This is Your Brain on Aphorisms: The Thugly American

This is Your Brain on Aphorisms: The Thugly American
I was born a young baby. Then I grew up. Then I grew confused. Then I grew tired. I'm a 20th century man who's somehow been transported to the 21st century, with one foot in the gone past and the other in the here now. I started my blog mymanymoodsofme toward the end of 2012. There I write humorous essays, stories and poems (lyrics from my songs), in addition to my aphorisms. It's good work... if you get it. In my spare time I play chess, write songs, and reflect upon what I see. I'm very happy to be colluding with Humor Times, and hope you enjoy the result. Cheers!
Ralph Lombard

“Make me look bad and I’ll  get thugly,” Trump warns. The mad hater held a tea party with malice in plunder-land. MAGA: Trump‘s personal safe-tea network. If hating … Read more

Mike Luckovich for Dec 06, 2023

Mike Luckovich for Dec 06, 2023
Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution received two amazing honors in 2006, winning both a Pulitzer Prize and the Reuben award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. This was the second Pulitzer for Luckovich; his first was awarded in 1995. He had previously received the Reuben award for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, but this was his first time to be named the overall outstanding cartoonist by a group of his peers. The Reuben awards are distributed each year by the National Cartoonists Society and are considered professional cartooning's highest honor.

Impressive as these achievements are, they are only the latest in a long line of awards for Luckovich. He was a runner-up for the Pulitzer in 1987 before garnering the 1995 win.  In 1989, he won the Overseas Press Club's award for the "Best Cartoons on Foreign Affairs for 1989," and in 1991, he was awarded the National Headliners award for editorial cartoonists. In 1994, a Luckovich cartoon was selected by voters in a Newsweek magazine poll as one of the four best editorial cartoons of the year.

After freelancing and selling life insurance to make ends meet following his graduation from the University of Washington in 1982, Luckovich landed his first cartooning job at the Greenville News in South Carolina. After nine months at the News, Luckovich was hired by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he stayed for four years before moving on to Atlanta.

Luckovich's cartoons, syndicated nationally by Creators Syndicate, appear in more than 350 daily publications, including The Washington Post,The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Denver Post, Newsday, New York Post, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Dallas Morning News, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Nashville Tennessean and the Houston Chronicle, and are reprinted regularly in Time, Newsweek and the New York Times.

Luckovich and his wife, Margo, have four children. His hobbies include exercising and collecting unique ties.
Mike Luckovich
Latest posts by Mike Luckovich (see all)

John Deering for Dec 05, 2023

John Deering for Dec 05, 2023








John Deering is chief editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state's largest newspaper. Five times a week, his cartoon comments entertain (or sometimes enrage) readers throughout Arkansas, in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Winner of the National Press Foundation's 1997 Berryman Award, Deering also gained top honors in the 1994 national John Fischetti Cartoon Competition and was the seven-time winner of the Arkansas Press Association's Best Editorial Cartoonist award.


Deering's work is collected in two books: Deering's State of Mind (1990) and We Knew Bill Clinton ... Bill Clinton Was a Friend of Ours (1993, with Vic Harville). He is a 14-year member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.


Born in 1956 in Little Rock, Deering has been drawing since his childhood fascination with science fiction and dinosaurs -- subjects he made into comic books. After studying art with Truman Alston, Deering focused on commercial and fine art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Along the way, he found his strength in interlocking art with comment.


At the Democrat-Gazette, Deering advanced from layout artist to editorial cartoonist in 1981-82. His promotion to chief editorial cartoonist in 1988 made his cartoons the state's best-known. Deering also creates the comic panel Too Much Coffee.


He and his wife, Kathy, have a daughter and two sons, and live in Little Rock. He still draws dinosaurs.

Check out his comic strips, Zack Hill and Strange Brew.


John Deering
Latest posts by John Deering (see all)

Marshall Ramsey for Dec 05, 2023

Marshall Ramsey for Dec 05, 2023


Cartooning whiz kid Marshall Ramsey began drawing when his mother, an art teacher, gave him a pencil and a piece of paper to keep him quiet in church. Those early doodlings eventually evolved into the slightly warped but right on target cartoons that Ramsey has been creating since 1994.



Full of biting wit, his cartoons provide a fresh, 'Generation X' point of view. Born in New Jersey, he grew up in Atlanta and earned a marketing degree at the University of Tennessee, where he was a cartoonist at the school newspaper. His honors include being named winner of the 1993 John Locher Memorial Award. Ramsey began his professional career by filling in for the editorial cartoonist at the Knoxville Journal. He moved on to positions as creative director at the Conroe (Texas) Courier and at Copley News Service before becoming the editorial cartoonist at the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger. He was a Pulitzer finalist in 2002.


