Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 11, 2023

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    BE THIS GUY  12 months ago

    People who want to ban books want to keep other people from reading them.

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    RuinQueenofOblivion  12 months ago

    If only it was that simple… always weird to agree with Rat.

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    BasilBruce  12 months ago

    I’m with you, Rat—the only “Ban” should be deodorant!

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    Gent  12 months ago

    Ah the PC-CC gang and their witch hunts and book burnings.

    (PC : Political Correctness. ; CC : Cancel Culture)

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    sirbadger  12 months ago

    Megaphones don’t need genius ideas.

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    Hello Everyone  12 months ago

    The Megaphonists are usually the ones who want to band books. At least in my experience.

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    oldpine52  12 months ago

    That is the solution to many things.

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    Walter Kocker  12 months ago

    ’Read the obituary of a lady of my acquaintance last week that ended:

    " . . .In lieu of flowers, buy a banned book and donate it to a library."

    ’Classy way to go, gurl!

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    Qiset  12 months ago

    Are there any books that are banned here in the US? I’m not aware of any that I can’t buy.

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    iggyman  12 months ago

    Poor Goat!

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    carlsonbob  12 months ago

    This time I’m with Rat 100%

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    Walrus Gumbo Premium Member 12 months ago

    It’s not genius, just obvious!

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    TossedSaladCartoon  11 months ago

    Unless it isn’t actually being banned, just removed from places where younger readers shouldn’t be exposed to it.

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    Count Olaf Premium Member 11 months ago

    Free Dr Seuss!

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    monya_43  11 months ago

    Rat got himself a new aggravating “fun for himself” toy.

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    Huckleberry Hiroshima  11 months ago

    But the Repulsivcans don’t want others to be “corrupted” by those books. They MUST BE BURNED.

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    TampaFanatic1  11 months ago

    Whoa! Rat has a libertarian streak, who knew. I always thought the rodent has been a black shirt who has been giddy about certain alt-factions going out of their way to remove literary classics from libraries and university literature reading lists.

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    Brass Orchid Premium Member 11 months ago

    Yes. This would work. They don’t want their tax money spent to buy books to be given to their children, excerpts from which are too obscene to be allowed on the air. Rat has done it again.

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    wrd2255  11 months ago

    Book bans usually just sell more books. Steve Martin was ecstatic when Collier County Florida banned his book. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.

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    rossevrymn  11 months ago

    This is in no way a political piece. If it were a political piece, the politics politics would be shouting, “Shut up and dribble.”

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    ladykat  11 months ago

    I agree with Rat. If you don’t like a book, don’t buy it. Don’t spoil the fun for other people.

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    milokraegel Premium Member 11 months ago

    Fr

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    eric_harris_76  11 months ago

    Please define “banning”.

    I’ll wait.

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    SusieB  11 months ago

    And let each parent decide for their OWN child what they should or should not read. Not Moms for Facism

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    Ellis97  11 months ago

    For once, Rat is doing a heroic deed to help mankind. People who try to ban books firmly believe in judging them by their covers and are all whiny, fun-hating jerks who have no real lives.

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    sterref05  11 months ago

    Book-banners, after all, insist that the entire community should see things their way, and only their way. When a book is banned, a whole set of thoughts is locked behind the assertion that there is only one valid set of beliefs, one valid perception of the world. It’s a scary idea, especially in a society which was been built on the ideas of free choice and free thought.

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    Totalloser Premium Member 11 months ago

    Rat is to logical for most people

    I’m sure the people wanting to ban books have never read a book

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    MS72  11 months ago

    ban calendars, sticker packs, and anything else Pastis is selling

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    SkyFisher  11 months ago

    You know, Rat has a point. If you like the books that are “banned” then go buy and read them. Then you will realize they weren’t “banned” at all. They were just put out of reach of children. This is like the rating system on movies. The Species movies aren’t banned, but you wouldn’t want 5 yr olds watching it.

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    morningglory73 Premium Member 11 months ago

    Rat is right, if you don’t like the book don’t read it. Simple then just live and let live.

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    tom.amitai  11 months ago

    That’s what they said about banning holocaust denial books. Now look how many people believe it never happened.

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    notjimothy  11 months ago

    I think it’s kindof like playing GOD

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    uniquename  11 months ago

    Should I ever get around to writing a book, I hope someone bans it.

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    fullplatebeta Premium Member 11 months ago

    Great idea, but they want to control people and don’t really care about the books.

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    Rich_Pa  11 months ago

    Amen.

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    Cameron1988 Premium Member 11 months ago

    Thank you, Rat

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    _lounger_  11 months ago

    good ol’ Rat

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    Serial Pedant  11 months ago

    People who ban books don’t read them, that’s how they know “Wuthering Heights” is pornographic.

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    SpicyNacho Premium Member 11 months ago

    The left cancelling Dr Suess is about the closest thing to a book ban there is.

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    Radish...   11 months ago

    People who don’t read are banning books, mostly this is a right wing concept, everything upsets those people.

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    ggoskie  11 months ago

    It’s all about power, which is what motivates a lot of people.

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    Goat from PBS  11 months ago

    And don’t put those books in elementary schools.

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    John Jorgensen  11 months ago

    A good idea, though somehow I doubt that Goat’s the one who needs to hear it.

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    apoch003  11 months ago

    Christians: Ban Heather has two mommies and Gender Queer. Liberals: Ban Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird – but the Christians are the problem!

