Clearing the cartoon decks

Featuring a few cartoons you probably haven't seen yet...

The idea that I have any kind of well-thought-out agenda for my career and life can be debunked by just about anyone who knows me. Generally speaking I kinda stumble along from moment to moment without any clear notion of where I intend to wind up.

Same thing is true of this blog.

Just in case you came to the party late: I started it so I could write family stories and preserve them for any sociologists that wanted to study the behavior of a bunch of knuckleheads with too much time and adrenaline on their hands. I then started adding some essays on life in general and eventually decided to post my political cartoons to fill in the gaps.

Then the coronavirus crisis hit the fan.

Now I feel like I’ve been trapped in my house for months – doing the right thing – and there’s no end in sight because so many people are out there doing the wrong thing. I’ve taken that kind of personal and have used this platform to express my frustrations.

Also…

In my opinion Donald Trump is one of the worst human beings to ever occupy the Oval Office and his bad example has made it OK to for a whole bunch of Americans to express the racism, sexism and ignorance that were already just half an inch under the surface.

But I digress, which I suggest you get used to.

Anyway…once I started posting cartoons I started writing about what inspired the cartoons and every once in a while I haven’t posted a cartoon because I didn’t have all that much to say about it.

Then it occurred to me that I could post several cartoons at once and write a short bit about each one and since it’s taken me five months for that to dawn on me, I think that pretty much proves my point about not having a game plan.

So every once in a while I’ll clear the cartoon decks with a post like this, assuming I remember to do that and your chances of that happening aren’t all that great because I leave my house keys stuck in my front door lock about once a week.

Nevertheless, we’ll start this off with a cartoon inspired by the news that Americans have used so much toilet paper during the coronavirus crisis that stores are now having to get supplies from Mexico.

Yup, William Barr said virus lockdowns violated people’s civil right just like slavery…which is a completely valid comparison if you ignore the back-breaking labor, whippings, brandings, mutilations, breaking up of families and being owned by another person.

BTW: If Americans are going to overuse any of our precious natural resources – and clearly we are – overusing toilet paper seems way better than underusing toilet paper.

The Scientific American magazine – a name that recent events prove doesn’t apply to about half the population – made its first presidential endorsement in its 175-year history and here’s a quote from their website explaining why they did it:  

“The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people—because he rejects evidence and science.”

Here’s what the magazine had to say about Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic:

“It wasn't just a testing problem: if almost everyone in the U.S. wore masks in public, it could save about 66,000 lives by the beginning of December, according to projections from the University of Washington School of Medicine. Such a strategy would hurt no one. It would close no business. It would cost next to nothing. But Trump and his vice president flouted local mask rules, making it a point not to wear masks themselves in public appearances.”

(I threw that in for anyone still trying to decide whether to trust people with actual experience and training in a subject or the self-appointed epidemiologists who make regular appearances on social media.)

The Scientific American talked about Trump’s disastrous COVID-19 response, but they could also include his explanation of the West Coast fires. Turns out it doesn’t have anything to do with climate change; trees just get dry and explode.

Here’s a Trump quote from The Daily Beast:

“With regard to the forest, when trees fall down, after a short period of time, about 18 months, they become very dry and like a match stick,” the president declared. “There is no more water pouring through them. They just explode. They can explode.”

And just in case you don’t trust a quote from something called The Daily Beast – and why would you? – here’s another Trump quote from the Business Insider:

"You go to Europe ... They're very, very strong on management, and they don't have a problem. With — as they say — more explosive trees than we have in California." 

If there’s a magazine called the Unscientific American, I could make a good guess who they’d endorse.

Did this one after the Republican convention because they gave time and attention to some real wing nuts. Giving these people a platform also gives credibility to some of their crackpot theories like cannibals running the government which is crazy because we all know the cannibals are actually running Hollywood.

If you’re so desperate to win an election you’ll get in bed with anyone, that’s a good way catch a social disease and I’m pretty sure QAnon qualifies.

That’s it for today and I’d tell you what I’ll do tomorrow, but – as I believe I’ve already pointed out – I’ve got no game plan.

http://kingfeatures.com/comics/editorial-cartoons-a-z/