Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 02, 2022

I remember having recently watched Red Dwarf, and wondering if the “Dead, dead, everyone dead” was a reference to that.

Never heard either expression before and I was drafted 12/7/67.

Air Pirates? Puppets? (Yeah, I know the latter could refer to “puppets of the ruling class or imperialist running dogs” or whatever, but after “air pirates,” it sounds odd.)

In any case, this doesn’t really seem like something to joke about.

Terry & The Pirates???? A comic strip from long ago!!!

A) maybe Mike’s mother was right about it not being a good place to go for their honeymoon B) why does the lady reading the report look angry in the final panel? She shouldn’t take her anger out on Kim and Mike. C) I rather like Mike’s hopefully optimistic punchline here.

And that’s why Doonsbury does it….

The “air pirates” were the brave soldiers mowing down the people with machine guns mounted in helicopters

I would look closer to the “puppets”

‘Saigon? I am still only in Saigon?’

It’s been Ho Chi Minh City since 1976, but apparently the city center is still referred to as Saigon.

An issue with the survivors of any major war. I’m surprised there were such good records in Viet Nam, much of the records in Eastern Europe were destroyed during WWII.

There was a point in history when Ho Chi Minh asked the United States government how committed it was to the whole concept of self-determination and, if we were true to that ideal, why didn’t we exert pressure on our French friends to get the hell out of their colonial empire. Not only did we not do that, we picked up where the French left off in the name of our Cold War paranoia.

I wish to ne killed by Air Pirates, but not too soon.

“Yankee Air Pirates” same-same as USAF

Wow. That even makes me feel lonely.

Ah, honeymoon memories….

“DEAD! DEAD! EVERYONE DEAD!”

Mike Doonesbury: model of empathy.

Sounds like a visit to the cemetary is next

That last panel is so full of insensitivity. Kim needs compassion, not just facts.

A younger American would want to see the Air Pirate Puppet Museum.

Howdy Doody went on a rampage after we sniffed some napalm in the morning

Well,isn’t SHE cheerful!

Should have tried Niagara Falls instead.

We make much (not wrongly) of the 58,000 Americans killed in the Vietnam war, but Vietnam (both sides) lost 3.5 to 4 million people (though estimates vary), out of a much smaller total population. That’s not counting the deaths in Laos and Cambodia. Nor does it count all the people killed since 1975 by remaining land mines, unexploded ordinance, Agent Orange poisoning, and other lingering effects of the war.

This is the cost of war and 20 years from now there will be children like her in Ukraine and Yemen and other places where human life is destroyed in the name of what is it exactly?

Well, she can’t tell her all her relatives were executed by the communists for being friendly to the Americans, could she?

Ouch! Well, it is Monday…

I can understand both women’s feelings here. Mike? I’m deeply disappointed in him.

So, yeah, let’s do what we can to stop the Putin regime’s giant war crime that is the invasion of Ukraine…but let’s not think that we can be all self-righteous. To those of us old enough, it all sounds too damn familiar.

Puppets who kill. Great series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppets_Who_Kill

I absolutely believe the attitude of the clerk.

When I was in Viet Nam a few years ago, everywhere people were welcoming and friendly. Of course they would be because they needed our dollars and the guides were all government vetted – but they were, in general, up front with us. Each one complained about the propaganda loudspeakers that wake everyone up early in the morning for example, or that they had “heard the police in Australia were there to actually help people was that true?”, or “You might think this odd, I know I do, but every visitor to Hanoi is required to visit Ho Chi Minh’s tomb”, etc, etc. Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, every where we went, were all great.

Except in Hue. The hotel was crap, and I don’t mean just run down, I mean crap, and the staff were sullen. Sign on the wall next to the elevator read “No women or durian in the rooms”. At least the elevator worked, after a fashion. The tour guide was surly and just dumped us at the Imperial City without a word. The city of Hue itself sort of seemed like it had been forgotten by everybody and the inhabitants were all depressed, the infrastructure left to rot. I couldn’t wait to get out of Hue.