CSotD: Issues and Answers (Well, sort of)

There used to be a Sunday talking heads show called Issues and Answers, which was a pretty ambitious promise, though back then they tried.

Today, it would be called “Issues and Talking Points” and I don’t watch Sunday political chat shows because I’m old enough to remember when politicians who went on “Meet the Press” faced three actual for-real reporters instead of a gracious moderator.

This is no time for moderation, and Darrin Bell brings up an example of why in today’s Candorville (KFS).

The first panel is a good set-up, because for all the millions of dollars spent trying to prove voter fraud, nobody has come up with anything substantive. However, this disappointing lack of a crisis hasn’t stopped various state governments from striking people off the rolls, and while it’s easy enough for middleclass people to get re-instated, that’s not a sound basis for democracy.

And, BTW, if you didn’t know you’d been stricken from the rolls, there are now places where they no longer let you sign an affidavit and cast a provisional ballot on election day. Better bring an attorney or three to the polls, just in case.

Assuming you can afford them.

Tjeerd Royaards (Cartoon Movement) explains in a social media posting that, while this cartoon was published with an EU heading on the rock as a commentary on rightwing victories in the recent elections, this is his original, preferred concept.

For those not on Xitter, you need to realize that Musk has stopped even pretending to remove racist and fascist postings.

I had my account fairly well curated so that I was just hearing from intelligent people, but it suddenly went all to pieces and became a hellscape of nazi ravings at which point I bailed out.

Now the Grand Vizier of Garbage has decided (A) to allow pornography and (B) to hide likes so that viewers can boost nekkid lady algorithms without being on record. According to the Verge, he’s planning to eventually hide all responses and perhaps even disable the ability to respond, which I guess is part of his much-vaunted commitment to free speech.

We’ve reached the point where playing along is going along, and I’m not going along.

It’s up to you to do you, of course, but if you decide to stay, you should think long and hard about what you’re volunteering to be part of.

And speaking of the rise of fascism, there’s been a lot of speculation about why voters aren’t more concerned about Project 2025 and Trump’s plans to override the Constitution with his own style of tyranny if elected.

Now Steve Kelley (Creators) has come out in favor of jailing the opposition and is urging voters to choose fascism in November. If you were hoping the takeover would be more gradual and subtle, maybe it doesn’t have to be.

Especially if your local paper runs this cartoon and you just sigh and say nothing.

However, you should probably watch your own political discussions, because part of Project 2025 involves building concentration camps and, while they’re intended to hold 11 to 12 million immigrants (undocumented and documented) for deportation, there’s no reason to think they couldn’t be adapted to other uses.

Kelley wants to jail Trump’s opponents once Dear Leader regains power. Steve Bannon wants to hunt down and execute former FBI directors in the next Trump administration.

Imagine if you or I said something like that!

Oh well, wotthehell. Maybe people don’t care about a fascist takeover, but polls show they are very upset about food prices, and, as Jimmy Margulies (KFS) suggests, cracking down on braceros is not going to solve that problem.

As stated many times before, legal use of migrant workers requires that growers first advertise and make jobs available to citizens. Running those ads is just a cost of doing business, because on the rare occasions that someone responds, they generally work a day or maybe two and then quit.

As Phil Ochs wrote:

The local men are lazy,
And they make too much of trouble,
‘sides, we’d have to pay them double

Anyway, Scott Stantis assures us, the cost-of-living problem is not price-gouging but inflation, which is so wildly out of control that the US economy falls about in the middle of the G20 on the issue:

How big do you suppose Russia’s baby is?

And speaking of cost-of-living, one of the biggest ticket items is housing, and Graeme Keyes offers the vision of people who can’t get into their own place until they are ready for a nursing home.

The joke here is that Keyes is Irish and so those folks likely have more help affording care in their old age than they would have if they lived in this country. I note that comments from his fellow Irish speak of “Generation Rent,” which is pretty much everybody everywhere today.

Incidentally, Ireland is not part of the G20, but their current inflation rate is 2.9%, which is slightly better than ours but is apparently not a solution to their housing problems after all.

Ah well. If we can’t be Number One in fighting inflation, border issues and cost-of-living, Bill Bramhall points out that we’re trying hard to catch up with Iran in godliness, and I wish I’d had this cartoon available yesterday.

Iran’s inflation rate is 37.5%, BTW, but their godliness rate is off the chart.

Bear in mind that, if Trump wins and his plans go before the Supreme Court, Alito will be one of the judges.

Juxtaposition of the Day

Jeffrey Koterba

Steve Greenberg

Koterba seems unduly pessimistic. Not only do we have a number of women in both parties capable of mounting a credible presidential race in 2028, but a woman candidate got the most votes in 2016. She just didn’t get the right votes.

Greenberg seems to have things pegged. There are so many reasons for MAGAts to hate and fear President Scheinbaum that it’s hard for the poor snowflakes to know where to begin.

But if Gretchen Whitmer ran against Nikki Haley in 2028, the gender issue would be resolved before the first ballot was counted, and a GOP primary pitting Haley against Stefanik sure would be entertaining.

Assuming we have a presidential election in 2028. If Trump wins, we may not bother.