Mallard Fillmore explained

Here, instead of a low-def flat-screen TV, we have the strip's main character, who is a duck (or, to be precise, a drake). I think the duck's name is "Mallard Fillmore"--which would make him an eponymous duck--and, according to King Features, he is a TV journalist.

Despite his given profession, Fillmore is rarely, if ever, seen engaging in camera work, sound checks, editing, interviewing, being on TV or sneering at newspaper journalists. And, despite his given name "Mallard," Fillmore's coloration suggests he is not a Mallard drake, but of some other breed. Cartoon colorists are notoriously undependable, but a good guess is that Fillmore is either an "American black" or a "black scotar." Scotars are Canadian (and therefore socialist) ducks. Since Fillmore's political views are decidedly anti-socialist, this might explain the self-loathing evident in this strip.

Here, Fillmore is imagining his youth as a student in one of the 13,000+ public school systems in the U.S. (say, for instance, Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky). Now, in his youth, even though Fillmore was good at algebra, JCPS failed to recognize and nurture his mathematical genius as fully as he wished--and as it might have, if only sufficient funds had been available for it to run a decent gifted program or to offer AP courses.

As things were, the Kentucky Board of Education, still smarting from that whole "desegregation" thing, were convinced that public education is a communist plot, and agreed it was God's will to de-fund the county school systems--at least as much as possible without attracting federal attention. As a result, who knows how many innocent ducklings, woefully deprived like Fillmore of adequate governmental coddling and encouragement, were bitterly forced to become journalists and cartoonists instead of entering more useful professions?

The final panel is a clever jape at the expense of behind-the-curve scientists who, despite the efforts of their more quick-witted colleagues, continue to slow human progress with their failure to grasp concepts such as evolution, genetics, human sexuality and climatology.

Bravo!