Before we get into all the issues in this country, an appreciation for Jordanian cartoonist Osama Hajjaj (Cartoon Movement)‘s take on the flooding in Pakistan. I’m dubious about those cooling towers, since nuclear is a potential alternative to energy sources that contribute to climate change (UPDATE: See comments), but I like the cause-and-effect framing of […]
Tank McNamara (AMS) is willing to keep the Saudi sportswashing effort in front of the public, though I get a strong feeling that money talks and nobody cares, which I suppose wouldn’t bother me so much if so many commentators who went ballistic over Biden’s visit to Jedda hadn’t fallen silent over the LIV golf […]
Let’s start with something that needs to be top-of-mind this week, and after: Joel Pett makes the excellent point that floods like the ones happening in Eastern Kentucky can be harder on the poor. This starts with the idea that the rich folks who live in the big house on the hill won’t have nearly […]
Jen Sorensen explains the interplay of polarization and bothsidesism. We used to joke about the mainstream media’s obsession with presenting both sides, saying that if someone said Hitler was a bad person, reporters would be ordered to find someone who would say he was good. It seemed like clever hyperbole at the time, but now […]
UK cartoonist Steve Bright leads off this chapter of our ongoing discussion of Uvalde with a cartoon about Ukraine. And why not? As Michael de Adder notes, War is war, whether waged between countries or within one. We are re-enacting the similar scene from Saving Private Ryan over and over, as if it were […]
Steve Breen (Creators) sums up everything we know so far about Uvalde: Children were murdered, parents were devastated and we’re hearing a lot of same-old same-old from the top. As noted here the other day, President Biden did step up with a masterful, furious speech demanding to know when we were going to finally do […]
Punchbooks has posted this cartoon from April 16, 1919, in which British Prime Minister David Lloyd George cheerfully presents the Paris Peace Agreement, citing the 1895 Punch cartoon which had turned an old joke into a permanent part of the culture: Parts of the agreement that ended the First World War were excellent, but it […]
Chip Bok (Creators) was likely being sarcastic with this one, but the comments indicate that a whole lot of the wrong readers liked his cartoon. Having recently been puzzled by the idea that maybe Michael Ramirez had had a Saul-of-Tarsus moment, I was prepared for this, but I laughed anyway. Sarcasm can be tricky, and […]
One of the myths about elephants is the notion that they are terrified of mice. It’s an absurd idea, which makes it particularly appropriate for Michael de Adder to offer this piece, in which an insignificant little rodent forces a mighty elephant to perform tricks for him. For the past several years, those on the […]
As we pull within two weeks of Christmas, Ben (MWAM) threatens his wife, and us, with a series of excruciating puns to fill the days, and I hope he follows through. The funny pages are so flooded with bad takeoffs on Christmas carols each year that it’s a relief when one of them confesses to […]
In today’s Non Sequitur (AMS), Wiley Miller explains how to avoid popularity. It’s a simple formula, though it varies depending on how much people have invested in beliefs that don’t jibe with the truth. Not to be confused with beliefs that don’t jive with the truth. Jiving with the truth is our topic […]
Matt Wuerker (Politico) suggests that we’re so screwed up that the Taliban don’t have to attack us: They can just watch us attack each other. Which theory gains depth if you believe that the Taliban has some interest in attacking us in the first place, which — despite that fellow putting bombs in shoes — […]
Matt Wuerker (Politico) outlines a glitch in a free society, or at least in this one, which is that Power can still gain an advantage by keeping its populace frightened and insecure. The easier to eat you with, my dear. And, in a capitalist system that does not rein in monopolies or keep private enterprise […]
There are some good cartoons on the impending impeachment trial, and we’ll start with Dan Wasserman (Tribune) because he sets the scene: It’s going to require at least 17 Republicans to vote guilty in order to convict. Watergate was different in that the actions being investigated were contained within the Executive and there was little […]
I wasn’t sure whether to start or end with Matt Wuerker‘s cartoon, but I think it does serve to set the scene as well as to wrap it up. The Trump Whirlwind is a brilliant piece of graphic personification, but let me belabor the storm metaphor for a moment, because, as we watch Louisiana dig […]