CSotD: The Braggadocio Factor

In a genuinely post-Civil-War nation, Dennis Draughon’s cartoon wouldn’t be particularly relevant, as we await details of Donald Trump’s indictments and the reaction thereto.

But we are currently involved in a Civil War, which makes the removal of Confederate leaders’ names from US military bases relevant overall, and particularly so in the case of General Braxton Bragg, since, aside from the fact that he was a traitor, he wasn’t a very good one.

There was no logical reason to name a base after Braxton Bragg in 1918 except that he was among the Lost Cause heroes we chose to honor at a point when the Klan was resurgent and history books were being rewritten in their favor.

It was, you might say, a way to bragg despite their defeat.

Which comes to mind as we look towards the reaction to Trump’s indictments and likely convictions. While progressives have been whining over Merrick Garland’s slow process, there’s a real benefit in Jack Smith’s waiting to get the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.

The Internet has been full of memes of police cars slow-chasing Trump in a golf cart, just as police slow-chased OJ Simpson, but it should be remembered that OJ got off because of a hasty prosecution and a clever defense team.

It may not be the model you want to invoke, unless you’re hoping for a similar outcome.

And, certainly, a good number of people are.

It resurrects the question of how many of OJ’s supporters honestly believed that he was innocent and how many just wanted to stick it to The Man.

The rightwing media is already exploding with paranoid accusations of a plot against conservatives, and Oliver Darcy has a substantial collection of links on the topic at Reliable Sources. Here’s part of his take on it all:

So while we wait for the cartoonists to catch up, here’s an irrelevant but relevant

Juxtaposition of the Day

(Michael Ramirez — Creators)

(Chip Bok — Creators)

Ramirez has the Statue of Liberty wear a gas mask to concede the health issue, which not all conservatives do. But his blaming of Canadian forest management is, as the lawyers say, a “fact not in evidence,” the mitigating factor being that the comments at GoComics are full of mockery about rakes as a practical method of preventing wildfires.

Bok, meanwhile, takes on the climate change aspect, which is also receiving strong denial in rightwing circles, mocking those who attempt to reach net carbon goals.

His theory that efforts to cut carbon emissions make no difference because there are accidental events does make somebody look ridiculous, but I’m not convinced it’s the people who embrace the actual science.

Meanwhile, Lisa Benson (Counterpoint) points out that Tucker Carlson has launched a Twitter podcast, which is true, but she suggests he had ratings that would make Rupert Murdoch jealous, which isn’t true, since as Oliver Darcy points out, TV ratings and on-line clicks simply aren’t the same thing.

And Murdoch isn’t particularly baffled by all this anyway: Fox is already planning to sue Carlson for violating his non-compete contract, which is apparently well-drawn enough to include barring him from doing what he’s doing.

Neither the Canadian wildfires nor Carlson’s post-firing adventures have anything to do with Trump being indicted for stealing, concealing and lying about classified documents.

But let’s watch how the coverage of his indictment and trial break down. Loyalty is a good thing, but responsible journalism — even in the opinion section — requires well-informed, frank honesty.

Juxtaposition of Himself

Indeed, it was quite a day, and Dr. Macleod came out with that first cartoon in the forenoon, then had to go back and re-edit in the afternoon, just to take in one of the busiest news days in recent memory. Or even longer memory.

BTW, that first take is the second time in a week that he has included a word likely to discourage editors from running his cartoons, and the other was an F-bomb. I like his work but I question his business plan.

But, my goo’ness gracious, cartoonists did not hold back on their opinion of the now-late Pat Robertson.

Somebody emailed me early in the day predicting a flood of Pearly Gates cartoons, and Robertson’s death certainly did inspire a lot of them, but very few were complimentary. Ward Sutton’s contribution is a particularly well-drawn example of a common theme.

The prize goes to Paul Berge, who took advantage of his status as a long-time defender of gay rights to create this piece: Not only is the angel gay, but he’s Black, and his polite greeting raises the possibility that maybe Heaven also serves as Hell for those who deserve it.

I suppose the argument could be advanced that the progressive cartoonists are as cruel to Pat Robertson as the conservatives are kind to Donald Trump, but that would work better if we saw rightwing cartoons extolling Robertson’s virtues, and they seem to be quiet about the passing of a man who built the Christian Coalition and boosted the stature of the so-called Silent Majority.

Which I guess falls under the rule “If you can’t say something nice about a person …”

Robertson perhaps should have read further into the Good Book, since he often noted Leviticus and other Old Testament rules, but seems not to have absorbed much of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

And, for that matter, while he picked up on Leviticus 20:13 about how men shouldn’t lie with men, I don’t recall him citing Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11 about the abomination of wearing blended fabrics.

I also wonder how often he preached the righteous command of Leviticus 19:33,34:

When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

But mockery aside, Keith Knight offers a personal view of how ignorance and prejudice pushes people underground, and it’s quite a rebuke to those who preach shame and division and who promote bad science and overly sensitive silence in place of honest dialogue.