Marshall Ramsey
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Mike Luckovich for Dec 03, 2023

Mike Luckovich for Dec 03, 2023
Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution received two amazing honors in 2006, winning both a Pulitzer Prize and the Reuben award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. This was the second Pulitzer for Luckovich; his first was awarded in 1995. He had previously received the Reuben award for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, but this was his first time to be named the overall outstanding cartoonist by a group of his peers. The Reuben awards are distributed each year by the National Cartoonists Society and are considered professional cartooning's highest honor.

Impressive as these achievements are, they are only the latest in a long line of awards for Luckovich. He was a runner-up for the Pulitzer in 1987 before garnering the 1995 win.  In 1989, he won the Overseas Press Club's award for the "Best Cartoons on Foreign Affairs for 1989," and in 1991, he was awarded the National Headliners award for editorial cartoonists. In 1994, a Luckovich cartoon was selected by voters in a Newsweek magazine poll as one of the four best editorial cartoons of the year.

After freelancing and selling life insurance to make ends meet following his graduation from the University of Washington in 1982, Luckovich landed his first cartooning job at the Greenville News in South Carolina. After nine months at the News, Luckovich was hired by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he stayed for four years before moving on to Atlanta.

Luckovich's cartoons, syndicated nationally by Creators Syndicate, appear in more than 350 daily publications, including The Washington Post,The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Denver Post, Newsday, New York Post, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Dallas Morning News, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Nashville Tennessean and the Houston Chronicle, and are reprinted regularly in Time, Newsweek and the New York Times.

Luckovich and his wife, Margo, have four children. His hobbies include exercising and collecting unique ties.
Mike Luckovich
Latest posts by Mike Luckovich (see all)

John Deering for Dec 02, 2023

John Deering for Dec 02, 2023








John Deering is chief editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state's largest newspaper. Five times a week, his cartoon comments entertain (or sometimes enrage) readers throughout Arkansas, in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Winner of the National Press Foundation's 1997 Berryman Award, Deering also gained top honors in the 1994 national John Fischetti Cartoon Competition and was the seven-time winner of the Arkansas Press Association's Best Editorial Cartoonist award.


Deering's work is collected in two books: Deering's State of Mind (1990) and We Knew Bill Clinton ... Bill Clinton Was a Friend of Ours (1993, with Vic Harville). He is a 14-year member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.


Born in 1956 in Little Rock, Deering has been drawing since his childhood fascination with science fiction and dinosaurs -- subjects he made into comic books. After studying art with Truman Alston, Deering focused on commercial and fine art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Along the way, he found his strength in interlocking art with comment.


At the Democrat-Gazette, Deering advanced from layout artist to editorial cartoonist in 1981-82. His promotion to chief editorial cartoonist in 1988 made his cartoons the state's best-known. Deering also creates the comic panel Too Much Coffee.


He and his wife, Kathy, have a daughter and two sons, and live in Little Rock. He still draws dinosaurs.

Check out his comic strips, Zack Hill and Strange Brew.


John Deering
Latest posts by John Deering (see all)

Mike Luckovich for Dec 01, 2023

Mike Luckovich for Dec 01, 2023
Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution received two amazing honors in 2006, winning both a Pulitzer Prize and the Reuben award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. This was the second Pulitzer for Luckovich; his first was awarded in 1995. He had previously received the Reuben award for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, but this was his first time to be named the overall outstanding cartoonist by a group of his peers. The Reuben awards are distributed each year by the National Cartoonists Society and are considered professional cartooning's highest honor.

Impressive as these achievements are, they are only the latest in a long line of awards for Luckovich. He was a runner-up for the Pulitzer in 1987 before garnering the 1995 win.  In 1989, he won the Overseas Press Club's award for the "Best Cartoons on Foreign Affairs for 1989," and in 1991, he was awarded the National Headliners award for editorial cartoonists. In 1994, a Luckovich cartoon was selected by voters in a Newsweek magazine poll as one of the four best editorial cartoons of the year.

After freelancing and selling life insurance to make ends meet following his graduation from the University of Washington in 1982, Luckovich landed his first cartooning job at the Greenville News in South Carolina. After nine months at the News, Luckovich was hired by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he stayed for four years before moving on to Atlanta.

Luckovich's cartoons, syndicated nationally by Creators Syndicate, appear in more than 350 daily publications, including The Washington Post,The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Denver Post, Newsday, New York Post, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Dallas Morning News, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Nashville Tennessean and the Houston Chronicle, and are reprinted regularly in Time, Newsweek and the New York Times.

