I’m about done talking about Kyle: he’s had enough publicity and he’ll get more without my help.
But I couldn’t let this Kal Kallaugher piece go unacknowledged, because he captures the real impact of a refusal to address the guns issue realistically: Armed nincompoops have just been loosed upon the land.
Mostly by judicial nincompoops who claim to be originalists but think Madison used the phrase “well-regulated militia” to mean “you don’t have to belong to one and there are no rules.”
Kyle is going to get his chance to appear on rightwing shows for a bit, but I’m hoping he’ll fade from view the way Jessica Lynch did, after she was paraded around as a hero in the opening days of the Iraq invasion.
Lynch later regretted the position Pentagon spinmeisters had put her in, but, then, she hadn’t made an effort to become a hero. She was just trying to pay for college.
Anyway, I expect Kyle to clog up the political cartooning supply lines a little longer, and I’m glad Kal managed to add a touch of cathartic ridicule to a bad situation.
Jeff Stahler also got me to laugh with a seasonal jibe. Cartoonists are doing a lot of turkeys trying to avoid their fate, some with current politics involved, many just because it’s the time of year for those cartoons.
Stahler’s cartoon shouldn’t go into his Pulitzer sample package, but it’s a whole lot more focused and topical than average and he gets a grim joke out of the self-defense factor.
Anyway, time’s up, Kyle: I’m willing to let others make him into a celebrity, but I’ve had enough.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Besides, there’s plenty of other stuff to shake our heads over out there in the Stupidverse. JD Crowe even got a caption contest out of this latest bit of foolishness.
Covid was found in deer, and so a caution went out that hunters should mask up while field-dressing their deer, which seems like good advice, whether or not anyone follows it.
But reporters and headline writers got it wrong and so produced coverage that made it seem hunters are supposed to wear masks throughout the entire hunt.
Trust me. Deer hunting involves enough social distancing already, and most hunters would love to get close enough to a buck to exchange breath droplets.
But if you’ve got a good story, don’t ruin it by reading the entire press release or thinking it through. Get that story up on the Intertubes before someone else does!
Well, hunters don’t need the warning, but cartoonists need the fodder.
As for compliance with the actual advice, slob hunters won’t and responsible hunters might, which is par for the course with all sorts of things.
Speaking of the getting of meat, Ann Telnaes offers a practical bit of advice for people who are freaking out over rising prices: Don’t eat so much of the stuff.
My prediction that stores will offer good prices on turkey this week has been born out: My local grocery is offering whole turkeys at 69 cents a pound. Having made that guess does not make me a genius.
But Americans, as a group, eat a prodigious and unnecessary amount of meat, and you don’t have to become a vegan or a vegetarian or a pescatarian to reduce your intake of red meat to the oft-suggested piece the size of a deck of cards.
If you decide to forego it entirely, that would probably be good both for you and for the planet, but simply cutting down will help you, the planet and your personal economy.
Meanwhile, if you’re going to insist on purchasing mass quantities of the stuff, don’t complain about the prices. It’s a choice, not a mandate.
You can also offset high gas prices by asking that old question from World War II: “Is this trip really necessary?”
Or, if you’re afraid that might make you sound like an anti-fascist, you can simply blame Joe Biden, which is the tactic being pursued in conservative circles, as seen in this Kirk Walters (KFS) cartoon.
Biden has asked the FTC to look into prices and make sure the oil companies aren’t playing games, which, whether you think it’s likely or not, was sure to raise the ire of those who are on the side of the fossil fuel folks.
The rightwing theory is that shutting down planned construction of a slurry line made prices immediately leap, and that it’s all Joe’s fault.
The reality is a little more complex than that, but simple answers are much preferred.
The simple-minded answer from the other side of the aisle is to purchase an electric car, which is the 21st Century of “Let them eat cake.”
A lot of folks have to live with what’s in the garage, and there are places where there is no public transportation to replace long commutes. (Yes, there will be. But it’s not here now.)
Still, you can car pool and tie in your errands to avoid a lot of unnecessary driving.
Meanwhile, if an Infrastructure Bill that hasn’t broken ground has not yet increased public transportation, cancellation of an oil line that wouldn’t have been completed for a couple of years isn’t what’s raising today’s price at the pump, either.
As that above linked story explains:
Round up the usual suspects.
And now for something completely different:
This Loose Parts (WPWG) put an earworm into my head, and I’d like to share it with you.
Here’s Muddy Waters, with Sonny Boy Williams and Willie Dixon. None of whom ever, ever lost their mojos.
I wrote this on ClayToonz, but it bears repeating here . . . I’m HOPING, if not assuming, that the families of those shot by Kyle (and interesting that we all know HIS name, but not those of his victims) all sue him in Civil Court, as did Nicole Brown’s family. So his day in court will not be over as quickly as he assumed. OTOH, he has no money, so other than publicity, any attorney taking on these case[s] won’t get much out of them. For once, not being rich is working in someone’s favor.
@ANDREA DENNINGER
“OTOH, he has no money, so other than publicity, any attorney taking on these case[s] won’t get much out of them.”
From what I’ve read, they have plenty of money. Remember all that money Bannon got for his “build the wall” scam? It’s called Wingnut Welfare and Kyle is the latest “victim of the Left” that they’ll happily throw money at. Heck, it was reported yesterday that FOX and several prominent Right Wing groups had coached his defense and were heavily involved in the case (that alone is another can of worms altogether).
No, there’s no shortage of like minded people who agree with Kyle’s form of vigilante justice. This is just getting started.
@David Mikulec: 1) How much of that money will be left after paying his attorney[s]; and 2) How much money will these like-minded folk continue to donate when they realize it could go to those who sue Kyle, rather than to his attorney[s]?
Of course, if he writes a book (HA!) or has gets paid for speaking engagements (DOUBLE HA!), there’d be some money, but I doubt it’d last long.
And, if he loses in Civil Court, would he still be able to benefit from the crime of which he is convicted?
Stay tuned . . . it ain’t over yet.