More later in a longer article. In the meantime, enjoy the cartoon!
Author: Joey deVilla
This photograph was taken two days ago at the FBI Academy in Quantico and submitted to the NYT under the condition of anonymity.
It’s also worth reading his article, Dr. King and Donald Trump: Fighting for justice on inauguration day and beyond, as a reminder that everyone can’t do everything, but everyone can do something.
Adam Goldman of the New York Times writes:
A photograph provided to The New York Times shows a glimpse of some of the changes underway at the F.B.I., specifically the F.B.I. Academy at Quantico on Wednesday.
And in case you needed a list of the words on the mural that’s being covered up:
- Diversity
- Cooperativeness
- Fairness
- Leadership
- Compassion
- Integrity
- Stability
- Constitution
- Initiative
- Respect
- Accountability

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about Burns Night, here’s another poem from Robert Burns — The Rights of Woman, an incredibly enlightened bit of verse considering it was written in 1792. We need it now more than ever.
The Rights of Woman
While Europe’s eye is fix’d on mighty things,
The fate of Empires and the fall of Kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.
First, in the Sexes’ intermix’d connection,
One sacred Right of Woman is, protection.
The tender flower that lifts its head, elate,
Helpless, must fall before the blasts of Fate,
Sunk on the earth, defac’d its lovely form,
Unless your shelter ward th’ impending storm.
Our second Right – but needless here is caution,
To keep that right inviolate’s the fashion;
Each man of sense has it so full before him,
He’d die before he’d wrong it – ’tis decorum.
There was, indeed, in far less polish’d days,
A time, when rough rude man had naughty ways,
Would swagger, swear, get drunk, kick up a riot,
Nay even thus invade a Lady’s quiet.
Now, thank our stars! those Gothic times are fled;
Now, well-bred men – and you are all well-bred –
Most justly think (and we are much the gainers)
Such conduct neither spirit, wit, nor manners.
For Right the third, our last, our best, our dearest,
That right to fluttering female hearts the nearest;
Which even the Rights of Kings, in low prostration,
Most humbly own – ’tis dear, dear admiration!
In that blest sphere alone we live and move;
There taste that life of life-immortal love.
Smiles, glances, sighs, tears, fits , flirtations, airs ;
‘Gainst such an host what flinty savage dares,
When awful Beauty joins with all her charms
Who is so rash as rise in rebel arms?
But truce with kings, and truce with constitutions,
With bloody armaments and revolutions;
Let Majesty your first attention summon,
Ah! ca ira! The Majesty Of Woman!
Note: Ça Ira (pronounced “Sah ee-RAH”) is a French term “It will be all right,” and the title of a French Revolution song.
It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for another “picdump!” Here are 136 memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet that I found interesting or relevant this week. Share and enjoy!

My plans for Burns Night 2025
Here’s the main course for dinner tonight…
…and that’s because it’s January 25th today, making tonight Burns Night, the night when we celebrate the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns:
Haggis is a kind of sausage, in that it only sounds bad when you describe what goes into it: “a savory pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach” (although in modern times, it’s encased in sausage casing).
It’s actually delicious, and it’s typically served this way…
…and in case you were wondering, tatties are potatoes, neeps are turnips, and yes, there’s scotch on the side. I also plan to make a whiskey sauce to pour on everything.
And finally, since sausage is for dinner, it’s only fitting that sausage is also for dessert:
This is Chocolate Salami, from Toronto chocolatier Soma, which is a “sausage” made of chocolate, candied orange peel, sun dried cherries, pieces of feuilletine (crispy flakes of caramelized crêpes), coconut, almonds, hazelnuts, nibs and rum.
Here’s what it looks like when sliced:
We’ll probably start dinner with this reading of Robbie Burns’ famous poem, Address to a Haggis, delivered with the proper gusto by true Scotsman Cameron Goodall:
My friends in my old home town, Toronto, won’t find Tampa’s current temperatures cold, but by local standards, it’s downright frigid.
The past couple of mornings have started at a temperature that Torontonians would consider balmy this time of year: 4°C (39°F). With Tampa’s humidity typically in the 90% range, it feels more like 0°C (32°F). I pulled out the olive drab puffy vest that my Dad gave to me as a Christmas gift ages ago — he had a thing for giving me warm clothing — and snapped the photo above to let my Mom know how I’m doing.

It looks like it’s going to get a little colder this weekend, which is going to be a challenge for the sizable portion of the local population that’s perpetually in shorts and flip-flops.
But at least it isn’t snowing in Tampa…