The Cold Snap
Baby, it's cold outside...
As those of us who live in Kansas City already know, it’s way way way too cold outside and the same conditions apply to much of the country including Washington D.C. and it was so cold in Our Nation’s Crapital (which seems like a misspelling, but isn’t) Donald Trump’s Second Coronation was moved inside.
After getting sworn in as President, Trump wasted no time and closed the border to asylum-seeking immigrants and ended “birthright citizenship” (you’re an American citizen if you’re born here) and people wondered how Trump could do that because it’s in the Constitution and covered in the 14th Amendment.
Turns out, if you don’t like what’s in the Constitution, just ignore it and dare people to sue you which is a tried-and-untrue Trump tactic used in all kinds of situations and we’ll have a lot more about Trump and the Constitution before we’re through.
BTW: 22 states did sue immediately and a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship and called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” and I’m guessing that’s not the last time we’ll hear those words.
Meanwhile…
Trump also wants to remove protections for transgender people in federal prisons and transgender migrants in U.S. custody.
And in an effort to be thoroughly thorough, Trump also revoked Executive Order 11246 which was signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and it prohibited discriminatory practices in hiring and employment in government contracting and asserted the government’s commitment to affirmative action, so we’re no longer going to worry about being fair.
If you’re an immigrant, transgender, female or Black, Donald Trump just told you to take a very long walk off a very short pier.
So however cold you think it is currently, it’s about to get a whole lot colder.
According to Slate magazine, Pete Hegseth – Fox News Guy, suspected on-the-job drinker, accused assaulter of women and Donald Trump’s pick to be Secretary of Defense – has promised individual Senators that he will not drink if he gets confirmed, which kinda makes it sound like he plans to keep getting hammered unless he gets the job.
Which sounds an awful lot like something I’d do, so where do I get off criticizing him, and the answer is pretty simple:
I don’t think I should be Secretary of Defense either.
In the movie Crocodile Dundee, our hero is confronted by a gang of ruffians who apparently got their outfits out of Michael Jackson’s closet and one of them pulls out a switchblade and Mick Dundee’s Hot, But Easily Intimidated Girlfriend says:
“Mick, give them your wallet.”
Mick: “What for?”
Girlfriend: “He’s got a knife.”
Mick: “Nah…that’s not a knife. That’s a knife.”
And pulls out a blade longer than the average Donald Trump marriage. If you want to see the scene done with an Australian accent in which “knife” becomes “knoife” here you go:
Anyway…
In our last thrilling episode of What The Fuck’s Lee Judge Done Now, I was accused of drawing an offensive cartoon which featured an upside-down flag (a traditional sign of distress and danger) on the White House and all I can say is:
“Nah…that’s not an offensive cartoon.”
“That’s an offensive cartoon.”
So Why Draw Something Offensive?
First off, every cartoon is considered offensive by someone, especially the very easily offended and we currently have no shortage of very easily offended people on the Left and Right, so you have to ask yourself just how many people will be offended and did you offend the people you intended to offend or was it a shotgun offense that hit innocent bystanders.
And while you’re pondering those questions, the cartoon image should also match the offense (serious imagery for serious offenses) which is why three-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Paul Conrad – a guy who was slightly more Catholic than the average Pope – drew a cartoon of a baby nailed to a cross.
And if you just went, “EEEEEEEEEWWWW!” (a common reaction) here’s Paul’s reasoning:
So you’re offended by a cartoon, which is some ink scratched on a piece of paper, but not offended by abortion and babies being killed and while Paul and I disagreed on the issue of abortion, I bought his argument about cartoons and reality.
So what’s more offensive?
A cartoon of Donald Trump pissing on the Constitution or Donald Trump pissing on the Constitution?
Trump just did something that’s clearly unconstitutional and dared the rest of us to try and stop him and if that’s not pissing on the Constitution, it’ll do until Trump trots over to the National Archives and does it for real which is probably on his Bucket List.
BTW: In the category of “One For Our Side” I answered Paul’s abortion cartoon with one of my own; the names of the all the prominent Pro-Lifers spelled out in the shape of a coat hanger (you can outlaw abortion, but it doesn’t stop them from happening) and Paul said great cartoon and added: “I’m still trying to think of an answer to that.”
Some of the very best political cartoons often use shocking imagery because that imagery makes people react and agree or disagree and making people think (which some people hate like vampires hate garlic and crosses) is kind of what we’re here for.
Nevertheless…
When I sent that Constitution cartoon to my syndicate, King Features, to be distributed (or as is entirely possible, not distributed) to client newspapers, for the first time in our long association I included a note acknowledging that it was their business and their right to choose which cartoons get sent out and I wasn’t going to get upset if they chose not to use it.
But I also pointed out that I wasn’t going to pre-judge what they might and might not use because if you never push the envelope, the envelope stays pretty confining and we’d never have interracial couples on TV or gay sitcom characters or a Black president. Coloring outside the lines is what moves things forward (or back…depending on your mindset).
Now here’s the first version of the cartoon where I tried to avoid depicting urine:
And here’s the second version of the cartoon where I added the offensive urine:
But finally I said fuck it, you’re trying to do something acceptable so the cartoon can be used and screwing up the cartoon in the process, so do the best version of the cartoon and get rid of the unnecessary character and extra words and just say what you really mean and let the chips fall where they may.
Bottom line:
I have no objections to people who don’t like me or the cartoons I draw and if you feel that way, my advice is to “stop looking at them” which is a dangerous position to take because if you piss off enough people and enough people stop looking at your cartoons, you lose your job which is why every once in a while I change things up and draw one of these:
Cartoons that say nothing and offend nobody (unless you decide the rainbow means the unicorn is gay or Uncle Sam is gay or the unicorn and Uncle Same are a Gay Couple and trust me, I’ve heard weirder interpretations of my work) because doing the occasional benign cartoon is the cartoonist’s version of Muhammad Ali’s Rope-A-Dope:
Lie back on the ropes for a while and when the time is right, come out swinging.
This has brightened my day. Thanks!
Temp is up & you always BRIGHTEN MY DAY!