greedy rich and powerful against the poor and powerless during 16 years overseas. Only artists/political commentators like you who have the guts to ridicule and expose their “logical fallacies” can make a difference. In America and in many other countries the rich have already purchased and corrupted the legislative system, which collectively remains silent and complicit. Your political insight, understanding of basic right from wrong, constantly revealing the insiders’ schemes and relentlessly uncovering their methods, helps the Americans who need it. I salute you for this one and all the others you have created. Keep at it! 

Sorry, kid, with Trickle-Down Dick and the rest of the inmates in charge of the asylum, the First Amendment doesn't apply to you until you reach 18. When it comes to reproductive health, not even then. Voting? Fuggedaboudit. Second-Amendment remedies? Hey, now you're talking! Except those only apply to, um, never mind. Not going there.

Reaganomics, now in the guise of Brownbackonomics, at its finest . All the wealth trickling right on up and right back into the wealthiest's back pockets .

Re: PRIVILEGE: It's true! All those female firefighters, cops, military personnel, CEOs and Board Chairs -- at the first sign of trouble they all look to be rescued as a matter of priority. I'm so glad that was pointed out by the distinguished member of the rescuer gender.  :-)

I'd be more impressed with the comment about feminists in burning buildings and sinking boats if it had cited even one real-world incident. Doonesbury is a cartoon, and even here there's no indication that it's herself Honey is concerned with saving...

Women first? I thought that Honey was a communist and a feminist. It's funny that you never find a feminist in a burning building or a sinking boat. At the first sign of trouble, feminine privilege kicks in and they expect to be rescued as a priority.

Not many students outside the physics department were aware that Yale's Wright Laboratory under D. Allan Bromley ran the highest-energy tandem Van de Graaf heavy ion accelerator in the world from 1958 to 2011. It was still open for tours until last November.

I'm loving the Phred cartoons currently running in the 40-years-ago section of the Flashbacks page. It's a little-recognized achievement that Trudeau took the Vietnamese seriously, and continued following the adventures of their country after the war ended. Too many accounts of that war focused exclusively on the U.S. side. Trudeau shows the country getting on with life after victory, affectionately but warts-and-all. Well done!

Poor Honey. Of all the Doonesbury characters, she has had the roughest ride. The storyline we are revisiting right now (which ends badly) only takes up one sentence in her five-paragraph biography of disasters. I doubt we've ever seen her smile.

I had forgotten that "Oriental" was once an acceptable term for Asian.