The Funnies - Welcome to the New Year

An extra funny page to welcome the New Year, 1919 marked the beginning of a year without the open warfare of World War I, but it also heralded a time of reckoning with the chaos and ugliness left in the wake of combat. Soon the false bravado of the 20's would obscure the memories of combat, the champagne and money would flow, Wall Street would fill one of its perennial bubbles with the hot air of impossible dreams, and humanity would Charleston into the abyss of World War II.

Here's to a year without war, a year when we are governed by wise and compassionate leaders, to a year of reasoned optimism undergirded by hard work and a strong conscience. Here's to 2014 and to hoping she will be a better year than her predecessor.