It would be great if I could go back to trying to be funny. Maybe people could stop being awful for a couple weeks? But no. Instead, we have news aggregators that do nothing but track current events that are NOT NORMAL, except that they are rapidly becoming everyday sorts of occurrences. But still not normal. White supremacists fomenting terror in the daylight, knowing that the president of the United States won’t condemn their actions: NOT NORMAL.

Purim is a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, but one that remains shockingly relevant. It’s popular for the reasons mentioned in the comic: costumes, cookies, booze, and a general atmosphere of revelry. Because there are treacherous people about, but again and again, the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. Eventually. All tyrants fall. Eventually.

Purim cookies are called hamantaschen and I I noticed they are selling them at Costco this year. The noisemakers are called groggers. They are highly annoying to adults, but, obviously, children love them. This year, the holiday falls on the 12th and 13 of March.

Panel 3 references Nazi death camps (20th century), the Maccabean Revolt (2nd centure BCE), the golem of Prague (16th century), and a bad forgery that refuses to die.

I don’t know the name of the cemetery where my ancestors are buried but my family is from Philadelphia and the images in the news certainly look a lot like my memories of the place.

I’m not saying people don’t get scared. But not scared enough to roll over. You know what I mean? Vandalism and bomb threats only help us remain vigilant. When evil rears its head, that makes it easier to strike down.