…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
BE THERE – AND BEWARE… THE FOOLS ARE AMONG US!
Ah, the irony… “According to [San Francisco] state law, it is a misdemeanor to intentionally disrupt the business of public employees by obstructing or intimidating and then refusing to leave upon request.” Perhaps this law should be applied to the real DOGE.
SF City Hall ‘DOGE raid’ was a YouTube prank; authorities weigh whether to pursue charges, by Alise Maripuu, Bay City News, February 27, 2025
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether federal Department of Government Efficiency impersonators committed any criminal acts earlier this month when they entered City Hall and allegedly demanded access to employee computers.
On Feb. 14, three men wearing MAGA hats and DOGE shirts entered various offices at San Francisco City Hall and apparently asked employees to turn over digital information related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud.
Cartoonist Stan Mack, a man with an uncanny sense of the ironic, has a new book coming out June 11, 2024, published by Fantagraphics. It chronicles his much revered Village Voice comic strip called Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, which appeared weekly from 1974 to 1995. It’s a beautiful book that appropriately pays homage to his insight and talent. The book is available for pre-order here.
Columnist and author Joe Enright just published this wonderful interview with Stan: Tales of New York – an interview with cartoonist Stan Mack, Red Hook Star-Revue, April 9, 2024.
There are an eery number of showbiz coincidences foreshadowing the political rise of Donald Trump. This 1958 TV Western, “Trackdown: The End of the World”, anticipates some pretty specific details, including the need for a wall to save the people from annihilation. Fact or fiction?
“A 1950s TV show had a fear-mongering conman named Trump who wanted to build a wall”
by Clara Sinclair
Boing Boing
January 10, 2019
On May 8, 1958, art imitated life in 2018. In an episode of a TV show called Trackdown, there was a conman named Trump, who tried to scare the bejeezus out of a town by preaching, “at midnight tonight, without my help and knowledge, every one of you will be dead.” The only way he could save them is by building a wall.
One sane man tries to talk some sense into the sheriff, with Trump in their presence. “How long are you going to put up with this?” he asks. But the brainwashed sheriff replies with a dumb, “What do you mean?”
How long are you going to let this conman walk around town?” the man persists.
Then Trump speaks his signature line: “Be careful son, I can sue you.” Read more and watch the entire episode here.