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    elgrecousa Premium Member 11 months ago

    It really doesn’t matter what the reason is, banning books is not a good idea.

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    cupertino jay  11 months ago

    two words: library, and.. LIBRARY

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    mindjob  11 months ago

    Gotta show p*rn to kids to keep that industry going

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    Larry S  11 months ago

    Banned books are totally unavailable by definition. If you can find it, it isn’t banned.

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    dpatrickryan Premium Member 11 months ago

    Yeah, but, see, I want to keep other people from liking those books. I also want to keep other people from doing things with their own bodies. And while we’re at it, with those of other consenting adults. You see, my sense of morality is so fragile and poorly thought out that it can withstand no challenges whatsoever, so obviously the only solution is to force, by whatever means necessary, people to behave exactly as I interpret my book as saying they should, even though I’ve never actually read the entire book.

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    markkahler52  11 months ago

    Now banned: Megaphones…

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    hooglah  11 months ago

    That’s like the political comic strips. People read them just to complain about them. If you don’t like them….quit reading them.

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    zeexenon  11 months ago

    For goodness sake, don’t show this one in the Bible Belt or California.

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    Saurischia  11 months ago

    Has goat switched from tea to coffee, then?

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    old_geek  11 months ago

    A bit of a fail for messaging. Especially having in mind the phrase “idiot with a megaphone.”

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    amaryllis2 Premium Member 11 months ago

    The book banners included Where’s Waldo and one by Judy Blume, who wrote ordinary stories for the late elementary-age set. Harry Potter. Shel Silverstein’s poems for small children. The names of books and authors is mindboggling, and the punishment to teachers in some states for having them (looking at you, Florida and Governor DeathSentence) is horrifying.

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    thedogesl Premium Member 11 months ago

    So, apparently, do common sense ideas these days.

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    Eric S   11 months ago

    some books NEED to be banned based on content. Some books should never have been published in the first place.

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    Ka`ōnōhi`ula`okahōkūmiomio`ehiku Premium Member 11 months ago

    I think it’s time to put ‘the Bible" on our list of banned books. Not only does it include writings about fratricide, patricide, genocide, illicit intercourse, misogyny, and homosexuality, it also shows examples of people rejecting god’s commandments.

    BAN THE BIBLE! It’s unclean.

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    Curiosity Premium Member 11 months ago

    That’s what could be called a solution that is “inherently obvious to the most casual observer”. And therefore totally obscure to the worst perpetrators.

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    Stephen M Dallas  11 months ago

    Exactly what books have been “banned.” Every list of “banned” books I see are books that are readily available. They’re literally selling them in stores as “banned books.” If I wanted, I could buy one, take it home, read it, and no one would stop me. No one would care, either. A mob isn’t going to form outside of my house because I have one of these books.

    So how are they “banned?”

    Or is this a case of parents not wanting particularly explicit tomes readily available to minor children (often without parental permission) and Pastis clutching his pearls (no pun intended) that somehow that is the same thing as a “ban”?

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    eddi-TBH  11 months ago

    Our library and school system have a similar method for dealing with book bans. It’s called “Get Bent!”

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    aunt granny  11 months ago

    Book banning is such a small problem that every celebration of banned-book week has to fluff up its list of banned books with books that someone decided not to buy.

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    Otis Rufus Driftwood  11 months ago

    For Rat, all he needs is an excuse to use a megaphone.

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    Chris Sherlock  11 months ago

    Rat’s never taken the part about speaking softly in “Speak softly and carry a big stick” to heart, has he?

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    Sisyphos  11 months ago

    Rat is a LOUDMOUTH enough without a megaphone!

    Maybe megaphones should be banned….

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    blindavocado Premium Member 11 months ago

    Except nobody is banning books. That is a cheap lie spread by people of low intelligence and only believed by people of lower intelligence.

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    blindavocado Premium Member 11 months ago

    Nobody is banning books, don’t fall for the lie

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    Darque Hellmutt  11 months ago

    The whole debate Rat’s comment led to is a complete False Flag promoted by the left. A REAL “book ban” would involve preventing them from being published, gathering and destroying the ones already in circulation, and perhaps even imposing fines on anyone caught with a copy. Kinda like Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’. That’s a long way from simply saying “this particular book has no place in the classroom”. I’m not aware of anyone on either side saying there is no right to write these books, have them printed, or offer them for sale. Just keep them on the top shelf with the Playboys and Hustlers. If the adults want to purchase them and give them to their kids, fine. There’s a reason we don’t put those magazines in school libraries with the National Geographics and Ranger Ricks, but I don’t hear anyone crying out that we are “BANNING” them. If we’re going to have a discussion, at least keep it honest.

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    Croc Holliday  11 months ago

    Ya can’t make this stuff up.

    Moms for Liberty founder Bridget Ziegler currently embroiled in a sex scandal involving a three-way with her husband, Florida GOP Chair Christian (smirk) Ziegler and another woman.

    Ziegler (Christian) is facing assault charges; Ziegler (Bridget) is being asked to resign from the Sarasota School Board.

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    Samwise  10 months ago

    Ya, I have never seen a comment get this many replies before

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    alantain  9 months ago

    All that you accomplish from banning books is to make them more enticing. And don’t think burning them is any better. Anything you want to read is stored somewhere on the internet, and is often free.

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