1 {zoom sequence starting on an asteroid in space, over Earth, zooming in to Earth, Washington DC, the White House, the Allosaurus seen through a rear window of the Oval Office}
9 Science Advisor: As your science advisor, Mr President, I have to warn you that Earth faces an immediate threat.
10 Loren: Need I remind you that you're up for re-election next year? Why waste taxpayer money on something that only has a chance of wiping out humanity?
11 Allosaurus: RAAARRRHH!!! {eats Loren}
11 Loren: Aaaargh!
12 Science Advisor: Oddly enough, that's the most sensible thing any politician in history has ever done when faced with a statement like that.

Sometimes it really would be better if politicians did stuff like that.

The satellite pictures are from NASA, and the photographs of Washington D.C. and the White House are either from US Government sites or Creative Commons sources. I realise now that the South Lawn of the White House doesn't resemble the mass of flowers I have outside the windows, but I set a precedent with that some time ago, so have repeated it here. The asteroid is Gaspra, as photographed by NASA's Galileo space probe in 1991.

---

2018-08-11 Rerun commentary: I had to double check that that is indeed Loren Ipsum who President Allosaurus has disemboweled and bitten in half in the last panel there. I'd forgotten that she dies here.

Without spoiling it (too much) for anyone who hasn't read any further than this, there's a reason that I'd forgotten she dies here.

This strip, by the way, is a textbook example of Astronomic Zoom. Followed with Half the Woman She Used to Be.