Luckovich and his wife, Margo, have four children. His hobbies include exercising and collecting unique ties.
Mike Luckovich
Latest posts by Mike Luckovich (see all)

John Deering for Dec 01, 2023

John Deering for Dec 01, 2023








John Deering is chief editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state's largest newspaper. Five times a week, his cartoon comments entertain (or sometimes enrage) readers throughout Arkansas, in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Winner of the National Press Foundation's 1997 Berryman Award, Deering also gained top honors in the 1994 national John Fischetti Cartoon Competition and was the seven-time winner of the Arkansas Press Association's Best Editorial Cartoonist award.


Deering's work is collected in two books: Deering's State of Mind (1990) and We Knew Bill Clinton ... Bill Clinton Was a Friend of Ours (1993, with Vic Harville). He is a 14-year member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.


Born in 1956 in Little Rock, Deering has been drawing since his childhood fascination with science fiction and dinosaurs -- subjects he made into comic books. After studying art with Truman Alston, Deering focused on commercial and fine art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Along the way, he found his strength in interlocking art with comment.


At the Democrat-Gazette, Deering advanced from layout artist to editorial cartoonist in 1981-82. His promotion to chief editorial cartoonist in 1988 made his cartoons the state's best-known. Deering also creates the comic panel Too Much Coffee.


He and his wife, Kathy, have a daughter and two sons, and live in Little Rock. He still draws dinosaurs.

Check out his comic strips, Zack Hill and Strange Brew.


John Deering
Latest posts by John Deering (see all)

Mike Luckovich for Nov 30, 2023

Mike Luckovich for Nov 30, 2023
Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution received two amazing honors in 2006, winning both a Pulitzer Prize and the Reuben award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. This was the second Pulitzer for Luckovich; his first was awarded in 1995. He had previously received the Reuben award for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, but this was his first time to be named the overall outstanding cartoonist by a group of his peers. The Reuben awards are distributed each year by the National Cartoonists Society and are considered professional cartooning's highest honor.

Impressive as these achievements are, they are only the latest in a long line of awards for Luckovich. He was a runner-up for the Pulitzer in 1987 before garnering the 1995 win.  In 1989, he won the Overseas Press Club's award for the "Best Cartoons on Foreign Affairs for 1989," and in 1991, he was awarded the National Headliners award for editorial cartoonists. In 1994, a Luckovich cartoon was selected by voters in a Newsweek magazine poll as one of the four best editorial cartoons of the year.

After freelancing and selling life insurance to make ends meet following his graduation from the University of Washington in 1982, Luckovich landed his first cartooning job at the Greenville News in South Carolina. After nine months at the News, Luckovich was hired by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he stayed for four years before moving on to Atlanta.

Luckovich's cartoons, syndicated nationally by Creators Syndicate, appear in more than 350 daily publications, including The Washington Post,The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Denver Post, Newsday, New York Post, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Dallas Morning News, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Nashville Tennessean and the Houston Chronicle, and are reprinted regularly in Time, Newsweek and the New York Times.

Luckovich and his wife, Margo, have four children. His hobbies include exercising and collecting unique ties.
Mike Luckovich
Latest posts by Mike Luckovich (see all)

John Deering for Nov 30, 2023

John Deering for Nov 30, 2023








John Deering is chief editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state's largest newspaper. Five times a week, his cartoon comments entertain (or sometimes enrage) readers throughout Arkansas, in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Winner of the National Press Foundation's 1997 Berryman Award, Deering also gained top honors in the 1994 national John Fischetti Cartoon Competition and was the seven-time winner of the Arkansas Press Association's Best Editorial Cartoonist award.


Deering's work is collected in two books: Deering's State of Mind (1990) and We Knew Bill Clinton ... Bill Clinton Was a Friend of Ours (1993, with Vic Harville). He is a 14-year member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.


Born in 1956 in Little Rock, Deering has been drawing since his childhood fascination with science fiction and dinosaurs -- subjects he made into comic books. After studying art with Truman Alston, Deering focused on commercial and fine art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Along the way, he found his strength in interlocking art with comment.


At the Democrat-Gazette, Deering advanced from layout artist to editorial cartoonist in 1981-82. His promotion to chief editorial cartoonist in 1988 made his cartoons the state's best-known. Deering also creates the comic panel Too Much Coffee.


He and his wife, Kathy, have a daughter and two sons, and live in Little Rock. He still draws dinosaurs.

Check out his comic strips, Zack Hill and Strange Brew.


John Deering
Latest posts by John Deering (see all)
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