Comic Strip of the Day Editorial cartooning

CSotD: Uncle Sam needs your help again

I suggested yesterday that, while its doubtful that Dear Leader saw the mockery in the media, he must certainly have realized that there weren’t huge cheering throngs at his parade.

I can’t prove any connection between that disappointment and his sudden enthusiasm for sending American troops to boldly go where no man with heel spurs has gone before, but we seem to be teetering on the brink of war with Iran.

Duginski credits it to Trump’s falling approval ratings, and I wouldn’t discount that, though I’d suggest they’re nagging in the back of his mind, while the failure of his Big Parade was more immediately galling.

His fellow national leaders at the G7 didn’t carry him around the room on their shoulders, either, making for a tough week all around, but maybe it’s a fool’s game to try to tie his latest fantasy to anything specific.

The chaos continues, and it appears that Trump heard from agricultural and hospitality lobbyists about the impact of deporting a major part of their workforce, but then heard from his hardliners about the impact of changing his mind, so he changed his mind about changing his mind, despite his fury over having been called a TACO.

Maybe changing his mind about changing his mind means he unchickened out. It’s getting hard to track things these days.

For instance, it’s hard to tell whether Danziger is commenting on ICE thugs in general or their specific assaults on a US Senator and New York City’s comptroller.

But there is beginning to be revulsion both at their tough-guy tactics and the emerging phenomenon of other thugs posing as masked officers to commit crimes, including, obviously, the murder of a Democratic lawmaker and an attempt to kill another.

Davies suggests that not only is Trump’s deportation policy gapingly erratic, but his latest adventure in overseas warfare is similarly unfocused.

I’m not sure I agree with the notion of Trump being directed by Netanyahu, but I have to wonder, speaking of lowered approval ratings, how much Bibi is trying to maintain a state of war to avoid the legal challenges that he’ll face once peace is achieved.

Iran makes an attractive target, as Smith suggests. However, there was a functioning treaty in place to keep the country from making atomic weapons, and pulling the US out of it was one of Trump’s signature actions in his first term. Up until then, Iran was in general compliance with the treaty.

I have wondered several times since January how those voters who felt Biden was too cooperative with Israel feel about the man they either voted into office or declined to vote against.

But then I have to remind myself that mocking people for their failures is less productive than welcoming home the prodigals. You don’t make a lot of allies by saying “I told you so.”

On the other hand, I have no compunctions about criticizing chickenhawks.

The speed with which various conservative commentators have lined up to encourage a new Middle Eastern war makes me want to challenge them to reveal whether they have military-aged children and how they feel about reinstating the draft, without college deferments or sexual discrimination this time around.

Juxtaposition of the Day

If Israel and Iran can’t agree on a solution to their conflict, at least we can all agree that the key to peace is golden telephones to go along with our golden sneakers and the new decor at the Golden Oval Office.

Though I’m not sure how we got here. Dear Leader keeps leaping into the middle of things. He took credit for settling the flare up between India and Pakistan, despite their insistence that he had nothing to do with it. Now he’s plunked himself down in this one, threatening to get us into the bang-bang.

And by “us” he means your kids, certainly not his.

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.

Juxtaposition of the Day #2

The number of journalists killed while covering war has risen sharply, particularly in Gaza, where accidents happen with alarming frequency and denial of the Official Version carries its own risks, though there are times when the Official Version can’t possibly hold up to examination.

Palestinian journalists are now under pressure not to report on the attacks on Iran except citing the Official Version.

It’s rare for journalists to be killed here, but our leaders’ condemnation of journalism has led to a growing contempt, seen in the deliberate shooting of an Australian reporter with a rubber bullet by an LA police officer and an abusive explosion by officers at another reporter.

We can no longer assume our situation will remain different than that in the rest of the world, either in the ability to report or in the safety of those who try. Times are changing and the First Amendment is undergoing serious challenges in this country.

I got a particular laugh from First Dog because back in my days on talk radio, I could see Cheyenne Mountain from the window in my studio, and there was something perversely comforting in knowing that, should nuclear war happen, there’d be no waiting for the radiation poisoning to kick in: We’d be reduced to jelly within the first 20 minutes.

However, I did get someone official on line to discuss Deputy Undersecretary of Defense TK Jones’ advice that, in the event of a nuclear strike, you could survive by piling dirt on a door and crawling underneath.

The expert admitted that it wasn’t such good advice for those at Ground Zero, and that, in fact, the real advice for everyone was to get out of town. And that the traffic jams after the sirens went off would probably not make that very practical, either.

To make getting out of town work, you’d have to make the decision a week or so before it all hit the fan, which still leaves the question of “Get out of town to where?”

David pondered the same question but I don’t have his faith.

I’m more in line with the Gospel of St. Thomas of Lehrer:


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Comments 14

  1. At 78, a polio pioneer who got the actual vaccine (unlike my friend/neighbor, Alan,who got the placebo and polio); who dutifully “hid” under my desk during “air raid” drills (never realizing for years the true horror of nuclear bombs and where we students “sheltered in place” was no better than sitting at our desks); who, now, knows it’d be better to just be done while singing Lehrer, yet wonders if a “gold” overpriced regime family tchotchke would be a safe bet and provide protection. Uh huh. I kid.

  2. To Clay Jones: I can hear you now. 😀

    1. A friend asked about Luckovich and me kinda using the same concept. I looked, and saw that I had published mine on Facebook about ten minutes before him.

      1. Your Drumpf bandage made me laugh harder. 😉

  3. I thought the only way to survive a nuclear bomb explosion was to find an abandoned 1950s refrigerator and close the door after you got in.

  4. best way to survive nuclear bombs. get rid of the evil things

    best way to survive war. don’t put a-holes into power

    1. Too late for that now. They are already there in the USA, in Israel, and in Russia.

  5. Mike ~ there’s something Fish-y about your headline today.

    1. Gimme an F…
      Gimme an I…
      Gimme an S…
      Gimme an H…

  6. What’s that spell? What’s that spell?

  7. In the 1950s we were knew: In case of nuclear attack:
    sit down carefully
    loosen your collar
    bend forward at the waist
    tuck your head between your knees
    kiss your a$$ good-bye

  8. I’ve heard covering yourself in wet newspapers can shield you against nukes.

  9. Uncle Sam needs my help again? He didn’t appreciate it the first time…

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